en.m.wiktionary.org
Etymology: Sumerian šŗ
(du, āto goā).
Historical origin of Urdu is Sumerian and Turks are not the only people to have the word Urdu, Ordo, or Ordu. Urdu is also a Hindustani word. It is of very ancient origin and in Sumerian would literally mean 'to go from Ur', or 'come from Ur', or 'move about Ur'. Sumerian language is based on adfixed words. Another example is the word Lugal. Lu means Man and Gal means High or Up, thus Lugal means King or Big Man. I believe the word gal in Punjabi might be related. I am not Punjabi, but I know Ki Gal Hai means What's Up.
The Great Horde, which is the Kipchak Khanate, its original name is Altın Orda/Ordu/Urda (in Tatar Turkish Altın Urda, and Altan Ord in Mongolian). In Turkish and Mongolian, Ord/Orda means "otaÄ*(OtaÄ, Hakan/Khan's marquee, magnificent and big tent in Turkish, Altai and Mongolian folk culture)" and great gathering place. Altın/Altun means gold. It is rumored that this state was called the AltınOrda or the Ak(White)Orda because the upper part of the white pavilion of Batu Khan, the founder of the state, was gilded. In other words, it has been translated into English sources with a meaning shift.
The Kipchak Turks moved from Central Asia to the Urals around the 8th-9th century and established superiority here. Then we know that they were around Syr Darya, side by side with the Oghuzes and scattered throughout Central Asia. The real cultural contact with the peoples of the Middle East started after this period.
In Divanı Lugati TĆ¼rk, written by KaÅgarlı Mahmut, which has the distinction of being the most important work on Turkic languages, the meaning is given as the city where Hakan/Khan resides.
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If I had to summarize some Urdu/Orda related words and meanings for you;
(Turkish and Mongolian)
Mongolian ordu(n) urdu(n)(=palace, camp, tent)
Old Uyghur ordu and ortu (= palace, camp) ,
Yakut ordu(= army, order),
Kipchak ordu/orda(= city, assembly place)
And as i mentioned above, In the dictionary of KaÅgarlı Mahmut, the ordu meant the city where the hakan/khan lived.
Excessive proximity to Sumerian words, even in some Turkish tribes that do not have cultural contact with the peoples of the Middle East, is a completely different matter of discussion. We can discuss this in another thread.
But as today's meaning of Urda/Horde; the relation of Sumerian is mostly related to the meaning in latin , germanic languages
Some historians and linguistics believed that is inherited from the Latin word Årdo (= order, arrangement, sequence; regular ordering)
German Horde (= army, herd, crowd),
Portuguese horda (= army),
English horde (= army, herd, crowd) and
The French words horde (= herd, horde, army) are pronounced. In addition to these, the Italian words ordine (= order, line, team) and Portuguese ordem (= order, team, order, unity) are also used.
For this reason, the word ordu in modern Turkish has probably a Turkic origin however, there is a semantic shift originating from the Sumerian-Hittite. Because we know that words such as koÅun and goÅun are used more as a military army in many other Turkish dialects such as Uzbek, Turkish, Azerbaijani Turkish, Modern Uyghur Turkish etc.
But if you want to establish connection with Sumerian and Hittite solely, the right word is Uru, not Urda/Orda. The word Uru is used in the sense of city in Sumerian and Hittite sources.