Toquz Oghuz (Old Turkic: , Toquz Oγuz) was a political alliance of nine Turkic tribes. Toquz Oghuz consolidated within the Turkic Kaganate (552-743), and after its fragmentation preserved their union. The etymology of their name comes from the Turkic word "Oghuz" = "Community", which developed into "Tokuz Oghuz" = "9 Oghuz (Communities)" for Uyghurs, and similarly "Uch-Oguzes" (Turkic: uch "three"). = "3 Oghuz (Communities)" for Karluks. The base for the generalized ethnical term "Oghuz" is the word "og" = "clan, tribe", which in turn descends from the ancient Turkic word "og" = "mother". Initially the word "oguz" could designate "tribes", "tribal union", and eventually became an ethnonym, which in some cased gained an additional determinant as "Toquz-Oghuz" = "9 (different) Oghuz"", "Uch-Oghuz" = "3 (different) Oghuz". Toquz Oghuz were mentioned in the Orkhon inscriptions written in the 730s AD.