Гэр

The tradition & historical record

A yurt (; from the Turkic languages) or ger (; from the Mongolic languages) is a portable, round tent covered and insulated with skins or felt and traditionally used as a dwelling by several distinct nomadic groups in the steppes and mountains of Inner Asia. The structure consists of a flexible angled assembly or latticework of wood or bamboo for walls, a door frame, ribs (poles, rafters), and a wheel (crown, compression ring) possibly steam-bent as a roof. The roof structure is sometimes self-supporting, but large yurts may have interior posts or columns supporting the crown. The top of the wall of self-supporting yurts is prevented from spreading by means of a tension band, which opposes the force of the roof ribs. Yurts take between 30 minutes and 3 hours to set up or take down, and are generally used by 5–15 people. Nomadic farming with yurts as housing has been the primary way of life in Central Asia, particularly Mongolia, for thousands of years. Modern yurts may be permanently built on a wooden or concrete platform; they may use modern materials such as metal framing, plastics, plexiglass dome, or radiant insulation. ¹

The Old Turkic yurt ('tent, dwelling, abode, range') may have been derived from the Old Turkic word ur—a verb with the suffix +Ut. In modern Turkish and Uzbek, the word yurt is used as the synonym for 'homeland' or a 'dormitory', while in modern Azerbaijani, yurd mainly signifies 'homeland' or 'motherland'. In Russian, the structure is called yurta (Russian: юрта), whence the word came into English. ¹

Black house (Karakalpak: qara u‘y [qɑɾɑ́ ʉɪ̯]; Tajik: хонаи сиёҳ, IPA: [χɔˈnaɪˑ sɪˈjɔɦ]; Turkmen: gara öý, IPA: [ɢɑˈɾɑ œj]) Felt house (Kazakh: киіз үй / kiız üi, IPA: [kʰɘjɘ́s ʉɪ̯]) Grey house (Kyrgyz: боз үй / boz üi, IPA: [pos ʏɪ̯]) Mongol house (Manchu: ᠮᠣᠩᡤᠣ ᠪᠣᠣ / monggo boo; Chinese: 蒙古包 / měnggǔ bāo) White house (Turkmen: ak öý, IPA: [ɑɢ œj]) ¹

Alachyk (Azerbaijani: alaçıq; Turkish: alaçık; Bashkir: alasıq), alo alachig Balaghan (Yakut: балаҕан [b̥ɐɫɐˈʁɐn]) Chador (Persian: چادر câdor [t͡ʃʰɒːˈdoɹ]; Tajik: чодар [t͡ʃʰɔˈdaɾ]; Ottoman Turkish: چتر / çadır), has several descendants Shator (Hungarian: sátor [ˈʃaːtor]), now archaic Ger (Buryat and Mongolian: гэр, IPA: [ˈkɤr, ˈke̝r]) Kerege (Altay: кереге [kʰeɾeˈɣe]) Og (Tuvan: өг / ög, IPA: [ɵɣ]) Otagh (Ottoman Turkish: اوتاق / otağ; Uyghur: ئۇتاق, otaq, [oˈtʰɑq]) Tirma (Tatar and Bashkir: tirmä [tʲirˈmæ]) Yaranga, a tent-like traditional mobile home of some nomadic indigenous peoples of Russia, such as the Chukchi and the Siberian Yupiks. ¹

Yurts have been a distinctive feature of life in Central Asia for at least two and a half thousand years. The first written description of a yurt used as a dwelling was recorded by the ancient Greek historian Herodotus. He described yurt-like tents as the dwelling place of the Scythians, a horse-riding nomadic nation who lived in the northern Black Sea and Central Asian region from around 600 BC to AD 300. ¹

As popularity grew, it extended beyond Central Asia. In the 13th century, during the height of the Mongol Empire, yurts were introduced to parts of Europe and the Middle East. Marco Polo's writings even mentioned the use of yurts in the court of Kublai Khan. In more recent history, yurts have gained attention in the West for their unique aesthetics and practicality. ¹

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Yurt”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. ¹

yurt is portable, round tent covered with skins or felt and used by nomadic groups in Central Asia, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. ²

The source record links this tradition to 24 external registers, which can be verified through the citation. ²