Editing Xiongnu (section)

== Ethnolinguistic origins{{anchor|Language}} ==
The Xiongnu empire is widely thought to have been multiethnic.<ref name="JLEE" /> There are several theories on the ethnolinguistic identity of the Xiongnu, though there is no consensus among scholars as to what language was spoken by the Xiongnu elite.<ref>{{Citation |last=Kim |first=Hyun Jin |title=The Xiongnu |date=29 March 2017 |encyclopedia=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Asian History |url=http://asianhistory.oxfordre.com/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277727.001.0001/acrefore-9780190277727-e-50 |access-date=29 February 2024 |publisher=Oxford University Press |language=en |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780190277727.013.50 |isbn=978-0-19-027772-7 |quote=There is thus no scholarly consensus on the language that was spoken by the Xiongnu elite}}</ref>

=== Proposed link to the Huns ===
{{see also|Origin of the Huns}}
{| class="wikitable" style="float: right; margin: 10px;"
|-
! colspan="2" |Pronunciation of 匈奴
|-
|[[Old Chinese]] (318 BC): || {{IPA|*hoŋ-nâ}}
|-
|[[Eastern Han Chinese]]: || {{IPA|*hɨoŋ-nɑ}}
|-
|[[Middle Chinese]]: || {{IPA|*hɨoŋ-nuo}}
|-
|[[Standard Mandarin|Modern Mandarin]]: || {{IPAc-cmn|x|iong|1|-|n|u|2}}
|-
| colspan=2 style= "font-size: 80%;" |{{ubl|Sources: Schuessler (2014:264){{sfn|Schuessler|2014|p=264}} | & Zhengzhang Shangfang.<ref name=":01"/><ref name=":02"/>}}
|}
The Xiongnu-Hun hypothesis was originally proposed by the 18th-century French historian [[Joseph de Guignes]], who noticed that ancient Chinese scholars had referred to members of tribes which were associated with the Xiongnu by names which were similar to the name "Hun", albeit with varying Chinese characters. [[Étienne de la Vaissière]] has shown that, in the [[Sogdian alphabet|Sogdian script]] used in the so-called "Sogdian Ancient Letters", both the Xiongnu and the Huns were referred to as the γwn (''xwn''), which indicates that the two names were synonymous.<ref name="vaissiere2006"/> Although the theory that the Xiongnu were the precursors of the Huns as they were later known in Europe is now accepted by many scholars, it has yet to become a consensus view. The identification with the Huns may either be incorrect or it may be an oversimplification (as would appear to be the case with a [[Proto-Mongols|proto-Mongol]] people, the [[Rouran]], who have sometimes been linked to the [[Pannonian Avars|Avars of Central Europe]]).

=== Iranian theories ===
{{See also|Iranian languages}}
[[File:Noin-Ula carpet.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|An embroidered rug from the Xiongnu [[Noin-Ula burial site]]. This luxury item was imported from [[Bactria]], and is thought to represent [[Yuezhi]] figures.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Betts |first1=Alison |last2=Vicziany |first2=Marika |last3=Jia |first3=Peter Weiming |last4=Castro |first4=Angelo Andrea Di |title=The Cultures of Ancient Xinjiang, Western China: Crossroads of the Silk Roads |date=19 December 2019 |publisher=Archaeopress Publishing Ltd |isbn=978-1-78969-407-9 |page=104 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rxUSEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA104 |quote="In Noin-Ula (Noyon Uul), Mongolia, the remarkable elite Xiongnu tombs have revealed textiles that are linked to the pictorial tradition of the Yuezhi: the decorative faces closely resemble the [[Khalchayan]] portraits, while the local ornaments have integrated elements of Graeco-Roman design. These artifacts were most probably manufactured in Bactria"}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Francfort |first1=Henri-Paul |author-link= Henri-Paul Francfort |title=Sur quelques vestiges et indices nouveaux de l'hellénisme dans les arts entre la Bactriane et le Gandhāra (130 av. J.-C.-100 apr. J.-C. environ) |language=fr |trans-title=On some vestiges and new indications of Hellenism in the arts between Bactria and Gandhāra (130 BC-100 AD approximately) |journal=Journal des Savants |date=1 January 2020 |pages=26–27, Fig.8 ''"Portrait royal diadémé Yuezhi"'' ("Diademed royal portrait of a Yuezhi") |url=https://www.academia.edu/45042820}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Polos'mak |first1=Natalia V. |last2=Francfort |first2=Henri-Paul |last3=Tsepova |first3=Olga |title=Nouvelles découvertes de tentures polychromes brodées du début de notre ère dans les "tumuli" n o 20 et n o 31 de Noin-Ula (République de Mongolie) |journal=Arts Asiatiques |date=2015 |volume=70 |pages=3–32 |doi=10.3406/arasi.2015.1881 |jstor=26358181 |issn=0004-3958 |quote=Considered as Yuezhi-Saka or simply Yuezhi, and p.3: "These tapestries were apparently manufactured in Bactria or in Gandhara at the time of the Saka-Yuezhi rule, when these countries were connected with the Parthian empire and the "Hellenized East." They represent groups of men, warriors of high status, and kings and/ or princes, performing rituals of drinking, fighting or taking part in a religious ceremony, a procession leading to an altar with a fire burning on it, and two men engaged in a ritual."}}</ref><ref name="LN">{{cite journal |last1=Nehru |first1=Lolita |title=KHALCHAYAN |journal=Encyclopaedia Iranica Online |date=14 December 2020 |url=https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-iranica-online/*-COM_215?lang=en |publisher=Brill |quote=About "[[Khalchayan]]", "site of a settlement and palace of the nomad Yuezhi": "Representations of figures with faces closely akin to those of the ruling clan at Khalchayan (PLATE I) have been found in recent times on woollen fragments recovered from a nomad burial site near Lake Baikal in Siberia, Noin Ula, supplementing an earlier discovery at the same site), the pieces dating from the time of Yuezhi/Kushan control of Bactria. Similar faces appeared on woollen fragments found recently in a nomad burial in south-eastern Xinjiang ([[Sampul tapestry|Sampula]]), of about the same date, manufactured probably in Bactria, as were probably also the examples from Noin Ula."}}</ref>]]

Most scholars agree that the Xiongnu elite may have been initially of [[Sogdian language|Sogdian]] origin, while later switching to a Turkic language.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Neumann |first1=Iver B. |last2=Wigen |first2=Einar |title=The Steppe Tradition in International Relations: Russians, Turks and European State Building 4000 BCE–2017 CE |date=19 July 2018 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-1-108-42079-2 |page=103 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=huRfDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA103 |language=en |via=[[Google Books]] |quote=While most scholars hold the Xiongnu to have originally had a leadership from a Sogdian kinship line, Kim (2023: 28-29) argues that during their migration west, they seem to have undergone a transformation from having had a Yeniseian leadership, which ruled over various Iranic, Alanic and Turko-Mongol to developing a Turkic royal line.}}</ref> [[Harold Walter Bailey]] proposed an [[Iranian peoples|Iranian]] origin of the Xiongnu, recognizing all of the earliest Xiongnu names of the 2nd century BC as being of the [[Iranian languages|Iranian]] type.{{sfn|Bailey|1985|pp=21–45}} Central Asian scholar [[Christopher I. Beckwith]] notes that the Xiongnu name could be a cognate of [[Scythians|Scythian]], [[Saka]] and [[Sogdia]], corresponding to a name for [[Eastern Iranian languages|Eastern Iranian Scythians]].{{sfn|Beckwith|2009|pp=71–73}}<ref name="Beckwith405">{{harvnb|Beckwith|2009|p=405}}: "Accordingly, the transcription now read as Hsiung- nu may have been pronounced * Soγdâ, * Soγlâ, * Sak(a)dâ, or even * Skla(C)da, etc."</ref> According to Beckwith the Xiongnu could have contained a leading Iranian component when they started out, but more likely they had earlier been subjects of an Iranian people and learned the Iranian nomadic model from them.{{sfn|Beckwith|2009|pp=71–73}}

In the 1994 [[UNESCO]]-published ''History of Civilizations of Central Asia'', its editor [[János Harmatta]] claims that the royal tribes and kings of the Xiongnu bore Iranian names, that all Xiongnu words noted by the Chinese can be explained from a [[Scythian languages|Scythian language]], and that it is therefore clear that the majority of Xiongnu tribes spoke an Eastern Iranian language.<ref name="Harmatta488"/>

According to a study by Alexander Savelyev and Choongwon Jeong, published in 2020 in the journal Evolutionary Human Sciences, "The predominant part of the Xiongnu population is likely to have spoken Turkic". However, important cultural, technological and political elements may have been transmitted by Eastern Iranian-speaking Steppe nomads: "Arguably, these Iranian-speaking groups were assimilated over time by the predominant Turkic-speaking part of the Xiongnu population".<ref name="Savelyev & Jeong, 2020">{{cite journal |last1=Savelyev |first1=Alexander |last2=Jeong |first2=Choongwoon |date=7 May 2020 |title=Early nomads of the Eastern Steppe and their tentative connections in the West |journal=[[Evolutionary Human Sciences]] |volume=2 |issue=E20 |doi=10.1017/ehs.2020.18 |pmc=7612788 |pmid=35663512 |s2cid=218935871 |hdl=21.11116/0000-0007-772B-4}} [[File:CC-BY_icon.svg|50x50px]] Text was copied from this source, which is available under a [[creativecommons:by/4.0/|Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License]]. "Such a distribution of Xiongnu words may be an indication that both Turkic and Eastern Iranian-speaking groups were present among the Xiongnu in the earlier period of their history. Etymological analysis shows that some crucial components in the Xiongnu political, economic and cultural package, including dairy pastoralism and elements of state organization, may have been imported by the Eastern Iranians. Arguably, these Iranian-speaking groups were assimilated over time by the predominant Turkic-speaking part of the Xiongnu population. ... The genetic profile of published Xiongnu individuals speaks against the Yeniseian hypothesis, assuming that modern Yeniseian speakers (i.e. Kets) are representative of the ancestry components in the historical Yeniseian speaking groups in southern Siberia. In contrast to the Iron Age populations listed in Table 2, Kets do not have the Iranian-related ancestry component but harbour a strong genetic affinity with Samoyedic-speaking neighbours, such as Selkups (Jeong et al., 2018, 2019)."</ref>

=== Yeniseian theories ===
{{See also|Yeniseian languages|Para-Yeniseian languages}}
[[File:Belt plaque in the shape of a kneeling horse, 3rd-1st century BCE, North China.jpg|thumb|Belt plaque in the shape of a kneeling horse, 3rd–1st century BC, gilded silver, made in North China for Xiongnu patrons.{{sfn|Bunker|2002|p=29}}<ref name="metmuseum.org">{{cite web |title=Metropolitan Museum of Art |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/44787 |website=www.metmuseum.org}}</ref>]]
[[Lajos Ligeti]] was the first to suggest that the Xiongnu spoke a Yeniseian language. In the early 1960s [[Edwin Pulleyblank]] was the first to expand upon this idea with credible evidence. The Yeniseian theory proposes that the [[Jie people|Jie]], a western Xiongnu people, spoke a Yeniseian language. [[Hyun Jin Kim]] notes that the 7th century AD Chinese conpendium, ''Jin Shu'', contains a transliterated song of Jie origin, which appears to be Yeniseian. This song has led researchers Pulleyblank and [[Alexander Vovin|Vovin]] to argue for a Yeniseian Jie dominant minority, that ruled over the other Xiongnu ethnicities, such as Iranian and Turkic people. Kim has stated that the dominant Xiongnu language was likely Turkic or Yeniseian, but has cautioned that the Xiongnu were definitely a multi-ethnic society.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Jin Kim |first1=Hyun |title=The Huns |date=November 2015 |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |isbn=978-1-317-34090-4 |pages=6–17 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mcf4CgAAQBAJ |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>

Pulleybank and D. N. Keightley asserted that the Xiongnu titles "were originally Siberian words but were later borrowed by the Turkic and Mongolic peoples".{{sfn|Di Cosmo|2004|p=164}} Titles such as [[Tarkhan|tarqan]], [[tegin]] and [[Khagan|kaghan]] were also inherited from the Xiongnu language and are possibly of Yeniseian origin. For example, the Xiongnu word for "heaven" is theorized to come from Proto-Yeniseian *''tɨŋVr''.<ref name="Vovin">{{Cite journal |journal=Academia |url=https://www.academia.edu/1804191|title=Did the Xiongnu speak a Yeniseian language? Part 2: Vocabulary|last1=Vovin|first1=Alexander}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Georg |first1=Stefan |title=A Descriptive Grammar of Ket (Yenisei-Ostyak): Part 1: Introduction, Phonology and Morphology |date=22 March 2007 |publisher=Global Oriental |isbn=978-90-04-21350-0 |page=16 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vfV5DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA16 |language=en |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>

Vocabulary from Xiongnu inscriptions sometimes appears to have Yeniseian cognates which were used by Vovin to support his theory that the Xiongnu has a large Yeniseian component, examples of proposed cognates include words such as Xiongnu kʷala 'son' and Ket qalek 'younger son', Xiongnu sakdak 'boot' and Ket sagdi 'boot', Xiongnu gʷawa "prince" and Ket gij "prince", Xiongnu "attij" 'wife' and proto-Yeniseian "alrit", Ket "alit" and Xiongnu dar "north" compared to Yugh tɨr "north".<ref name="Vovin"/><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Vovin |first=Alexander |title=ONCE AGAIN ON THE ETYMOLOGY OF THE TITLE ''qaγan'' |journal=Studia Etymologica Cracoviensia |volume=12 |place=Kraków |date=2007 |url=https://core.ac.uk/reader/229243025 |access-date=6 April 2022}}</ref> Pulleyblank also argued that because Xiongnu words appear to have clusters with r and l, in the beginning of the word it is unlikely to be of Turkic origin, and instead believed that most vocabulary we have mostly resemble Yeniseian languages.<ref>{{Cite thesis |last=Xumeng |first=Sun |date=14 September 2020 |title=Identifying the Huns and the Xiongnu (or Not): Multi-Faceted Implications and Difficulties |website=PRISM: University of Calgary's Digital Repository |url=https://prism.ucalgary.ca/bitstream/handle/1880/112546/ucalgary_2020_sun_xumeng.pdf?sequence=3}}</ref>

Alexander Vovin also wrote, that some names of horses in the Xiongnu language appear to be Turkic words with Yeniseian prefixes.<ref name="Vovin"/>

An analysis by Savelyev and Jeong (2020) has cast doubt on the Yeniseian theory. If assuming that the ancient Yeniseians were represented by modern [[Ket people]], who are more genetically similar to [[Samoyedic languages|Samoyedic]] speakers, the Xiongnu do not display a genetic affinity for Yeniseian peoples.<ref name="Savelyev & Jeong, 2020"/> A review by Wilson (2023) argues that the presence of Yeniseian-speakers among the multi-ethnic Xiongnu should not be rejected, and that "Yeniseian-speaking peoples must have played a more prominent (than heretofore recognized) role in the history of Eurasia during the first millennium of the Common Era".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wilson |first=Joseph A. P. |date=21 July 2023 |title=Late Holocene Technology Words in Proto-Athabaskan: Implications for Dene-Yeniseian Culture History |journal=Humans |language=en |volume=3 |issue=3 |pages=177–192 |doi=10.3390/humans3030015 |doi-access=free |issn=2673-9461}}</ref>

=== Turkic theories ===
{{See also|Turkic languages}}
[[File:野驢紋金牌飾-Plaque in the Shape of a Grazing Kulan MET 2002 201 118 O1.jpg|thumb|Plaque in the shape of a grazing [[Turkmenian kulan|kulan]] (wild ass), 2nd–1st century BC, Northwest China, Xiongnu culture.<ref>{{cite web |title=Metropolitan Museum of Art |website=www.metmuseum.org |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/59527}}</ref>{{sfn|Bunker|2002|loc=p. 137, item 109}}]]
According to a study by Alexander Savelyev and Choongwon Jeong, published in 2020 in the journal Evolutionary Human Sciences, "The predominant part of the Xiongnu population is likely to have spoken Turkic". However, genetic studies found a mixture of haplogroups from western and eastern Eurasian origins that suggested large genetic diversity, and possibly multiple origins of Xiongnu elites. The Turkic-related component may be brought by eastern Eurasian genetic substratum.<ref name="Savelyev & Jeong, 2020"/>

Other proponents of a Turkic language theory include [[Edward Harper Parker|E.H. Parker]], [[Jean-Pierre Abel-Rémusat]], [[Julius Klaproth]], [[Gustaf John Ramstedt]], [[Annemarie von Gabain]],<ref name="Savelyev & Jeong, 2020" /> and [[Charles Hucker]].{{sfn|Hucker|1975|p=136}} André Wink states that the Xiongnu probably spoke an early form of Turkic; even if Xiongnu were not "Turks" nor Turkic-speaking, they were in close contact with Turkic-speakers very early on.{{sfn|Wink|2002|pp=60–61}} [[Craig Benjamin]] sees the Xiongnu as either proto-Turks or [[proto-Mongols]] who possibly spoke a language related to the [[Dingling]].<ref>Craig Benjamin (2007, 49), In: Hyun Jin Kim, [https://books.google.com/books?id=fX8YAAAAQBAJ The Huns, Rome and the Birth of Europe]. [[Cambridge University Press]]. 2013. page 176.</ref>

Chinese sources link several Turkic peoples to the Xiongnu: 
* According to the ''[[Book of Zhou]]'', ''[[History of the Northern Dynasties]]'', ''[[Tongdian]]'', ''[[New Book of Tang]]'', the [[Göktürks]] and the ruling [[Ashina tribe|Ashina]] clan was a component of the Xiongnu confederation,<ref name="Zhou50">[[Linghu Defen]] et al., ''Zhoushu'', [https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E5%91%A8%E6%9B%B8/%E5%8D%B750 vol. 50] quote: "突厥者，蓋匈奴之別種，姓阿史那氏。"</ref><ref>''Beishi'' [https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E5%8C%97%E5%8F%B2/%E5%8D%B7099#%E7%AA%81%E5%8E%A5 "vol. 99 - section Tujue"] quote: "突厥者，其先居西海之右，獨為部落，蓋匈奴之別種也。" translation: "The Tujue, their ancestors dwelt on the right bank of the Western Sea; a lone tribe, probably a separate branch of the Xiongnu"</ref><ref>Golden, Peter B. (August 2018). [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326609440_The_Ethnogonic_Tales_of_the_Turks "The Ethnogonic Tales of the Türks"]. ''The Medieval History Journal'', 21 (2): p. 298 of 291–327, fn. 36. quote: "'Western Sea' (xi hai 西海) has many possible meanings designating different bodies of water from the [[Mediterranean Sea|Mediterranean]], [[Caspian Sea|Caspian]] and [[Aral Sea|Aral]] Seas to [[Qinghai Lake|Kuku-nor]]. In the Sui era (581–618) it was viewed as being near [[Byzantium]] (Sinor, 'Legendary Origin': 226). Taşağıl, ''Gök-Türkler'', vol. 1: 95, n. 553 identies it with [[Ruo Shui|Etsin-Gol]], which is more likely."</ref><ref name = "tongdian197">[[Du You]], ''Tongdian'' [https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E9%80%9A%E5%85%B8/%E5%8D%B7197 vol. 197] quote: "突厥之先，平涼今平涼郡雜胡也，蓋匈奴之別種，姓阿史那氏。"</ref><ref>''Xin Tangshu'', [https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E6%96%B0%E5%94%90%E6%9B%B8/%E5%8D%B7215%E4%B8%8A vol. 215A]. "突厥阿史那氏, 蓋古匈奴北部也." "The Ashina family of the Turk probably were the northern tribes of the ancient Xiongnu." quoted and translated in Xu (2005), [https://helda.helsinki.fi/handle/10138/19205 ''Historical Development of the Pre-Dynastic Khitan''], University of Helsinki, 2005</ref>
** However, the Ashina-surnamed Göktürks were also stated to be they were "mixed barbarians" ({{wikt-lang|zh|雜胡}}; ''záhú'') who fled from [[Pingliang]] (now in modern [[Gansu province]], [[China]]).<ref> [[Wei Zheng]] et al., ''Suishu'', [https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E9%9A%8B%E6%9B%B8/%E5%8D%B784#%E7%AA%81%E5%8E%A5 vol. 84] quote: "突厥之先，平涼雜胡也，姓阿史那氏。"</ref><ref name= "tongdian197"/> or from an obscure Suo state (索國), north of the Xiongnu.<ref>''Zhoushu'', "vol. 50" "或云突厥之先出於索國，在匈奴之北。"</ref><ref>''Beishi'' "vol. 99 - section Tujue" quote: "又曰突厥之先，出於索國，在匈奴之北。"</ref>
* Uyghur Khagans claimed descent from the Xiongnu (according to Chinese history ''[[Weishu]]'', the founder of the [[Uyghur Khaganate]] was descended from a Xiongnu ruler).{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=155}}<ref>[[Wei Shou]] et al., [[Book of Wei]] [https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E9%AD%8F%E6%9B%B8/%E5%8D%B7103#%E9%AB%98%E8%BB%8A vol. 103 - section Gaoche] quote: "高車，蓋古赤狄之餘種也，初號為狄歷，北方以為勑勒，諸夏以為高車、丁零。其語略與匈奴同而時有小異，或云其先匈奴之甥也。其種有狄氏、袁紇氏、斛律氏、解批氏、護骨氏、異奇斤氏。" translation: "The Gaoche are probably remnants of the ancient Red [[Beidi|Di]]. Initially they had been called Dili. Northerners consider them [[Tiele people|Chile]]. The [[Huaxia|various Xia]] (aka Chinese) consider them Gaoche [[Dingling]] (High-Cart Dingling). Their language, in brief, and Xiongnu [language] are the same yet occasionally there are small differences. Some say that they [Gaoche] are the sororal nephews/sons-in-laws of the Xiongnu of yore. Their tribes (種) are Di, Yuanhe (aka [[Uyghur Khaganate|Uyghurs]]), Hulu, Jiepi, Hugu, Yiqijin."</ref><ref>''Xin Tangshu'' [https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E6%96%B0%E5%94%90%E6%9B%B8/%E5%8D%B7217%E4%B8%8A vol 217A - Huihu] quote: "回紇，其先匈奴也，俗多乘高輪車，元魏時亦號高車部，或曰敕勒，訛為鐵勒。" translation: "Huihe, their ancestors were the Xiongnu; because they customarily drove carts with high-wheels and many spokes, in [[Northern Wei|Yuan Wei]]'s they were also called Gaoche (High-Cart), or also called Chile, mistakenly rendered as [[Tiele people|Tiele]]."</ref>
* The [[Book of Wei|''Book of Wei'']] states that the Yueban descended from remnants of the [[Northern Chanyu|Northern Xiongnu chanyu]]'s tribe and that Yueban's language and customs resembled Gaoche (高車),<ref>''Weishu'', "vol. 102 [https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E9%AD%8F%E6%9B%B8/%E5%8D%B7102#%E7%83%8F%E5%AD%AB-%E7%96%8F%E5%8B%92-%E6%82%85%E8%88%AC Wusun, Shule, & Yueban]" quote: "悅般國，…… 其先，匈奴北單于之部落也。…… 其風俗言語與高車同"</ref> another name of the Tiele.
* The [[Book of Jin|''Book of Jin'']] lists 19 southern Xiongnu tribes who entered [[Former Yan]]'s borders, the 14th being the [[Alat tribe|Alat]] (Ch. 賀賴 ''Helai'' ~ 賀蘭 ''Helan'' ~ 曷剌 ''Hela''); ''Alat'' being glossed "piebald horse" (Ch. 駁馬 ~ 駮馬 ''Boma'') in [[Old Turkic]].<ref>''Jinshu'' [https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E6%99%89%E6%9B%B8/%E5%8D%B7097#%E5%8C%88%E5%A5%B4 vol. 97 Four Barbarians - Xiongnu]"</ref><ref>''[[Yuanhe Maps and Records of Prefectures and Counties]]'' vol. 4 quote: "北人呼駮馬為賀蘭"</ref><ref>Du You. Tongdian. [https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E9%80%9A%E5%85%B8/%E5%8D%B7200#%E9%A7%AE%E9%A6%AC Vol. 200]. "突厥謂駮馬為曷剌，亦名曷剌國。"</ref>

However, Chinese sources also ascribe Xiongnu origins to the Para-Mongolic-speaking [[Kumo Xi]] and [[Khitans]].<ref name= "Lee2016p105"/>

=== Mongolic theories ===
{{See also|Mongolic languages}}
[[File:Belt Buckle LACMA M.76.97.583.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|Belt Buckle, 2nd–1st century BC, Xiongnu. Another naturalistic belt buckle made to the Xiongnu taste, showing a mounted warrior frontally, holding a dagger and grabbing the hair of a demon who is also attacked by a dog. Also appears a nomadic cart pulled by [[reindeers]], and another dog on top of the cart.<ref>{{cite web |title=Belt Buckle LACMA Collections |url=https://collections.lacma.org/node/226318 |website=collections.lacma.org}}</ref>{{sfn|Bunker|2002|loc=pp. 30, 110, item 81}}<ref name="Prior_SR14_2016_186_195"/><ref>{{cite book |last1=So |first1=Jenny F. |last2=Bunker |first2=Emma C. |title=Traders and raiders on China's northern frontier: 19 November 1995 - 2 September 1996, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery |date=1995 |publisher=Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Inst. [u.a.] |location=Seattle |isbn=978-0-295-97473-6 |at=pp. 90–91, item 2 |url=https://ia601307.us.archive.org/28/items/tradersraiderson00soje/tradersraiderson00soje.pdf}}</ref>]]
Mongolian and other scholars have suggested that the Xiongnu spoke a language related to the [[Mongolic languages]].<ref>Ts. Baasansuren "The scholar who showed the true Mongolia to the world", Summer 2010 vol.6 (14) ''Mongolica'', pp.40</ref><ref>{{cite book|first1=Denis|last1=Sinor|title=Aspects of Altaic Civilization III |year=1990 |page={{page needed|date=May 2021}} }}</ref> Mongolian archaeologists proposed that the [[Slab Grave Culture]] people were the ancestors of the Xiongnu, and some scholars have suggested that the Xiongnu may have been the ancestors of the [[Mongols]].<ref name="Tumen"/> [[Hyacinth (Bichurin)|Nikita Bichurin]] considered Xiongnu and [[Xianbei]] to be two subgroups (or [[dynasty|dynasties]]) of but one same [[ethnicity]].<ref name="info">N.Bichurin "Collection of information on the peoples who inhabited Central Asia in ancient times", 1950, p. 227</ref>

According to the [[Book of Song|''Book of Song'']], the [[Rouran Khaganate|Rouran]]s, which the [[Book of Wei|''Book of Wei'']] identified as offspring of [[proto-Mongols|Proto-Mongolic]]<ref>Pulleyblank, Edwin G. (2000). [https://web.archive.org/web/20171118181857/http://www.dartmouth.edu/~earlychina/docs/2008/ec25_pulleyblank.pdf "Ji 姬 and Jiang 姜: The Role of Exogamic Clans in the Organization of the Zhou Polity"], ''Early China''. p. 20</ref> [[Donghu people]],<ref>[[Wei Shou]]. ''Book of Wei''. vol. 91 "蠕蠕，東胡之苗裔也，姓郁久閭氏" tr. "Rúrú, offsprings of Dōnghú, surnamed Yùjiŭlǘ"</ref> possessed the alternative name(s) 大檀 ''Dàtán'' "[[Tatar confederation|Tatar]]" and/or 檀檀 ''Tántán'' "Tartar" and according to the [[Book of Liang|''Book of Liang'']], "they also constituted a separate branch of the Xiongnu".<ref>''Liangshu'' [https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E6%A2%81%E6%9B%B8/%E5%8D%B754#%E8%8A%AE%E8%8A%AE%E5%9C%8B Vol. 54] txt: "芮芮國，蓋匈奴別種。" tr: "Ruìruì state, possibly a Xiongnu's separate branch"</ref><ref>Golden, Peter B. "Some Notes on the Avars and Rouran", in ''The Steppe Lands and the World beyond Them''. Ed. Curta, Maleon. Iași (2013). pp. 54-55</ref> The [[Old Book of Tang|''Old Book of Tang'']] mentioned twenty Shiwei tribes,<ref>[[Liu Xu]] et al. ''Old Book of Tang'' [https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E8%88%8A%E5%94%90%E6%9B%B8/%E5%8D%B7199%E4%B8%8B#%E5%AE%A4%E9%9F%8B "vol. 199 section: Shiwei"]</ref> which other Chinese sources (the [[Book of Sui|''Book of Sui'']] and the [[New Book of Tang|''New Book of Tang'']]) associated with the [[Khitan people|Khitans]],<ref name="Elina-Qian 2005 p. 173-178">Xu Elina-Qian (2005). ''Historical Development of the Pre-Dynastic Khitan''. University of Helsinki. p. 173-178</ref> another people who in turn descended from the Xianbei<ref>Xu Elina-Qian (2005). ''[https://helda.helsinki.fi/handle/10138/19205 Historical Development of the Pre-Dynastic Khitan]''. University of Helsinki. p. 99. quote: "According to Gai Zhiyong's study, Jishou is identical with Qishou, the earliest ancestor of the Khitan; and Shihuai is identical to Tanshihuai, the Xianbei supreme chief in the period of the Eastern Han (25-220). Therefore, from the sentence "His ancestor was Jish[ou] who was derived from Shihuai" in the above inscription, it can be simply seen that the Khitan originated from the Xianbei. Since the excavated inscription on memorial tablet can be regarded as a firsthand historical source, this piece of information is quite reliable."</ref> and were also associated with the Xiongnu.<ref>[[Xue Juzheng]] et al. ''[[Old History of the Five Dynasties]]'' [https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E8%88%8A%E4%BA%94%E4%BB%A3%E5%8F%B2/%E5%8D%B7137 vol. 137] quote: "契丹者，古匈奴之種也。" translation: "The Khitans, a kind of Xiongnu of yore."</ref> While the Xianbei, Khitans, and Shiwei are generally believed to be predominantly [[Mongolic languages|Mongolic-]] and [[Para-Mongolic languages|Para-Mongolic-]]speaking,<ref name="Elina-Qian 2005 p. 173-178"/><ref>Schönig, Claus. (27 January 2006) "Turko-Mongolic relations" in Janhunen (ed.) ''The Mongolic Languages''. Routledge. p. 393.</ref><ref>Shimunek, Andrew. [https://www.academia.edu/37176756 "Early Serbi-Mongolic-Tungusic lexical contact: Jurchen numerals from the 室韦 Shirwi (Shih-wei) in North China"]. Philology of the Grasslands: Essays in Mongolic, Turkic, and Tungusic Studies, Edited by Ákos Bertalan Apatóczky et al. (Leiden: Brill). Retrieved 22 September 2019. quote: "Asdemonstrated by Ratchnevsky (1966: 231), the Shirwi confederation was a multiethnic, multilingual confederation of Tungusic-speaking Mo-ho 靺鞨 people (i.e. ancestors of the Jurchen), the Meng-wa 蒙瓦 ~ Meng-wu 蒙兀, whom Pelliot (1928) and others have shown were Proto-Mongolic speakers, and other groups. The dominant group among the Shirwi undoubtedly were ethnolinguistic descendants of the Serbi (鮮卑 Hsien-pei), and spoke a language closely related to Kitan and more distantly related to Mongolic."</ref> yet Xianbei were stated to descend from the [[Donghu people|Donghu]], whom Sima Qian distinguished from the Xiongnu.<ref>''Shiji'' [https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E5%8F%B2%E8%A8%98/%E5%8D%B7110 "vol. 110: Account of the Xiongnu"] quote: "東胡初輕冒頓，不爲備。及冒頓以兵至，擊，大破滅東胡王，而虜其民人及畜產。" translation: "Initially the Donghu despised Modun and were unprepared. So Modun arrived with his troops, attacked, routed [the Donghu] and killed Donghu king; then [Modun] captured his people as well as livestock."</ref><ref>''Book of Later Han''. [https://zh.wikisource.org/zh-hant/%E5%BE%8C%E6%BC%A2%E6%9B%B8/%E5%8D%B790#%E9%AE%AE%E5%8D%91 "Vol. 90 section Xianbei"]. text: "鮮卑者, 亦東胡之支也, 别依鮮卑山, 故因為號焉. 漢初, 亦為冒頓所破, 遠竄遼東塞." Xu (2005:24)'s translation: "The Xianbei who were a branch of the Donghu, relied upon the Xianbei Mountains. Therefore, they were called the Xianbei. At the beginning of the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 220), (they) were defeated by Maodun, and then fled in disorder to Liaodong beyond the northern border of China Proper"</ref><ref>Xu Elina-Qian (2005). ''Historical Development of the Pre-Dynastic Khitan''. University of Helsinki. p. 24-25</ref> (notwithstanding Sima Qian's inconsistency<ref name = "hu proper"/><ref name = "ZGC"/><ref name = "xiongnu hu"/>{{sfn|Pulleyblank|1994|pp=518–520}}). Additionally, Chinese chroniclers routinely ascribed Xiongnu origins to various nomadic groups: for examples, Xiongnu ancestry was ascribed to Para-Mongolic-speaking [[Kumo Xi]] as well as Turkic-speaking [[Göktürks]] and [[Tiele people|Tiele]];<ref name = "Lee2016p105">{{cite journal|first= Joo-Yup|last= Lee|title= 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|journal= Central Asiatic Journal |volume=59 |issue=1–2|page= 105|year= 2016}}</ref>

[[Genghis Khan]] refers to the time of Modu Chanyu as "the remote times of our ''Chanyu''" in his letter to Daoist [[Qiu Chuji]].<ref name="Howorth">{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/p1historyofmongo02howouoft|title=History of the Mongols from the 9th to the 19th century|first=Henry H. (Henry Hoyle)|last=Howorth|publisher=London : Longmans, Green|via=Internet Archive}}</ref> Sun and moon symbol of Xiongnu that discovered by archaeologists is similar to Mongolian [[Soyombo symbol]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/archaeology/mongolia/xiongnu/xiongnuarchhist/sunandmoon_th.jpg |title=Sun and Moon |website=depts.washington.edu |format=JPG}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/archaeology/mongolia/xiongnu/xiongnuarchhist/xiongnuarchhist.html|title=Xiongnu Archaeology |website=depts.washington.edu}}</ref><ref>[https://www.academia.edu/2086480/Elite_Xiongnu_Burials_at_the_Periphery_Tomb_Complexes_at_Takhiltyn_Khotgor_Mongolian_Altai_Miller_et_al._2009_ Elite Xiongnu Burials at the Periphery] (Miller et al. 2009)</ref>

=== Multiple ethnicities ===
[[File:Genetic history of Xiongnu.png|thumb|upright=1.35|Pastoralist expansion into Mongolia c. 1000 BC (Early Iron Age), and schematic formation of the Xiongnu Empire in the 3rd century BC.<ref name="Choongwon"/>]]
Since the early 19th century, a number of Western scholars have proposed a connection between various language families or subfamilies and the language or languages of the Xiongnu. [[Albert Terrien de Lacouperie]] considered them to be multi-component groups.{{sfn|Geng|2005}} Many scholars believe the Xiongnu confederation was a mixture of different ethno-linguistic groups, and that their main language (as represented in the Chinese sources) and its relationships have not yet been satisfactorily determined.{{sfn|Di Cosmo|2004|p=165}} Kim rejects "old racial theories or even ethnic affiliations" in favour of the "historical reality of these extensive, multiethnic, polyglot steppe empires".<ref>Hyun Jin Kim, The Huns, Rome and the Birth of Europe. {{ISBN|978-1-107-00906-6}}. Cambridge University Press. 2013. page 31.</ref>

Chinese sources link the [[Tiele people]] and Ashina to the Xiongnu, not all [[Turkic peoples]]. According to the ''[[Book of Zhou]]'' and the ''[[History of Northern Dynasties|History of the Northern Dynasties]]'', the [[Ashina tribe|Ashina]] clan was a component of the Xiongnu confederation,<ref name="Zhou502">[[Linghu Defen]] et al., ''[[Book of Zhou]]'', [[:zh:s:周書/卷50|Vol. 50.]] {{in lang|zh}}</ref><ref name="Northern992">Li Yanshou ({{lang|zh-hans|李延寿}}), ''[[History of the Northern Dynasties]]'', [[:zh:s:北史/卷099|Vol. 99.]] {{in lang|zh}}</ref> but this connection is disputed,{{sfn|Christian|1998|p=249}} and according to the ''[[Book of Sui]]'' and the ''[[Tongdian]]'', they were "mixed nomads" ({{zh|first=t|t={{linktext|雜|胡}} |s=杂胡 |p=zá hú |wg=tsa hu}}) from [[Pingliang]].<ref name="Sui84">[[Wei Zheng]] et al., ''[[Book of Sui]]'', [[:zh:s:隋書/卷84|Vol. 84.]] {{in lang|zh}}</ref><ref name="Tong197">{{cite book |last1=Du |first1=You |author-link=Du You |script-title=zh:《通典》 |trans-title=[[Tongdian]] |location=Beijing |publisher=[[Zhonghua Book Company]] |volume=197 |script-chapter=zh:辺防13 北狄4 突厥上 |year=1988 |isbn=978-7-101-00258-4 |page=5401 |language=zh-hans}}</ref> The Ashina and Tiele may have been separate ethnic groups who mixed with the Xiongnu.<ref name="ethnic">{{cite web|url=http://rudocs.exdat.com/docs/index-128726.html|title=Об эт нической принадлежности Хунну|website=rudocs.exdat.com|access-date=21 June 2014 |archive-date=14 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180914203456/http://rudocs.exdat.com/docs/index-128726.html}}</ref> Indeed, Chinese sources link many nomadic peoples (''hu''; see ''[[Five Barbarians|Wu Hu]]'') on their northern borders to the Xiongnu, just as Greco-Roman historiographers called [[Pannonian Avars|Avars]] and [[Huns]] "[[Scythians]]". The Greek [[cognate]] of ''[[Name of Turkey|Tourkia]]'' ({{langx|el|Τουρκία}}) was used by the [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] [[List of Byzantine emperors|emperor and scholar]] [[Constantine VII]] in his book ''[[De Administrando Imperio]]'',<ref>{{Cite book|edition=New, revised|publisher=Dumbarton Oaks Center for Byzantine Studies|isbn=978-0-88402-021-9|last=Jenkins|first=Romilly James Heald|title=De Administrando Imperio by Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus|location=Washington, D.C.|series=Corpus fontium historiae Byzantinae|year=1967|page=65|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3al15wpFWiMC|access-date=28 August 2013}} According to Constantine Porphyrogenitus, writing in his ''[[De Administrando Imperio]]'' (ca. 950 AD) ''"Patzinakia, the [[Pechenegs|Pecheneg realm]], stretches west as far as the [[Siret River]] (or even the [[Carpathian Mountains|Eastern Carpathian Mountains]]), and is four days distant from Tourkia (i.e. Hungary)."''</ref><ref name="PrinzingSalamon1999">{{cite book|author1=Günter Prinzing|author2=Maciej Salamon|title=Byzanz und Ostmitteleuropa 950–1453: Beiträge zu einer table-ronde des XIX. International Congress of Byzantine Studies, Copenhagen 1996|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uZDgivj7_RAC&pg=PA46|access-date=9 February 2013|year=1999|publisher=Otto Harrassowitz Verlag|isbn=978-3-447-04146-1|page=46}}</ref> though in his use, "Turks" always referred to [[Magyars]].<ref name="Howorth2008">{{cite book|author=Henry Hoyle Howorth|title=History of the Mongols from the 9th to the 19th Century: The So-called Tartars of Russia and Central Asia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hFc4mwsHZ7IC&pg=PA3|access-date=15 June 2013|year=2008|publisher=Cosimo, Inc.|isbn=978-1-60520-134-4|page=3}}</ref> Such archaizing was a common literary ''topos'', and implied similar geographic origins and nomadic lifestyle but not direct filiation.<ref>{{harvtxt|Sinor|1990}}</ref>

Some [[Yugur|Uyghurs]] claimed descent from the Xiongnu (according to Chinese history [[Weishu]], the founder of the [[Uyghur Khaganate]] was descended from a Xiongnu ruler),{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=155}} but many contemporary scholars do not consider the modern Uyghurs to be of direct linear descent from the old Uyghur Khaganate because modern [[Uyghur language]] and [[Old Uyghur language]]s are different.<ref name="Tursun">{{cite journal |url=http://www.isn.ethz.ch/isn/Digital-Library/Publications/Detail/?ots591=0c54e3b3-1e9c-be1e-2c24-a6a8c7060233&lng=en&id=105630 |title= The Formation of Modern Uyghur Historiography and Competing Perspectives toward Uyghur History |author= Nabijan Tursun |journal=The China and Eurasia Forum Quarterly |date= 5 July 2023 |volume= 6 |issue= 3 |pages=87–100 }}</ref> Rather, they consider them to be descendants of a number of people, one of them the ancient Uyghurs.<ref name="xinjiang">{{cite book |author1=James A. Millward |author2=Peter C. Perdue |name-list-style=amp |year=2004 |chapter=Chapter 2: Political and Cultural History of the Xinjiang Region through the Late Nineteenth Century |title= Xinjiang: China's Muslim Borderland |editor = S. Frederick Starr |publisher= M. E. Sharpe |pages= 40–41 |isbn= 978-0-7656-1318-9 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GXj4a3gss8wC&pg=PA40 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Susan J. Henders|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fgHlxD4k0z4C&pg=PA135|title=Democratization and Identity: Regimes and Ethnicity in East and Southeast Asia|editor=Susan J. Henders|year=2006|publisher=Lexington Books |page=135|isbn=978-0-7391-0767-6|access-date=9 September 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The ETIM: China's Islamic Militants and the Global Terrorist Threat|first1=J. Todd|last1=Reed|first2=Diana |last2=Raschke|year=2010 |publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-0-313-36540-9|page=7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5I2b_hrJO8sC&pg=PA7}}</ref>

In various kinds of ancient inscriptions on monuments of [[Munmu of Silla]], it is recorded that King Munmu had Xiongnu ancestry. According to several historians, it is possible that there were tribes of [[Koreanic languages|Koreanic]] origin. There are also some Korean researchers that point out that the grave goods of Silla and of the eastern Xiongnu are alike.<ref>{{Cite book|author=Cho Gab-je|date=5 March 2004 |language=ko-kr |script-title=ko:騎馬흉노국가 新羅 연구 趙甲濟(月刊朝鮮 편집장)의 심층취재 내 몸속을 흐르는 흉노의 피|publisher=[[Monthly Chosun]]|url=http://monthly.chosun.com/client/news/viw.asp?nNewsNumb=200403100027&ctcd=&cpage=1|access-date=25 September 2016|author-link= Cho Gab-je}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|author=김운회|date=30 August 2005 |language=ko-kr |script-title=ko:김운회의 '대쥬신을 찾아서' <23> 금관의 나라, 신라"|publisher=프레시안|url=http://www.pressian.com/article/article.asp?article_num=40050830181724&Section=04|access-date=25 September 2016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|date=27 February 2009|language=ko-kr|script-title=ko:경주 사천왕사(寺) 사천왕상(四天王像) 왜 4개가 아니라 3개일까|publisher=조선일보 |url=http://news.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2009/02/26/2009022601873.html|access-date=25 September 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141230090440/http://news.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2009/02/26/2009022601873.html|archive-date=30 December 2014}}</ref><ref>김창호, 〈문무왕릉비에 보이는 신라인의 조상인식 – 태조성한의 첨보 -〉, 《한국사연구》, 한국사연구회, 1986년</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.nl.go.kr/nl/search/SearchDetail.nl?category_code=ct&service=KOLIS&vdkvgwkey=14167918&colltype=YON_ART&place_code_info=132&place_name_info=%EC%97%B0%EC%86%8D%EA%B0%84%ED%96%89%EB%AC%BC%EC%8B%A4(3%EC%B8%B5)&manage_code=MA&shape_code=B&refLoc=portal&category=storage&srchFlag=Y&h_kwd=%E6%96%B0%E7%BE%85%E5%BB%BA%E5%9C%8B%E8%A8%AD%E8%A9%B1%EC%9D%98+%E7%A1%8F%E7%A9%B6%7C4%E8%BC%AF(1972%EB%85%84+5%EC%9B%94),+p.+1-52 |script-title=ko:자료검색>상세_기사 {{!}} 국립중앙도서관 |title= |language=ko |trans-title= |website=www.nl.go.kr|access-date=15 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181002190914/http://www.nl.go.kr/nl/search/SearchDetail.nl?category_code=ct&service=KOLIS&vdkvgwkey=14167918&colltype=YON_ART&place_code_info=132&place_name_info=%EC%97%B0%EC%86%8D%EA%B0%84%ED%96%89%EB%AC%BC%EC%8B%A4%283%EC%B8%B5%29&manage_code=MA&shape_code=B&refLoc=portal&category=storage&srchFlag=Y&h_kwd=%E6%96%B0%E7%BE%85%E5%BB%BA%E5%9C%8B%E8%A8%AD%E8%A9%B1%EC%9D%98+%E7%A1%8F%E7%A9%B6%7C4%E8%BC%AF%281972%EB%85%84+5%EC%9B%94%29%2C+p.+1-52 |archive-date=2 October 2018}}</ref>

=== Language isolate theories ===
Turkologist [[Gerhard Doerfer]] has denied any possibility of a relationship between the Xiongnu language and any other known language, even any connection with Turkic or Mongolian.{{sfn|Di Cosmo|2004|p=164}}