Elmingir also Elminegeir, Elmingeir ( fl. 555) was a Hun general fighting for the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

Biography

He fought in the

Lazic War The Lazic War, also known as the Colchidian War or in Georgian historiography as the Great War of Egrisi was fought between the Byzantine Empire and the Sasanian Empire for control of the ancient Georgian region of Lazica. The Lazic War lasted fo ...

, which saw the Byzantine Empire pitted against the

Sasanian Empire The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the History of Iran, last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th cen ...

. At the

Siege of Phasis The siege of Phasis took place in 555–556 during the Lazic War between the Byzantine and Sasanian Empires. Expecting an easy victory, the Persians besieged the town of Phasis in Lazica, held by the Byzantines, but were defeated in the ensuing ir ...

, he protected the Byzantine ships.

Etymology

His name is, probably coincidentally, a homophone of Tungusic ''elmin'', "young horse". This was also the name of a

Manchu The Manchus (; ) are a Tungusic East Asian ethnic group native to Manchuria in Northeast Asia. They are an officially recognized ethnic minority in China and the people from whom Manchuria derives its name. The Later Jin (1616–1636) and ...

tribe. If such were indeed the origin of his name it would made it the only known Tungusic word in the Hunnic vocabulary.

References

{{Huns Hun military leaders Generals of Justinian I People of the Roman–Sasanian Wars Byzantine people of Hunnic descent Lazic War