Crimean Turkish Karaim and the Old North-western Turkic tradition of the Karaites
Journal: Acta Orientalia
Year: 2015

The aim of this paper is to examine the language of Karaite literature, mostly translations from Hebrew, developing in the 18th–19th centuries in the Crimea. Linguistic features of most works of this literature are typical of Crimean Turkish with many North-western Turkic or Kipchak properties. Among the most important authors and translators there were such distinguished intellectuals and spiritual leaders as Abraham Firkovich, Joseph Solomon Łucki, Abraham Łucki, Mordecai Qazaz, and Eliyahu Qa