Received: August 7, 2021 • Accepted: April 17, 2022 © 2022 Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest Acta Orientalia Hung. 75 (2022) 3, 439–462 DOI: 10.1556/062.2022.00213 * Corresponding author. Email: akgul@amu.edu.pl A New Version of the Edige Epic from the Crimea: Karaim or Krymchak? Gulayhan Aqt ay 1* and Tülay Çulha 2 1 Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland 2 Kocaeli University, Kocaeli, Turkey ABSTRACT Tis paper presents a critical edition of a hitherto unknown Crimean version of the famous Noghay epic Edige. Tis version is anonymous and undated, probably copied in the 19 th century. It contains seven pages of a codex of various contents and is incomplete. Despite being so short, this version is very interesting as it was copied in Hebrew script. Afer comparing this text with other versions, such as those in Crimean Tatar, Noghay, Baraba, Karakalpak and Kazakh, the article demonstrates that this version is closest to the Crimean Tatar and Noghay versions. KEYWORDS Edige, epic, Crimean Tatar, Noghay, Crimean Karaim or Krymchak, manuscript, critical edition 1. HISTORICAL EDIGÜ AND THE EDIGE EPIC The fact that Edige – one of the chief protagonists of the epic and Tokhtamysh’s adversary – is a historical figure has been proved beyond any doubt (Golden 1992: 311, Trepavlov 2002: 62–85). The Noghays consider him the founder of the Manghyt or Noghay state (Trepavlov 2002: 72). Edige (d. 1419) was not a khan, but he was a powerful army commander, being the chief com- mander of the left wing of the Golden Horde from 1395 to 1419. His name appears in various forms in the sources. This is first evidenced in a letter sent by Tokhtamysh to the Polish King and the Lithuanian Duke Jagiello in 1393 as ᠡᡑᠤᠺ ’dvkv, i.e., Edügü, a name Radloff (1888: 10) Authenticated kosagabor9@gmail.com | Downloaded 09/22/22 10:01 AM UTC