Khalaj people

The Khalaj people are a Turkic people that speak the Khalaj language, which is thought to be one of the closest languages to Old Turkic.

According to Mahmud al-Kashgari, they were mentioned at Divânu Lügati't-Türk:

"Twenty twos call them "Kal aç" in Turkish. This means "Stay hungry". Later, they were called "Xalac". Their origins are these."

"Oguzs and Kipchaks translate "x" to k". They are a group of "Xalac"s. They say "xızım", whereas Turks say "kızım" (my daughter). And again other Turks say "kande erdinğ", whereas they say "xanda erdinğ", this means "where were you ?"

According to Zemarcos' Syriac chronicle, Khalajes would be remnants of Hephthalites, were separate Turkic people. He was ambassador of Byzantine Empire to Western Gokturk Khanate in 568. According to Al Khwarizmi, was Samanid officer, they were considered as descendants of Hepthtalithes along with Kanjina Turks. Ibn Khordadbeh mentioned Khalajes lived beyond Syr Darya of the Talas region in his book Kitāb al-Masālik w’al- Mamālik with Karluks. But the information comes into contradictions that make it unreliable. The similarity between Khalaj and Karluk is difficult to determine the truth.

They ruled Zabulistan as vassals of Tahirids with title of Zunbil. They were subjugated by Ya'qub-i Laith Saffari, was founder of Saffarids in 879. According to Saffarid sources they were inhabitants of Zabulistan, this meant they lived in present Afghanistan and among Ghazni and Zamindawar. Later, they were successively ruled by Samanids and Ghaznavids.

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Wikipedia