Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hung. Volume 69 (3), 265 – 283 (2016) DOI: 10.1556/062.2016.69.3.3 0001-6446 / $ 20.00 © 2016 Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest ON THE YENISEI KIRGHIZ TITLE Ɩ-RÈ * RYSBEK ALIMOV Izmir Katip Çelebi University, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Department of Turkish Language and Literature, Balatçık, Çiğli, Izmir, Turkey e-mail: alimoff@gmail.com This paper examines the term Ɨ-rè recorded in mediaeval Chinese historical sources as the title of the ruler of the Yenisei Kirghiz state. The author aims to discover which Old Turkic title this Chi- nese phonetic transcription corresponds to. By reconstructing the sounds in Ɨ-rè according to Middle Chinese the author argues that the most likely pronunciation of the term was änäl, which he sug- gests is a phonetic variant of the Old Turkic title inäl. The author also argues that this was a tempo- rary title of the ruler of the Yenisei Kirghiz during their vassalage under the Uyghurs. Key words: Ɨ-rè, inäl, Yenisei Kirghiz, Old Turkic, Tang period, Middle Chinese. 1. Introduction The mediaeval Chinese chronicles, like Xin Tang Shu, record – among other titles – the title Ɨ-rè for the ruler of the Yenisei Kirghiz. Although many authors have examined the etymology, semantics, and possible Old Turkic equivalents of this title, the exact Old Turkic form to which this Chinese phonetic transcription corresponds is still a matter of debate. Almost all sources on the history of early mediaeval Central Asia merely indicate that the highest status within the social structure of the Yenisei Kir- ghiz state during that period was Ɨ-rè. However, prompted by historical sources, the word Ɨ-rè, principally in its Cyrillic transcription as ажо, gained wide currency in contemporary Kirghiz language. In my previous publication on this lemma I defined * I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Prof. Dr. Jarkyn Tursun (Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, China), Prof. Dr. Jaehun Jeoung (Gyeongsang National University, Korea), Dr. Yong-Sŏng Li (Seoul National University, Korea), Dr. Shane Brennan and Dr. Patrick Taylor (Mardin Artuklu University, Turkey) for their valuable comments in writing this paper.