stringtranslate.com

Chanyu

Reconstruction of a Xiongnu chief warrior, 2nd century BCE-1st century CE, by archaeologist A.N. Podushkin. Central State Museum of Kazakhstan.[1][2]

Chanyu (simplified Chinese: 单于; traditional Chinese: 單于; pinyin: Chányú) or Shanyu (Chinese: 善于), short for Chengli Gutu Chanyu (Chinese: 撐犁孤塗單于; pinyin: Chēnglí Gūtu Chányú), was the title used by the supreme rulers of Inner Asian nomads for eight centuries until superseded by the title "Khagan" in 402 CE.[3] The title was most famously used by the ruling Luandi clan of the Xiongnu during the Qin dynasty (221–206 BCE) and Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE). It was later also used infrequently by the Chinese as a reference to Tujue leaders.

Etymology

"Chanyu from Heaven" Tiles, Inner Mongolia Museum

According to the Book of Han, "the Xiongnu called the Heaven (天) 'Chēnglí' (撐犁) and they called a child (子) gūtú (孤塗). As for Chányú (單于), it is a "vast [and] great appearance" (廣大之貌).".[4]

L. Rogers and Edwin G. Pulleyblank argue that the title chanyu may be equivalent to the later attested title tarkhan, suggesting that the Chinese pronunciation was originally dān-ĥwāĥ, an approximation for *darxan.[5] Linguist Alexander Vovin tentatively proposes a Yeniseian etymology for 撐犁孤塗單于, in Old Chinese pronunciation *treng-ri kwa-la dar-ɢwā, from four roots: **tɨŋgɨr- "high",[6][7] *kwala- "son, child", *tɨl "lower reaches of the Yenisei" or "north", and *qʌ̄j ~ *χʌ̄j "prince"; as a whole "Son of Heaven, Ruler of the North".[8][9]

List of Xiongnu Chanyus

Notes

  1. ^ a.k.a. Batur < Baγatur [11]
  2. ^ "underage"[12]
  3. ^ a.k.a. Chedihou
  4. ^ 若鞮 (pinyin ruòdī), glossed as "respectful to parents;[12]: 107  filial piety"[13] in Hànshū; Pulleyblank reconstructs 若鞮's Early Middle Chinese pronunciation as *njak-tei & instead compares this to Tocharian A ñäkci or Toch. B ñäkc(i)ye "godly, heavenly"

Northern Xiongnu (北匈奴)

Southern Xiongnu (南匈奴)

Da Chanyu (大單于)

Chanyu family trees

See also

References

  1. ^ Museum notice
  2. ^ Kradin, Nikolay N. (23 January 2020). "Some Aspects of Xiongnu History in Archaeological Perspective". Competing Narratives between Nomadic People and their Sedentary Neighbours. Vol. 53. pp. 149–165. doi:10.14232/sua.2019.53.149-165. ISBN 978-963-306-708-6. Nonetheless, among archaeologists, there are many supporters of the Xiongnu migration to the West. In recent years, S. Botalov (2009) constructed a broad picture of the migration of the Xiongnu to the Urals, and then Europe. In Kazakhstan, A.N. Podushkin discovered the Arysskaya culture with a distinct stage of Xiongnu influence (2009). Russian archaeologists are actively studying the Hun sites in the Caucasus (Gmyrya 1993; 1995)
    Podushkin, A.A. 2009. Xiongnu v Yuznom Kazakhstane. In: Nomady kazakhstanskikh stepey: etnosociokulturnye protsessy i kontakty v Evrazii skifo sakskoy epokhi: Edited by Z. Samashev, Astana: Ministry of Culture and Information of the Kazakhstan Republic: 147‒154     {{cite book}}: |journal= ignored (help)
  3. ^ Taskin V.S. "Materials on history of Dunhu group nomadic tribes", Moscow, 1984, p. 305,306, (Таскин В.С. "Mатериалы по истории древних кочевых народов группы Дунху") (in Russian)
  4. ^ Book of Han, Vol. 94-I, 匈奴謂天為「撐犁」，謂子為「孤塗」，單于者，廣大之貌也.
  5. ^ Universität Bonn. Seminar für Sprach- und Kulturwissenschaft Zentralasiens: Zentralasiatische Studien, Vol. 24–26, p.21
  6. ^ Georg, Stefan (2001): Türkisch/Mongolisch tengri "Himmel/Gott" und seine Herkunft. Studia Etymologica Cracoviensia 6: 83–100.
  7. ^ Starostin, Sergei A., and Merritt Ruhlen. (1994). Proto-Yeniseian Reconstructions, with Extra-Yeniseian Comparisons. In M. Ruhlen, On the Origin of Languages: Studies in Linguistic Taxonomy. Stanford: Stanford University Press. pp. 70–92. [Partial translation of Starostin 1982, with additional comparisons by Ruhlen.]
  8. ^ "Once again on the Etymology of the title qaɣan", in Studia Etyologica Crocoviensia, (2007) vol. 12, p. 177-185
  9. ^ "Did the Xiongnu speak a Yeniseian language? Part 2: Vocabulary", in Altaica Budapestinensia MMII, Proceedings of the 45th Permanent International Altaistic Conference, Budapest, June 23–28, pp. 389–394.
  10. ^ Schuessler, Axel (2014). "Phonological Notes on Hàn Period Transcriptions of Foreign Names and Words". Studies in Chinese and Sino-Tibetan Linguistics: Dialect, Phonology, Transcription and Text. Language and Linguistics Monograph Series. Taipei, Taiwan: Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica (53).
  11. ^ Hirth F. Sinologische Beitrage zur Geschichte der Turk-Volker. Die Ahnentafel Attila's nach Johannes von Thurocz. Bull. Imp. Acad, series V, vol. XIII, 1900, No 2, pp. 221–261.
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Bichurin N.Ya. (1851). Collection of information on peoples in Central Asia in ancient times. Vol. 1. p. 46
  13. ^ Pulleyblank, E. G. "Chinese and Indo-Europeans." Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, no. 1/2 (1966): 9–39. www.jstor.org/stable/25202896.
  14. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l R. de Crespigny, "Northern Frontier: the policies and strategy of the Later Han empire", Australian National University Faculty of Asian Studies Monographs, New Series No.4, Canberra 1984, "The Division and Destruction of the Xiongnu Confederacy, Rafe de Crespigny, Publications, Faculty of Asian Studies, ANU". Archived from the original on 2011-01-01. Retrieved 2010-12-17.
  15. ^ [1] Archived 2011-11-30 at the Wayback Machine note 208

Further reading