Editing Huns (section)

=== 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}}