Xiongnu language

Xiongnu, also referred to as Xiong-nu or Hsiung-nu is the language(s) presumed to be spoken by the Xiongnu, a people and confederation which existed from the 3rd century BCE to 100 AD. It is sparsely attested, and the extant material available on it composes of about 150 words, as well as what may be a two-line text transcribed using Chinese characters,^[1] which the Xiongnu may have used themselves for writing their language.^[2]

Apart from tribal and sovereign names, some words, a song in the potentially related Jie language, and Chinese descriptions, the language(s) of the Xiongnu is very poorly documented, and very fragmentarily attested.

The origin of the Xiongnu is disputed and no theory has more support than another.

Xiongnu, with our current information, is unclassifiable^[3] or a language isolate,^[4] that is, a language whose relationship with another language is not apparent.

According to Savelyev and Jeong (2020):^[5]

The predominant part of the Xiongnu population is likely to have spoken Turkic.

However, on the basis of genetics, the Xiongnu were likely multiethnic.^[5]

Wink (2002) suggests that the Xiongnu spoke an ancient form of Turkic, and if they were not Turkic themselves, that they were influenced by Turkic peoples.

Benjamin (2007) proposes that the Xiongnu were either Proto-Turks or Proto-Mongols, and that their language would have been similar to that of the Dingling.

Chinese historical works link the Xiongnu to various Turkic peoples:

• The ruling dynasty of the Göktürks were originally part of the Xiongnu.
• The Uyghur khagans claimed Xiongnu ancestry.
• The Book of Wei states that the Yueban were descended from the northern Xiongnu. It is also stated that Yueban language and customs were similar to those of the Tiele.
• The Book of Jin lists 14 southern Xiongnu tribes who entered Old Yan^[specify], and some of the tribal names have been compared to Old Turkic.

In the 20th century, Lajos Ligeti was the first linguist to hypothesize on the Yeniseian origin of the Xiongnu language. In the early 1960s, Edwin Pulleyblank further developed this theory and added evidence.

The Yeniseian origin theory proposes that the Jie, a Western Xiongnu people, were Yeniseians.^[6] Hyun Jin Kim found similarities in a Jie-language song in the Book of Jin (composed during the 7th century) to Yeniseian.^{[7][8][failed verification]} Pulleyblank and Vovin then affirmed that the Jie were the minority ruling class of the Xiongnu, ruling over the other Turkic and Iranian groups.

According to Kim, the dominant language of the Xiongnu was likely Turkic or Yeniseian, but their empire was multiethnic.

It is possible that Xiongnu nobility titles originated from Yeniseian and were loaned into Turkic and Serbi-Mongolic languages:^[4][9]

• The words "tarqan", "tegin", and "kaghan" originate from Xiongnu, and they may therefore have a Yeniseian origin.
• The Xiongnu word for "heaven" may be derived from Proto-Yeniseian *tɨŋVr.

Certain Xiongnu words appear to be cognate with Yeniseian:^[9][10]

• Xiongnu kʷala "son" compared to Ket qalek "younger son".
• Xiongnu sakdak "boot" compared to Ket sagdi "boot".
• Xiongnu gʷawa "prince" compared to Ket gij "prince".
• Xiongnu dar "north" compared to Yugh tɨr "north"

According to Pulleyblank, the consonant cluster /rl/ appears word-initially in certain Xiongnu words. This indicates that Xiongnu may not have a Turkic origin. Most of the attested vocabulary also appears Yeniseian in nature.^[11]

Vovin remarks that certain horse names in Xiongnu appear to be Turkic with Yeniseian prefixes.^[9]

Savelyev and Jeong doubt the theory of Yeniseian origin as the Xiongnu genetically correspond to Iranians, unlike Yeniseians, who have a strong Samoyedic affinity.^[5]

It is also possible that Xiongnu is linked to Yeniseian in a Para-Yeniseian phylum, both linked in a Xiongnu-Yeniseian family, but others believe it was a Southern Yeniseian language.^[10][12]

As a result, there are two competing models for the classification of Xiongnu into Yeniseian:

Certain linguists posit that the Xiongnu spoke a language similar to Mongolic. According to some Mongolian archaeologists, the people of the slab-grave culture were the ancestors of the Xiongnu, and some scholars believe the Xiongnu were the ancestors of Mongols.

According to Bichurin, the Xianbei and the Xiongnu were the same people, just with different states.^[13]

The Book of Wei indicates that the Rouanrouans were descendants of the Donghu. The Book of Liang adds:

They [the Rouanrouans] also constituted a branch of the Xiongnu.

Ancient Chinese sources also designate various nomadic peoples to be the ancestors of the Xiongnu:

• The Kumo Xi, speakers of a Para-Mongolic language
• The Göktürks, who spoke the Orkhon Turkic language (or Göktürk), a Siberian Turkic language.
• The Tiele, who also spoke Turkic.

Other elements seem to indicate a Mongolic or Serbi-Mongolic origin of the Xiongnu :

• Genghis Khan designated the era of Modu Chanyu, in a letter addresed to the Taoist Qiu Chuji, as "the bygone times of our Chanyu".
• Xiongnu solar and lunar symbols resemble the Mongolic Soyombo symbol.^[14]

On the basis of Xiongnu names of nobility, it was proposed that the Xiongnu spoke an Iranian language.

Beckwith suggests that the name "Xiongnu" is cognate with the word "Scythian", or "Saka", or "Sogdian" (all referring to Central Iranian peoples).^[15][16] According to him, the Iranians directed the Xiongnu and influenced their culture and models. ^[15]

Harmatta (1994) affirms that Xiongnu names are of Scythian origin, and that Xiongnu would therefore be an Eastern Iranian language.

According to Savelyev et Jeong (2020), ancient Iranians contributed significantly to Xiongnu culture. Additionally, genetic studues indicate that 5% to 25% of Xiongnu were of Iranian origin.^[5]

Other, less developed, hypotheses posit that Xiongnu is of Finno-Ugric^[17] or Sino-Tibetan affiliation.^[18] It is possible that some eastern Xiongnu peoples may have spoken a Koreanic language.^{[19][20][21][22]}

A more developed and supported hypothesis than the previous ones indicate a multiethnic origin, and the primary language of the Xiongnu would be too poorly attested to conclude a relationship to any other language.^[23]

Certain researchers state that Huns and the Hunas are linked,^[24] but this is debated.^[25]

• Huns
• Proto-Mongols
• Yeniseian people

• Savelyev, Alexander; Jeong, Choongwoon (7 May 2020). "Early nomads of the Eastern Steppe and their tentative connections in the West". Evolutionary Human Sciences. 2. doi:10.1017/ehs.2020.18. hdl:21.11116/0000-0007-772B-4. PMC 7612788. PMID 35663512.
• Vovin, Alexander (2000). "Did the Xiong-nu speak a Yeniseian language?". Central Asiatic Journal. 44 (1): 87–104. JSTOR 41928223.
• Vovin, Alexander (2003). Did the Xiongnu speak a Yeniseian language? Part 2: Vocabulary. Altaica Budapestinensia MMII.
• Vovin, Alexander; Edward Vajda; Étienne de la Vaissière (2016). Who were the *Kjet (羯) and what language did they speak?. Journal Asiatique.
• Vovin, Alexander (2015). ONCE AGAIN ON THE ETYMOLOGY OF THE TITLE qaγan. Cracovie: Studia Etymologica Cracoviensia. Retrieved 21 August 2022.
• Andreas Hölzl (2018). A typology of questions in Northeast Asia and beyond. Martin Haspelmath. p. 532. doi:10.5281/zenodo.1344467. ISBN 978-3-96110-102-3. ISSN 2363-5568. Retrieved 21 August 2022.
• A. Wink (2002). Al-Hind: making of the Indo-Islamic World. Brill. ISBN 0-391-04174-6.
• Beckwith, Christopher I. (16 March 2009). Empires of the Silk Road: A History of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the Present. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-13589-2. Retrieved 22 August 2022.
• Craig Benjamin (18 April 2013). The Huns, Rome and the Birth of Europe. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-107-06722-6. Retrieved 20 August 2022.
• Denis Sinor. Aspects of Altaic Civilization III.
• D. Tumen (February 2011). Anthropology of Archaeological Populations from Northeast Asia (PDF). Dankook: Oriental Studies. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-07-29. Retrieved 21 August 2022.
• Harold W. Bailey (1985). Indo-Scythian Studies: being Khotanese Texts. Cambridge University Press. JSTOR 312539. Retrieved 22 August 2022.
• Huang Yungzhi; Li Hui (2017). The genetic and linguistic evidence for the Xiongnu-Yenisseian hypothesis (PDF). Man In India. Retrieved 21 August 2022.
• Hyun Jin Kim (2013). The Huns, Rome and the Birth of Europe. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-107-00906-6.
• Hyun Jin Kim (November 2015). The Huns. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1317340904. Retrieved 21 August 2022.
• János Harmatta (1 January 1994). History of Civilizations of Central Asia: The Development of Sedentary and Nomadic Civilizations, 700 B. C. to A. D. 250. UNESCO. ISBN 978-9231028465. Retrieved 22 August 2022.
• Joo-Yup Lee (2016). The Historical Meaning of the Term Turk and the Nature of the Turkic Identity of the Chinggisid and Timurid Elites in Post-Mongol Central Asia. Central Asiatic Journal.
• Di Cosmo, Nicola (2004). Ancient China and its Enemies: The Rise of Nomadic Power in East Asian History. Cambridge University Press. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
• N. Bichurin (1950). Collection of information on the peoples who inhabited Central Asia in ancient times.
• Peter B. Golden (1992). "Chapter VI – The Uyğur Qağante (742–840)".". An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples: Ethnogenesis and State-Formation in Medieval and Early Modern Eurasia and the Middle East. Wiesbaden: O. Harrassowitz. ISBN 978-3-447-03274-2. Retrieved 20 August 2022.
• Peter B. Golden (2013). Some Notes on the Avars and Rouran. Iași: Curta, Maleon.
• Peter B. Golden (August 2018). The Ethnogonic Tales of the Türks. The Medieval History Journal. Retrieved 20 August 2022.
• Shimin Geng (2005). 阿尔泰共同语、匈奴语探讨 (in Chinese). 语言与翻译. ISSN 1001-0823. OCLC 123501525. Archived from the original on 2012-02-25. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
• Sun Xumeng (14 September 2020). Identifying the Huns and the Xiongnu (or Not): Multi-Faceted Implications and Difficulties (PDF). PRISM: University of Calgary's Digital Repository (Thesis). Retrieved 21 August 2022.
• Ts. Baasansuren (2010). The scholar who showed the true Mongolia to the world. Mongolica.
• Ying-Shih Yü (1990). The Hsiung-Nu. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.