The Issyk inscription is a yet undeciphered text, possibly in the Kushan script,[1] found in 1969 on a silver bowl in Issyk kurgan in Kazakhstan, dated at approximately the 4th century BC. The context of the burial gifts indicates that it may belong to Saka tribes.
The Issyk inscription is not yet certainly deciphered, and is probably in a Scythian dialect, constituting one of very few autochthonous epigraphic traces of that language. János Harmatta, using the Kharoṣṭhī script, identified the language as a Khotanese Saka dialect spoken by the Kushans, tentatively translating:[2]
Zaur Hasanov (2015) identifies the script as an ancient Turkic language, related or identical to the Orkhon-Yenisei script, and translates it as:[3]
It contains a poetic expression of respect for the dead, which is considered significant as the Turks followed Tengrism, in which there is a cult of the ancestors.
A subsequent analysis in 2019 by Ball et al. disagrees with the arguments by Hasanov et al. 2015.[4]
Orçun Ünal (2019) argues that if the Issyk inscription is not an Iranian (Khotanese Saka) language, it may be a Proto-Mongolic language with strong contact to neighbouring Iranian languages, associating them with the 'Argippaei'. Ünal cautions that this does not mean that the "Issyk people" spoke a Mongolic language, but that the artifacts may have been of "foreigen" origin and given to the Saka as form of tribute.[5]
A 2023 analysis by Bonmann et al. identifies the Issyk language with a new sub-branch of the Eastern Iranian languages, particularly a language "situated in between Bactrian-, Sogdian-, Saka- and Old Steppe Iranian". They also argue "since it is not an ‘unknown script’ anymore, we suggest to call the writing system ‘(Issyk-)Kushan script’ from now on".[1]
