Original-language term or variant required. “Fayaz” and this word name tepes (“TEH-pehs”) that preserved Buddhist Gāndhārī writing near Termez. Scholars used “ilek” or this adjective to identify the Āl-i Afrāsiyāb dynasty, who patronized Yūsuf Balasaguni’s Kutadgu Bilig (“koo-TOD-goo BILL-ick”), built the Kalyan Minaret, and Islamized Khotan and Kashgar. This word and a hat name a minority whose autonomous republic contains “50 fortresses” occupied by the Khwarezmian Empire. This word identifies the Karluk “khanids” who ruled post-Samanid Transoxiana north of the Ghaznavids. Yēlǜ Dàshí’s (“yeh-loo dah-shurr’s”) Western Liáo (“lee-ow”) are also called this sort of Khitans. This Turkic adjective describes the animals grazed by Jahan Shah’s confederacy before it was driven from modern Iraq by the rival Aq Qoyunlu Turcomans. For 10 points, what word for “black” is a prefix in the names of the desert that contains Merv and the main capital of the Mongol Empire? ■END■
ANSWER: kara [or qara, k’ra, kora, khara, kālā, or gara; accept Karakorum, Karakum Desert, Kara Koyunlu, Qaraqoyunlular, Kara Khitai, Kālā Qìdān, Karakhanids, Kara-Khanid Khanate, Qarākhāniyān, Karakalpaks, Qaraqalpaqlar, Karakalpakstan, or Kara Tepe; prompt on black or hēi until “black” is read by asking “that is a translation of what non-English word?”] (Gāndhārī is also called Kharoshṭhī. The Kalyan Minaret is in Bukhara.)
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= Average correct buzz position