Kyrgyzstan

The earliest notable residents of what is now Kyrgyzstan were warrior tribes of Saka (also known as Scythians), from about the 6th century BC to the 5th century AD.[7] The Sakan speakers were gradually conquered and acculturated by the Turkic expansion to Central Asia beginning in the 4th century. The only known remnants of the Sakan language come from Xinjiang, China, but the language there is widely divergent from the rest of Iranian and accordingly is called eastern or northeastern Iranian.[8] The original meaning of the word Kyrgyz has several interpretations. One variant alleges that "kyrgyz" originally meant "red". This colour also marked the "south country" of original Turkic nations. Another variant is from the old Karakalpak epos, where the term "kyrk kyz" (meaning "forty girls") is mentioned, which would name the whole nation. There are also a couple of other, less likely speculations.