Tatars wanted to be Turks, Turks wanted to be Tatars
Editorial contextHammer notes that the Black Tatars near Baikal and the Water Tatars on the Kerulen appeared at the end of the 12th century under the name Mongols. When Chinggis Khan raised this small people to world rule, Turkic and Tatar peoples claimed the name for themselves, just as earlier, while Turks and Tatars ruled, each had wanted the other's name. Only later, once that power had faded, did Mongols and Kalmyks refuse to be called Tatars and Ottomans refuse to be called Turks; his note cites Rubruck's remark that the Mongols did not want to be called Tartars. On p. 22 he adds that the Turkic peoples of Russia are called Tatars, 'though the name is incorrect'.
When the small people living south-east of Lake Baikal … was raised by Chinggis Khan to be the ruling tribe of world-conquering armies, Turkic and Tatar peoples laid claim to this name, just as, when the Turks and Tatars held power, Turks wanted to be called Tatars and Tatars Turks. Only in more recent times … do the Mongols and Kalmyks no longer want to be called Tatars, nor the Ottomans Turks.
Working translation
Original wording
Als das kleine Volk, welches südöstlich vom Baikalsee … wohnte, durch Tschengis-Chan zum Herrscherstamme welterobernder Heere erhoben ward, nahmen türkische und tatarische Völker diesen Nahmen in Anspruch, wie, als die Türken und Tataren die Herrschaft inne hatten, Türken Tataren und Tataren Türken heissen wollten. Erst in neueren Zeiten … wollen die Mongolen und Kalmücken nicht mehr Tataren, und die Osmanen nicht mehr Türken heissen.
About Mongols, Tatars, Turks, Kalmyks, Ottomans
Keep in mind
Hammer's own theory of name-borrowing, with a dismissive remark about the 'vanity of barbarous peoples'.
