Crossword Genius

Language old Turkic rulers picked up after a day? (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

afrikaans

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'language' is the definition.
(Afrikaans is an example)

'old turkic rulers picked up after a day?' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'a' could be 'an' and 'an' is located in the answer.
'day?' could be 'fri' (abbreviation for Friday) and 'fri' is found within the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for afrikaans that I've seen before include "Tongue used in Africa" , "Southern language derived from Dutch" , "Dutch relative" , "Boer language" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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