Chanyu () or Shanyu (), short for Chengli Gutu Chanyu (), was the title used by the supreme rulers of Inner Asian nomads for eight centuries until superseded by the title "''

Khagan Khagan or Qaghan (Mongolian:; or ''Khagan''; otk, 𐰴𐰍𐰣 ), or , tr, Kağan or ; ug, قاغان, Qaghan, Mongolian Script: ; or ; fa, خاقان ''Khāqān'', alternatively spelled Kağan, Kagan, Khaghan, Kaghan, Khakan, Khakhan ...

''" in 402 CE. The title was most famously used by the ruling Luandi clan of the

Xiongnu The Xiongnu (, ) were a tribal confederation of nomadic peoples who, according to ancient Chinese sources, inhabited the eastern Eurasian Steppe from the 3rd century BC to the late 1st century AD. Modu Chanyu, the supreme leader after 209 ...

during the Qin dynasty (221–206 BCE) and Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE). It was later also used infrequently by the Chinese as a reference to Gokturk leaders.

Etymology

Inner Mongolia Museum pottery tile end (chanyu tianxiang)

According to the '' Book of Han'', "the Xiongnu called the

Heaven Heaven or the heavens, is a common religious cosmological or transcendent supernatural place where beings such as deities, angels, souls, saints, or venerated ancestors are said to originate, be enthroned, or reside. According to the belie ...

(天) '' Chēnglí'' (撐犁) and they called a child (子) ''gūtú'' (孤塗). As for ''Chányú'' (單于), it is a "vast ndgreat appearance" (廣大之貌).". L. Rogers and Edwin G. Pulleyblank argue that the title ''chanyu'' may be equivalent to the later attested title '' tarkhan'', suggesting that the Chinese pronunciation was originally ''dān-ĥwāĥ'', an approximation for ''*darxan''.Universität Bonn. Seminar für Sprach- und Kulturwissenschaft Zentralasiens: Zentralasiatische Studien, Vol. 24–26, p.21 Linguist Alexander Vovin tentatively proposes a Yeniseian etymology for 撐犁孤塗單于, in Old Chinese pronunciation ''*treng-ri k^wa-la dar-ɢ^wā'', from four roots: *''*tɨŋgɨr-'' "high", *''k^wala-'' "son, child", *''tɨl'' "lower reaches of the Yenisei" or "north", and *''qʌ̄j'' ~ *''χʌ̄j'' "prince"; as a whole "Son of Heaven, Ruler of the North"."Did the Xiongnu speak a Yeniseian language? Part 2: Vocabulary", in ''Altaica Budapestinensia MMII, Proceedings of the 45th Permanent International Altaistic Conference, Budapest'', June 23–28, pp. 389–394.

Etymology

List of Xiongnu Chanyus

Notes

Northern Xiongnu (北匈奴)

Southern Xiongnu (南匈奴)

Da Chanyu (大單于)

Chanyu family trees

See also

References

Further reading