Bashkir language
The name "Bashkortostan" derives from the name of the Bashkir ethnic group. While the root of the name is Turkic (being a combination of ", which in Turkish can mean "head", "chief", "main", "principal" and 'qort' meaning "wolf", one of the animals regarded as sacred to Turkic peoples); the suffix -stan is Persian, common to many Eurasian territorial names. The Bashkirs speak the Bashkir language, which belongs to the Kipchak branch of the Turkic language group.