
Alektorov has suggested that Bashqort meant "distinct nation". Therefore, Dunlop proposes the ethnonyms Bashkort and Bulgar are equivalent. Since modern sh corresponds to l in Bulgar language. Douglas Morton Dunlop proposed bashkort being derived from the forms beshgur, bashgur, which means "five oghurs".Yumatov speculated the original meaning to have been " beekeeper or beemaster". Richkov, and Johann Gottlieb Georgi provided similar etymologies in the 18th century.Īlthough this is the prevailing theory for an etymology of the term bashqort, other theories have been formulated:

A wolf was sent to guide these tribes to their promised land, hence bash-qort, "leading wolf". The legend relates that the Bashkirs were given a green and fertile land by the fertility goddess of Tengrism Umay (known locally also as Omay-äsa), protected by the legendary Ural mountains (in alignment with the famous Bashkir epic poem "Ural-Batyr"). This prevailing folk etymology relates to a legend regarding the migration of the first seven Bashkir tribes from the Syr Darya valley to the Volga-Ural region. The name Bashqort has been known since the 10th century, most researchers etymologize the name as "main/leader/head" ( bash) + "wolf" ( qort being an archaic name for the animal), thus " wolf-leader" (from the totemic hero ancestor). The etymology and indeed meaning of the endonym Bashqort has been for a long time under discussion. ( March 2023) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section. This section needs additional citations for verification.

Smaller communities of Bashkirs also live in the Republic of Tatarstan, the oblasts of Perm Krai, Chelyabinsk, Orenburg, Tyumen, Sverdlovsk and Kurgan and other regions in Russia sizable minorities exist in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. They are concentrated in Bashkortostan, a republic of the Russian Federation and in the broader historical region of Badzhgard, which spans both sides of the Ural Mountains, where Eastern Europe meets North Asia.

The Bashkirs or Bashkorts ( Bashkir: Башҡорттар, romanized: Başqorttar, IPA: Russian: Башкиры, pronounced ) are a Kipchak Turkic ethnic group, indigenous to Russia. Volga Tatars, Kazakhs, Nogais, Crimean Tatars
