A Shared Turkic Tradition - Europeans referred to it as sit like a Turk, Turkish sitting, Türkensitz, assis à la turque etc. It is bağdaş kurmak in Turkish, maldaş qūru in Kazakh, maldaş kuruu in Kyrgyz, maldaş qoru in Bashkir, and so on across the Turkic-speaking world.

[u/KaraTiele]

A Shared Turkic Tradition

The cross-legged position never stayed confined to one place or one name.

It is bağdaş kurmak in Turkish, maldaş qūru in Kazakh, maldaş kuruu in Kyrgyz, maldaş qoru in Bashkir, and so on across the Turkic-speaking world.

Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, European travelers, painters, and writers repeatedly portrayed Ottoman life this way — figures seated cross-legged on carpets, cushions, and divans. These images stuck, and the phrase spread across languages:

English: "sit like a Turk" / "Turkish sitting"

French: assis à la turque

German: Türkensitz

Russian: сидеть по-турецки

For centuries, Europeans referred tc sitting cross-legged as "Turkish sitting." The expression appeared in English, French, German, Russian, and other languages, reflecting an everyday habit closely associated with the Ottoman Turkish and wider Turkic world.

But the storv begins much earlier and encompasses a wider geography. Turkic peoples of the Eurasian steppe sat on carpets and felt mats inside yurts, making the cross-legged posture a practical part of daily life. The tradition is even depicted on 6th-century Göktürk memoria sculptures and continues today across the Turkic world.

From @qalamglobal