Linguistic Significance
Linguists are interested in the letter because the names of the community members are of Turkic, Slavic, and Hebrew origins (for example, names such as: "Hanukkah," "Yehudah," "Gostata," and "Kiabar"). There is some disagreement as to whether these Jews were Israelites who had taken local names, or whether their names indicate Turkic or Slavic origins. The debate is complicated by the presence of the name Kiabar Kohen. According to Omeljan Pritsak, this name indicates that non-Israelite Khazars adopted the status of Kohen, possibly because they had formed a pre-conversion priestly caste. An alternative scenario is that Israelite Jews in Khazaria adopted Khazar Turkic names, much in the same way that Jews, including prominent rabbis, had adopted Aramaic, Persian, Arabic, Greek, and German names.
The letter contains the only written record of the Khazar language extant today - the single word-phrase "I have read (it)." This appears to be a sign of approval from a Khazar magistrate. (Similar inscriptions, in Latin and Greek are found in Byzantine documents from roughly the same period.)
Read more about this topic: Kievian Letter
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