ALAT

ALAT or Alat may refer to:

Alat tribe

Alat (Ala-at, Ala, Alachin, Alagchin, Alchin, Alchi, Alayundu ("piebald horse"); Chinese Boma 駁馬 "piebald horse", Bi-la, Helai 賀賴, Helan 賀蘭, Heloγ, Hela, Arabic Khalaj and Khalaches, Bactrian Xalaso,) are one of the salient Turkic tribes known from Chinese annals, Bactrian inscriptions, and Arab and Persian medieval geographers as a prominent tribe that played a distinguished role in the history of Eurasia. In "Tang huiyao" the Alat tamga is depicted as The modern Alats live in Russia in the Altai, Kazakhstan, Turkey, eastern section of the Iranian plateau, India, and Afghanistan, they are known as Alats, Alachins, Alayundu, Khalaj, and Khalaches.

Literature on Alats is very rich, Alats were a subject of study by Tangshu, Jiu Tangshu, Tang Huiyao, N.Ya. Bichurin, S.E.Malov, N.A.Aristov, G.E.Grumm-Grjimailo, Yu.Nemeth, G.Hоworth, P. Pelliot, L Hambis, and others.

Name

In ancient Türkic lexicon the meaning of "skewbald" (horse) is expressed with the terms ala, alagchin, still active now in composite expressions. The Chinese transcription for Alachins E-lo-chji is the earliest transmission for the Alat tribe within the Kazakh Junior Juz and parts of Uzbeks. During the Tang time, the Chinese chroniclers used a Chinese version for "skewbald horses", Boma.