The story
- Proto-Turkic · derived from*-čük
- oui · derived fromclean, pure
- Persian · derived fromسیل“flood”
- Proto-Turkic · derived from*sāl“raft”
- trk-ogz-pro · derived from
- Arabic · derived fromسَلْجُوق
- xqa · derived fromسلجك
- Old Anatolian Turkish · derived fromسلجك
- Ottoman Turkish · derived fromسلجوق
- English todaySeljuk
From Ottoman Turkish سلجوق (selcuk), ultimately from Old Anatolian Turkish سلجك (sälcük) attested in the Dede Korkut and Karakhanid سلجك (Selcuk) attested in Mahmud al-Kashgari's Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk, of uncertain etymology. Compare modern Turkish Selçuk. Pelliot & al. favored derivation via Arabic سَلْجُوق (saljūq) from Proto-Oghuz [Term?] (*Sälčük), following some accounts taking the name from Proto-Turkic *sāl (“raft”) + *-čük (“-ock, -let: forming diminutives”) from the warlord's supposed birth on a raft on the Syr Darya. There are other early Persian and Arabic transcriptions, however, including سلجوك (Saljūk), سلچوق (Salčūq), and سلجق (Saljuq). Some sources take the original form of the name to have been *Salçuğ or *Salçığ with the meaning "one who fights", "disputes", or "struggles". Some arguing for an original pronunciation of [Term?] (*Selčük) or [Term?] (*Selčuk) would derive it from an early borrowing of Persian سیل (seyl, “flood”) + *-čük (“-ock, -let: forming diminutives”); others from *Sel as an earlier name of the Muztagh Ata in the Eastern Pamirs. Caferoğlu and Gedikli argue for derivation from a modified borrowing of Old Uyghur clean, pure (sil) + Proto-Turkic *-čük.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.