Editing Huns (section)

== Origin ==
{{main|Origin of the Huns}}
{{Continental Asia in 400 CE (Huns)|right|The [[Eurasian Steppe]] Belt ({{Colorsample|rgba(154, 205, 50, 0.5)|0.6}}), and main contemporary continental Asian polities circa 400 CE. Towards the east of the Steppe Belt, the rise of the powerful [[Rouran Khaganate]] may have encouraged the migration of the Huns to the west.{{sfn|Haug|2019|p=64}} On the other hand, some historians have noted a high synchronicity between the "reign of terror" of [[Attila]] in the west and the southern expansion of the [[Hephthalites]], a vassal state of the Rourans, with extensive territorial overlap between the Huns and the Hephthalites in Central Asia.{{sfn|Lomazoff|Ralby|2013|p=246}} }} The origins of the Huns and their links to other steppe people remain uncertain:{{sfnm|1a1=Heather|1y=2010|1p=502 |2a1=de la Vaissière|2y=2015|2p=176}} scholars generally agree that they originated in Central Asia but disagree on the specifics of their origins. Classical sources assert that they appeared in Europe suddenly around 370.{{sfn|de la Vaissière|2015|p=177}}

===Roman-era sources===
Most typically, Roman writers' attempts to elucidate the origins of the Huns simply equated them with earlier steppe peoples.{{sfn|Maenchen-Helfen|1973|p=7}} Roman writers repeated a tale that the Huns had entered the domain of the Goths while they were pursuing a wild stag, or else one of their cows that had escaped, across the [[Kerch Strait]] into [[Crimea]]. Discovering the land fertile, they then attacked the Goths.{{sfn|Thompson|1996|p=20}} [[Jordanes]]' ''[[Getica]]'' relates that the Goths held the Huns to be offspring of "unclean spirits" and Gothic witches (''Getica'' 24:121).{{sfnm|1a1=Maenchen-Helfen|1y=1973|1p=5 |2a1=Heather|2y=2010|2p=209}}

=== Relation to the Xiongnu and other peoples called Huns ===
[[File:Hsiung-nu-Empire.png|thumb|left|Domain and influence of [[Xiongnu]] under [[Modu Chanyu]] around 205 BC: the area hypothesised to have formed the cradle of Hun culture.]]
Since [[Joseph de Guignes]] in the {{nobr|18th century}}, modern historians have associated the Huns who appeared on the borders of Europe in the {{nobr|4th century AD}} with the [[Xiongnu]] who had invaded numerous [[Zhongyuan|Central Plain]] polities from the [[Mongolian Plateau]] between the {{nobr|3rd century BC}} and the {{nobr|2nd century AD}}.{{sfn|de la Vaissière|2015|p=175, 180}} After the [[Han–Xiongnu War|devastating defeat by the Han dynasty]], the [[Xiongnu#Northern Xiongnu|northern branch]] of the Xiongnu retreated north-westward; their descendants may have migrated through the [[Eurasian Steppe]] and consequently they may have some degree of cultural and genetic continuity with the Huns.{{sfn|Wright|2011|p=60}} Scholars also discussed the relationship between the Xiongnu, the Huns, and a number of people in central Asia who were also known as or came to be identified with the name "Hun" or "[[Iranian Huns]]". The most prominent of these were [[Chionites]], the [[Kidarites]], and the [[Hephthalites]].{{sfn|Pohl|1999|p=501}}

[[Otto J. Maenchen-Helfen]] was the first to challenge the traditional approach, based primarily on the study of written sources, and to emphasize the importance of archaeological research.{{sfn|de la Vaissière|2015|p=175}} Since Maenchen-Helfen's work, the identification of the Xiongnu as the Huns' ancestors has become controversial.{{sfnm|1a1=Wright|1y=2011|1p=60 |2a1=Thompson|2y=1996|2p=1 |3a1=Schottky|3y=2004 |4a1=Sinor|4y=1990|4p=178 |5a1=Heather|5y=2005|5pp=148–149}} Additionally, several scholars have questioned the identification of the "Iranian Huns" with the European Huns.{{sfnm|1a1=Schottky|1y=2004 |2a1=Sinor|2y=1990|2p=200}} Walter Pohl cautions that
<blockquote>none of the great confederations of steppe warriors was ethnically homogenous, and the same name was used by different groups for reasons of prestige, or by outsiders to describe their lifestyle or geographic origin. [...] It is therefore futile to speculate about identity or blood relationships between H(s)iung-nu, Hephthalites, and Attila's Huns, for instance. All we can safely say is that the name ''Huns'', in late antiquity, described prestigious ruling groups of steppe warriors.{{sfn|Pohl|1999|pp=501–502}}</blockquote>
[[File:Képes krónika - 7.oldal - A hunok bejövetele Pannóniába.jpg|thumb|Arrival of the Huns in Pannonia ([[Chronicon Pictum]], 1358)]]
Today, there is "no general consensus" and "scholarship is divided" on the issue of a Hun-Xiongnu connection.{{sfn|Ball|2021|p=174}} Recent supporters of a connection between the Huns and Xiongnu include [[Hyun Jin Kim]] and [[Etienne de la Vaissière]]. De la Vaissière argues that ancient Chinese and Indian sources used ''Xiongnu'' and ''Hun'' to translate each other,{{sfn|de la Vaissière|2015|pp=178–180}} and that the various "Iranian Huns" were similarly identified with the Xiongnu.{{sfn|de la Vaissière|2015|pp=181–183}} Kim believes that the term Hun was "not primarily an ethnic group, but a political category"{{sfn|Kim|2015|p=46}} and argues for a fundamental political and cultural continuity between the Xiongnu and the European Huns,{{sfnm|1a1=Kim|1y=2013|1p=31 |2a1=Kim|2y=2015|2pp=6–8}} as well as between the Xiongnu and the "Iranian Huns".{{sfn|Kim|2015|pp=39, 44–53}}

=== Etymology ===
The name ''Hun'' is attested in classical European sources as Greek ''Οὖννοι'' (''Ounnoi'') and Latin ''Hunni'' or ''Chuni''.{{sfnm|1a1=Doerfer|1y=1973|1p=8 |2a1=Werner|2y=1967|2p=528}} [[John Malalas]] records their name as ''Οὖννα'' (''Ounna'').{{sfn|Atwood|2012|p=31}} Another possible Greek variant may be ''Χοὖνοι'' (''Khounoi''), although this group's identification with the Huns is disputed.{{sfn|Kim|2015|p=66}} Classical sources also frequently use the names of older and unrelated steppe nomads instead of the name ''Hun'', calling them [[Massagetae]], [[Scythians]], and [[Cimmerians]], among other names.{{sfn|Maenchen-Helfen|1973|pp=4–9}}

The etymology of ''Hun'' is unclear. Various proposed etymologies generally assume at least that the names of the various Eurasian groups known as Huns are related. There have been a number of proposed [[Turkic languages|Turkic]] etymologies, deriving the name variously from Turkic ''ön'', ''öna'' (to grow), ''qun'' (glutton), ''kün'', ''gün'', a plural suffix "supposedly meaning 'people'",{{sfn|Maenchen-Helfen|1959|p=237}} ''qun'' (force), and ''hün'' (ferocious).{{sfn|Maenchen-Helfen|1959|p=237}} Maenchen-Helfen dismisses all of these Turkic etymologies as "mere guesses"{{sfn|Maenchen-Helfen|1959|p=236}} and proposes an [[Iranian languages|Iranian]] etymology, from a word akin to [[Avestan]] ''hūnarā'' (skill), ''hūnaravant-'' (skillful). He suggests that it may originally have designated a rank rather than an ethnicity.{{sfn|Maenchen-Helfen|1959|pp=237–238}} Robert Werner has advanced an etymology from [[Tocharian languages|Tocharian]] ''ku'' (dog), suggesting—as the Chinese called the Xiongnu dogs—that the dog was the [[totem]] animal of the Hunnic tribe. He also compares the name ''Massagetae'', noting that the element ''saka'' in that name means dog.{{sfn|Werner|1967|p=555}} Others such as Harold Bailey, S. Parlato, and Jamsheed Choksy have argued that the name derives from an Iranian word akin to Avestan ''Ẋyaona'', and was a generalized term meaning "hostiles, opponents".{{sfn|Atwood|2012|p=30}} [[Christopher Atwood]] dismisses this possibility on phonological and chronological grounds.{{sfn|Atwood|2012|p=40}} While not arriving at an etymology ''per se'', Atwood derives the name from the [[Ongi River]] in Mongolia, which was pronounced the same as, or similarly to, the name Xiongnu, and suggests that it was originally a dynastic name rather than an ethnic name.{{sfn|Atwood|2015|pp=45–47}}

=== Physical appearance ===
[[File:AttilatheHunonhorsebackbyGeorgeSStuart.jpg|thumb|A reconstruction of Attila by [[George S. Stuart]], Museum of Ventura County.]]
Most of the ancient descriptions of the Huns stress their strange appearance from a Roman perspective. These descriptions typically caricature the Huns as monsters.{{sfnm|1a1=Thompson|1y=1996|1pp=56–57 |2a1=Sinor|2y=1990|2p=202 |3a1=Maenchen-Helfen|3y=1973|3p=363}} Jordanes stresses that the Huns were short of stature, had tanned skin and round and shapeless heads.{{sfn|Maenchen-Helfen|1973|p=362}} Various writers mention that the Huns had small eyes and flat noses.{{sfn|Maenchen-Helfen|1973|p=363}} The Roman writer [[Priscus]] gives the following eyewitness description of Attila: "Short of stature, with a broad chest and a large head; his eyes were small, his beard thin and sprinkled with grey; and he had a flat nose and tanned skin, showing evidence of his origin."{{sfn|Sinor|1997|p=336}}

Many scholars take these to be unflattering depictions of East Asian (obsolete "[[Mongoloid]]") racial characteristics.{{sfnm|1a1=Sinor|1y=1990|1p=202 |2a1=Maenchen-Helfen|2y=1973|2p=363}} Maenchen-Helfen argues that, while many Huns had East Asian racial characteristics, they were unlikely to have looked as Asiatic as the [[Yakuts|Yakut]] or [[Tungus]].{{sfn|Maenchen-Helfen|1973|p=364}} He notes that archaeological finds of presumed Huns suggest that they were a racially mixed group containing only some individuals with East Asian features.{{sfn|Maenchen-Helfen|1973|pp=364–367}} Kim similarly cautions against seeing the Huns as a homogenous racial group,{{sfn|Kim|2015|p=7}} while still arguing that they were "partially or predominantly of Mongoloid extraction (at least initially)."{{sfn|Kim|2015|p=4}} Some archaeologists have argued that archaeological finds have failed to prove that the Huns had any "Mongoloid" features at all,{{sfn|Crubézy|1990|pp=195–196}} and some scholars have argued that the Huns were predominantly "[[Caucasian race|Caucasian]]" in appearance.{{sfn|Kim|2013|p=187}} Other archaeologists have argued that "Mongoloid" features are found primarily among members of the Hunnic aristocracy,{{sfn|Molnár|János|Szűcs|Szathmáry|2014|p=7}} which, however, also included Germanic leaders who were integrated into the Hun polity.{{sfn|Molnár|János|Szűcs|Szathmáry|2014|p=6}} Kim argues that the composition of the Huns became progressively more "Caucasian" during their time in Europe; he notes that by the Battle of Chalons (451), "the vast majority" of Attila's entourage and troops appears to have been of European origin, while Attila himself seems to have had East Asian features.{{sfn|Kim|2015|p=99}}

===Genetics===
{{main|Origin of the Huns#Genetic evidence}}

Genetic data is difficult to apply to steppe nomad societies, because they frequently migrated, intermixed, and were assimilated into each other. Nevertheless, genetics can supply information on migrations from East Asia to Europe and vice versa.{{sfn|Kradin|2018}}

In a genetic study of individuals from around the [[Tian Shan]] mountains of central Asia dating from the late second century CE, {{harvnb|Damgaard et al.|2018}} found that these individuals represented a population of mixed [[East Asian]] and [[Genetic history of Europe|West Eurasian]] origin. They argued that this population descended from Xiongnu who expanded westward and mixed with Iranian [[Saka]]s.{{sfn|Damgaard et al.|2018|pp=369–371}} This population in the Tian Shan mountains may be connected to the European Huns by individual burials that contains objects stylistically related to those used by the European Huns, although this could be a sign of the exchange of goods and the connections between elites rather than a sign of migration.{{sfn|Brosseder|2018|p=184}}

As of 2023, there is little genetic data from the Carpathian basin in the Hunnic period (5th century), and the population living there during the Hunnic period shows a variety of genetic signatures.{{sfn|Borbély et al.|2023|p=18}} {{harvnb|Maróti et al.|2022}} showed that the genomes of nine Hun-era individuals who lived in the basin varied from European to [[Ancient Northeast Asian|Northeast Asian]] connections, with those individuals showing associations with Northeast Asia being most similar to groups found in Mongolia such as the Xiongnu and the [[Xianbei]].{{sfnm|1a1=Saag|1a2=Staniuk|1y=2022|1p=739 |2a1=Maróti et al.|2y=2022}} An analysis of Hun-era genomes by {{harvnb|Gnecchi-Ruscone et al.|2022}} likewise found a wide range of genetic variability, with two individuals showing a connection to [[ancient Northeast Asians]] and others showing European ancestry.{{sfn|Gnecchi-Ruscone et al.|2022}}