The Kipchak-Kuman tribe, the Khazars, the Uzuns, which were part of a powerful Khazar state and were converted to Karaism in 8th-10th century. In time, common religion and language united these tribes into one nation. In their native language, they call themselves Karaj (plural Karajlar. In Turkiye, we call them Karay, Karaylar). The Crimean, Halych-Lutsk and Lithuanian Karaims share common origin, history, religion, language, spiritual and material culture, and they make one nation.
Karaims (replica), Rasa Vaiciulyté, clay.
Photo: Füsun Kavrakoğlu, Karaites Ethnographical Exhibition, Trakai, Lithuania, 2026.
Europe first learnt about the Karaim language in 17th century, when Oriental cultures became the object of interest.
The German orientalist, pastor Johannes Buxtorf the Younger, was one of the first in Europe to provide information on the Karaim language in the 17th century. He reported that in Crimea, Karaims read the Old Testament in a Turkic language. In 1691, Professor Gustav Peringer from Uppsala University (Sweden) stated that Karaims speak a Turkic language.
According to the scientific classification of languages, the Karaim language belongs to the group of West Kipchak languages of the Turkic family and is close to the Crimean Tatar language, the dead Polovtsian (Cuman) language, as well as the modern Balkar, Karachay, Gagauz, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Bashkir, Kumyk languages and other languages of the Kipchak group. The Karaim language includes three dialects – Trakai, Halych-Lutsk and Crimean.
Historically, different writing systems have been used to write the Karaim language: Hebrew, Arabic, Cyrillic and Latin. Currently published in Lithuania, the Karaim literature is based on the Lithuanian alphabet with additional symbols.
The Karaim language is on the UNESCO World Heritage List of endangered languages. Only 30 people can use it (only the Trakai dialect), all of whom live in Lithuania.
In order to prevent the extinction of the language, since 2003 the Lithuanian Karaim Culture Society organizing annual international language and culture summer camps which attracts Karaims from various countries.
The first publication (religious hymn) in Karaim was printed in 1528 in Venice, Italy. The first scientific article about the Lithuanian Karaim language was published by the Swedish scientist Gustav Peringer in 1691 in Leipzig. The first printed volume of secular poetry in the Karaim language was published in 1904 in Kyiv, as a book of poetry by Simon Kobecki entitled Songs in the years 1924-1939, the periodical Karaim Thought was published in Vilnius.
Kenesas, Halina Kobeckaité, Vilnius, 2019.
Information panels of Karaites Ethnographical Exhibition, Karaimu Street 22.
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