The Middle Turkic Biblical Ms. Evr. I Bibl. 143 from the first Firkowicz collection. Part I. Linguistic affiliation

The Middle Turkic manuscript stored in the First Firkovicz Collection in the National Library of Russia in Saint Petersburg under accession number Evr. I Bibl. 143 contains a translation of a large portion of the Torah written in the Hebrew script. Two major questions remain to be answered regarding this source. First, in which Turkic language is it written? Second, to which religious and exegetical tradition does it belong? This paper attempts to answer the first question. Existing views on the subject are reviewed in the form of a polemic, and a comparison of the language with Khwarezmian Turkic, Chagatay, Middle Kipchak, Karaim, and Krymchak is offered. The religious affiliation of the translation is discussed in the second part of this study.