The first part Sar is cognate with Chuvashšur 'white', while kel/kil reflects a now lost West Middle Iranian cognate of Sanskrit grḥ a ‘house’, Russian gorod ‘town’, Gothicgarths ‘house’. Marcel Erdal, Khazar Language, in Peter B. Golden et al. (eds.). The World of the Khazars. New Perspectives.BRILL pp. 75-108,pp.85-86; Károly Cseglédy, "Šarkel: An Ancient Turkish Word for 'House'" in D.Sinor, ed., Aspects of Altaic Culture (Uralic and Altaic studies no. 23) (Bloomington and the Hague, 1963), pp. 23-31.
