ON THE ORIGINS AND MEANING OF THE POLITICAL TITLES AJO AND IDI OF THE ALTAI-YENISEIAN KYRGYZ

In scientific literature there is no consensus still about the origin of the title Kyrgyz-ajo, the ancient Yeniseian Kyrgyz state rulers. In this article, in the light of new information sources, we made an attempt to find a new interpretation of the meaning of the term and its evolution which can be traced in the political tradition of the Yenisei, Altai and Tian Shan Kyrgyz, who used the terms in the late Middle Ages. The simultaneous usage of the terms inal and idi at the beginning of the XIIIth century shows them as political nomenclature in the titles of the Altai-Yeniseian Kyrgyz. It also shows the vulnerability of the arguments of those researchers who assume the identity of the terms inal and aje /idi