Editing Xiongnu (section)

=== 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>