The Literary Remains of the Hun Language

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The Literary Remains of the Hun Languagein the Ancient Chinese Chronicles. Part One: The Dignitaries

Introduction

The fact that the history of the Huns goes back to the Far-East and that the differentnames in the Chinese chronicles likejiehun, gekun, xianyun, hunyu, xiongrong, xiongnu,etc.,refer to the Asian Huns and their related tribes is becoming more and more evident.1o thehistory of the Asian Huns is the !art and !arcel of the history of the Euro!ean Huns and thedeeds and traditions of the former ones can easily be traced and found in the ancient Chinesechronicles."#n addition, regarding that the Hungarians are the relatives of the Huns, it is of nosur!rise that the Asian Hun $ords, !ro!er names and titles in the said chronicles sho$

significant similarities to their relevant Hungarian ones. The same a!!lies, of course, to theTurkish and the %ongolian languages, as the history of these three !eo!les $hose ancestorsmade u! the common civili&ation of the Asian ste!!e !eo!les has dee!ly intermingled.'

The $ords and names in (uestion a!!ear in the follo$ing chronicles)

Title of $ork Author and author*s age Time of com!letion Age dealt $ith++++++++ ++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++++++++++ ++++++++++++++++++hii 11 ima Tan 1/-11 0C 12-/3 0C 4ello$ Em!eror 5 67 0C

ima 8ian 127-/3 0C

Hanshu 62 0an 9u '/-6" A: " 0C - "2 A: "3 0C - "2 A:

Hou Hanshu Fan 4e '6/-227 A: '-7 century A: "7-"" A:3/ and /6

;inshu Fang here Huns* 0lood :re$.D #n)Journal of Eurasian Studies. #', !!. "/-2".@nline) htt!)e!a.os&k.hu1717"1'.!df."The records on the Asian Huns in the Chinese chronicles can no$ be read in Hungarian)Ngy gtjon barbrcsillag ragyog. Az zsiai hunok a knai forrsokban. Gs&l 9yula TIrtJnelmi Js ?ulturGlis EgyesKlet, 0uda!est,"=. Stars of the !arbarians Shining in all "li#es. $he Asian %uns in the "hinese "hronicles. Gs&l 9yulaAssosiation for History and Culture, 0uda!est, "=.'The #nner-%ongolian lingvist, Lrof Mchiraltu, for eNam!le, also researches the Chinese chronicles, and hasfound (uite a fe$


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same !osition or by the same name in the different chronicles. To have an overvie$, Lritsakcollected the variants of the title names as they $ere recorded in the chronicles, namely in theShiji, the%ou %anshu and theJinshu. >e $rite them here as he did)

HI!I HO" HA#H" !I#H"

Da Chen the 9reat @nes

si jiao the 2 horns

1. left P right $ise king 15" 1. left and right $ise king 15"

". left P rightyuli king '52 ". left and rightyuli king '52

liu jiao the 3 horns

'. left P right great general 753 '. left P right rizhu king 753 '. left P right rizhu

2. left P right great ca!tain =5/ 2. left P right +enyudi =5/ 2. left P right ieju 7. left P right great danghu 651 7. left P rightzhanjiang 651 7. left P right danghu

Xiao Chen the mall @nes

other clans

3. left P rightgudu hou 1151" 3. left P rightgudu hou 1151" 3. left P rightgudu hou

=. no name given 1'5"2 =. left P rightshizhu gudu hou1'512

There $ere also)

rizhu ieju17513

danghu 1=51/

no name given 165"2

As $e can see, there $ere t$o of every title) one left and one right. According to theChinese chronicles the left-$ing dignitaries governed the eastern !arts and the right-$ingdignitaries ruled over the $estern !arts of the em!ire $hile the danhuhad his court in themiddle. The left dignitaries $ere said to be su!erior to the right ones.2The officials of the fourand the siN horns or according to other translations) corners $ere members of the danhu*s

clan. The ones bearing the neNt title, thegudu hou, $ere of other clans, all the more becausethe danhuand the members of his clan al$ays took their $ives from thegudu*s clan.

2At this !oint it is crucially im!ortant to note the difference bet$een the Chinese and the


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The Title #ames

TAR$A#%& TARIA#) 9 12=.a,. 6=.a.) tRntRn-gS$oSu75 Linyin) danhu. 9 '1=.a. =2.a.) d*Rrd*R-kok$o 5 Linyin) dau

These t$o characters are generally transcribed asshanyu. #n the%anshu /inyiitis $ritten) The danhuis the a!!earance of the infinite vastness, $hich means that it is hisdanhu-nature that triggers this heaven-like a!!earanceD. Lulleyblank identifies the $orddanhu$ith the taran,tarxan. He says that according to Lelliot the Tuue !robably ado!tedthe $ord taranfrom their ruanruan!redecessors. Lulleyblank himself states, ho$ever, thatthe ultimate source $as undoubtedly the e can see that the !honetics of the second character in bothnames is nearly the same, the difference being ust the voiced and unvoiced consonant gS$o -k$o.

'(C(#% 9 /1".l, 777.) sSVngsSWng or XSVngXSWng-ts*SYrts*i 5 Linyin) &ici

or) $ise king - This is not a transcri!tion, it is the Chinese translation of the


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al$ays the cro$n !rince $ho bore that title. #n case of !olitical or military urgency, ho$ever,

any member of the four horns could succeed the throne. He $as called $ise, $hich must have

been tuiand, as $e have seen above, alsozici in the original language. :e 9root says that

tuicorres!onds to Turkic toghri, $hich means $ise, virtuous.6#n 1"' 0C $hen \hao


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]The states of the >estern egions


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#t is remarkable that $e often see the name aojian!receding the title name rizhu. This

$ill lead us on to our neNt Hun name)

OR$HO# , HOR$A# 9 127.a. Js "26.a.) `gRu-knkan 5 Linyin) aoian.

9 23.a. Js 67.g.) ts*ts*a-g*og*$o 5 Linyin) (ieu

9 77.h. 16=.a.ouo-gSanSWn 5 Linyin) huyan

Lritsak believes that aojianis not a title name but it should be a !ersonal name $hile

others, i.a. :e 9root, are convinced that it refers to a title name. As an argument Lritsak

brings for$ard the fact that it sometimes a!!ears as !art of the name of some !ersons $hoobviously could not belong to the danhu*s clan and once it $as even born by a man $ho later

became a danhu. @n the basis of the ancient !honetics :e 9root identifies it $ith the name

@rkhon.12>e can say that it $as not uncommon that the chief of a !o$erful clan named the

river on the territory of the subugated !eo!le after his o$n clan. >e should add, ho$ever,

that here $e have encountered the !henomenon so fre(uent in the case of Chinese teNts,

namely, one and the same name has been transcribed into Chinese in several different $ays

and $e can easily $alk into the tra! of su!!osing t$o different !ersons or titles $here it is

only t$o different $ays of transcri!tion that $e have faced. ENamining the E%C of the

aojian`gRu-knkanand com!aring it $ith the E%C of huyanouo-gSanSWn the identity of

the t$o names seems ust obvious, the mere difference lying in the disa!!earance of the

initial Uh-, $hich is a fre(uent occurrence. o the aojian rizhuin the above eNtracts from

%ou %anshuis the Horkanyirtin29, i.e. the great general and udge of the Horkan clan. As

for Lritsak*s !roblem about the name aojianborn by a !erson or !ersons belonging to the

danhu*s clan, the solution could be the follo$ing) in the course of time the aojianor horkan

has become to mean not only the clan $hose members had the eNclusive right to fill the

office but also the !erson $ho acted as a horkanby !osition $hile it $as no longer a restraint

for him to be a member of the clan Horkan. This also eN!lains $hy the distinguishing

designation horkan aojianhad to be a!!lied together $ith the title rizhuin this case

Horkan Aoianmeaning the clan name and rizhumeaning the title, $hich necessity had not

arisen before, $hen clan and office used to be linked together.

Bemeth $rites that belo$gyulaand kende, horka$as the third rank in the hierarchy

12ee @%E;ABL#TA?) [:ie "2 Ta-ch*en.D #n)Asia -ajor') 1//516'.


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of the dignitaries among the Hungarians of the Con(uest !eriod $hich, $e should add, $as

the similar case of rizhu or aojianamong the Asian Huns, $ho also filled the third rank in the

hierarchy and, says Bemeth, it must have been both a title name and a !ersonal name. He

$as mainly res!onsible for co-ordinating and managing the state ust like the rizhuor aojian

rizhu $ith the Asian Hun Em!ire. #n Turkish language the $ord ]horka* means to accuse. 17

#n Hungarian ]horkan* means to snort, to rebuke. As $e have seen above, horkana Hunnic

term $as the same asyirtin29a Turkic term and his duties also involved that of a udge*s 5

a very interesting coincidence.

#n the eNtract of%ou %anshu '" above $e have read that the Asian Huns have sent

theyizhiziking, the daju iejuto the Han Em!ire to study the ?onfucian teachings.

egarding the E%C, the iejuts*-g*ohere also denotes horka or orkho'n*. >hen reading a

gi follo$ed by a vo$el, it $ill be the transcri!tion of rkin the 8in and the Han !eriod

China. Furthermore, the !articular as!irated initial Utsimust have disa!!eared later. The

daju!receding iejuis another transcri!tion of tarkany, as $e have eN!lained above. The

(uotation in (uestion %ou %anshu'" can be inter!reted as follo$s) The ?onfucian

teachings have reached and fascinated the iongnu rebelled #aking sa&age raids.

%ou %ansu 2,%edi Ji,!age 2

B!ecause he had earlier 4lotted +ith Anguo, the right $enyudiking,

(ujuzhuan +as +anted by the danhuto stand trial.

%ou %anshu /6,>iongnu 8huan

17ee 94. BE%ETH) o!.cit, "2=-"2/.13The tarkanyis identical $ith the danhu orshanyu, as it has been eN!lained above.


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This is not by chance. The E%C !ronunciation of +enyudi fairly $ell corres!onds to

the @ld Turkic :ngd9rti, $hich means east, eastern. A fe$ hundred years earlier in his great

$ork, Shiji, ima 8ian had recorded this title in Chinese translation) great ca!tain 5 he had

not $anted to a!!ly the transcri!tion of the foreign $ord, and the same had been done in the

%anshu. #n the%ou %anshu, ho$ever, Fan 4e, the author did not a!!ly this term any more

but tried to substitute it $ith the !honetic transcri!tion of the foreign $ord. #n its original

language, ho$ever, this $ord ':ngd9rti only meant easternand it did not render the title

itself. #t $as ust the first !art of the title name. Fan 4e either abbreviated the title by $ill or

mistakenly denoted the first four dignitaries of the siN horns $ith this $ord $hen listing the

u-huan betraute. :a die >u-huan die sKd-Istlichen Bachbarn der Hiung-nu $aren, mu es sich hierum den @sten des Hiung-nu-eiches gehandelt haben.D ee Lritsak, @!.Cit, '=6.


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!articular role $ithin the

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The Literary Remains of the Hun Language