also spelled KIRGIZ, OR KIRGHIZ, member of the Turkic
subfamily of Altaic languages. It is spoken in Kyrgyzstan and in the Pamir
Mountains on the border between Tajikistan, Afghanistan, and China. The
language belongs to the northwestern, or Kipchak, division of the Turkic
languages and is closely related to Kazak, Karakalpak, and Nogay.
Kyrgyz is also the name of the Old Turkic language found in inscriptions
of the Yenisey River valley in Russia. The relationship between the speakers
of Old Kyrgyz and the speakers of Central Asian Kyrgyz is unclear. (Encyclopædia