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, Khaqan, Xagahn, Qaghan, Chagan, Қан, or Kha'an is a title of

imperial Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imperial, Nebraska * Imperial, Pennsylvania * Imperial, Texa ...

rank in the

Turkic Turkic may refer to: * anything related to the country of Turkey * Turkic languages, a language family of at least thirty-five documented languages ** Turkic alphabets (disambiguation) ** Turkish language, the most widely spoken Turkic language * ...

, Mongolic and some other languages, equal to the status of emperor and someone who rules a khaganate (empire). The female equivalent is Khatun. It may also be translated as "

Khan Khan may refer to: *Khan (inn), from Persian, a caravanserai or resting-place for a travelling caravan *Khan (surname), including a list of people with the name *Khan (title), a royal title for a ruler in Mongol and Turkic languages and used by ...

of Khans", equivalent to

King of Kings King of Kings; grc-gre, Βασιλεὺς Βασιλέων, Basileùs Basiléōn; hy, արքայից արքա, ark'ayits ark'a; sa, महाराजाधिराज, Mahārājadhirāja; ka, მეფეთ მეფე, ''Mepet mepe'' ...

. In Bulgarian, the title became known as ''Khan'', while in modern Turkic, the title became ''Khaan'' with the ''g'' sound becoming almost silent or non-existent; the ''ğ'' in modern

Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

''Kağan'' is also silent. Since the division of the Mongol Empire, monarchs of the Yuan dynasty and the Northern Yuan held the title of ''Khagan''. ''Kağan, Hakan'' and ''Kaan'',

equivalents of the title are common

Turkish names A Turkish name consists of an ''ad'' or an ''isim'' (given name; plural ''adlar'' and ''isimler'') and a ''soyadı'' or ''soyisim'' (surname). Turkish names exist in a "full name" format. While there is only one ''soyadı'' (surname) in the full na ...

in Turkey. The common western rendering as Great Khan (or ''Grand Khan''), notably in the case of the

Mongol Empire The Mongol Empire of the 13th and 14th centuries was the largest contiguous land empire in history. Originating in present-day Mongolia in East Asia, the Mongol Empire at its height stretched from the Sea of Japan to parts of Eastern Europe, ...

, is a translation of ''Yekhe Khagan'' (''Great Emperor'' or ').

Etymology

The term is of unknown origin and possibly a loanword from the

Ruanruan language Ruanruan (; also called Rouran) is an unclassified extinct language of Mongolia and northern China, spoken in the Rouran Khaganate from the 4th to the 6th centuries AD, considered a likely early precursor to Mongolic. Peter A. Boodberg claime ...

. Canadian sinologist Edwin G. Pulleyblank (1962) first suggested that a

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 ...

title, transcribed as ( Old Chinese: *''hʷaʔ-hʷaʰ'') might have been behind Proto-Turkic *''qaɣan'' ~ *''xaɣan''.Vovin, Alexander (2007). "Once again on the etymology of the title ''qaγan''". ''Studia Etymologica Cracoviensia'', vol. 12
online ressource
According to Vovin (2007, 2010) the term comes from ''qaγan'' (meaning " emperor" or "supreme ruler") and was later borrowed and used in several languages, especially in Turkic and Mongolic.

and

Para-Mongolic Para-Mongolic is a proposed group of languages that is considered to be an extinct sister branch of the Mongolic languages. Para-Mongolic contains certain historically attested extinct languages, among them Khitan and Tuyuhun. Languages The ...

origin has been suggested by a number of scholars including Ramstedt, Shiratori, Pulleyblank, Sinor and Doerfer, and was reportedly first used by the Xianbei, as recorded in

Book of Song The ''Book of Song'' (''Sòng Shū'') is a historical text of the Liu Song Dynasty of the Southern Dynasties of China. It covers history from 420 to 479, and is one of the Twenty-Four Histories, a traditional collection of historical records. I ...

.''Songshu''
vol. 96
quote: "" translation: "Lou T'u-yü-hun">Tuyuhun.html" ;"title="he envoy of the younger brother to T'u-yü-hunwas glad. He bowed and said: " ". The barbarian words ch'u k'o han mean in the language of Liu Song dynasty">Song, 'Be it so, sire ()'." by Pulleyblank, E. G. (1962) "The consonantal system of Old Chinese. Part II
pdf
''Asia Major'' 9; p. 261 of 206‒65. While Sinor believes ''qaγan'' or ''qapγan'' is an intensification of ''qan'' just as ''qap-qara'' is an intensification of ''qara'' "black", in Turkic (with the eventual loss of the ''p''), Shiratori rejects a Turkic etymology, instead supporting a Mongolic origin for both ''qan'' and the female form ''qatun''. According to Vovin, the word ''*qa-qan'' "great-qan" (''*qa-'' for "great" or "supreme") is of non-Altaic origin, but instead linked to Yeniseian ''*qεʔ ~ qaʔ'' "big, great". The origin of ''qan'' itself is harder according to Vovin. He says that the origin for the word ''qan'' is not found in any reconstructed proto-language and was used widely by Turkic, Mongolic, Chinese and Korean people with variations from ''kan, qan, han and hwan.'' A relation exists possibly to the Yeniseian words ''*qʌ:j'' or ''*χʌ:j'' meaning "ruler". It may be impossible to prove the ultimate origin of the title, but Vovin says: "Thus, it seems to be quite likely that the ultimate source of both ''qaγan'' and ''qan'' can be traced back to Xiong-nu and Yeniseian". Dybo (2007) suggests that the ultimate etymological root of Khagan comes from the Middle Iranian languages">Iranian *''hva-kama-'' ‘self-ruler, emperor’, following the view of Benveniste 1966. Savelyev and Jeong 2020 note that both the etymological root for Khagan and its female equivalent Khatun may be derived from Eastern Iranian languages, specifically from "Early Saka language, Saka *''hvatuñ'', cf. the attested Soghdian words ''xwt'w'' ‘ruler’ (< *''hva-tāvya-'') and ''xwt'yn'' ‘wife of the ruler’ (< *''hva-tāvyani'')".

History

The title was first seen in a speech between 283 and 289, when the Xianbei chief Tuyuhun tried to escape from his younger stepbrother Murong Hui, and began his route from the Liaodong Peninsula to the areas of Ordos Desert. In the speech one of Murong's generals, Yinalou, addressed him as ''kehan'' (, later ); some sources suggests that Tuyuhun might also have used the title after settling at Qinghai Lake in the 3rd century. The

Rouran Khaganate The Rouran Khaganate, also Juan-Juan Khaganate (), was a tribal confederation and later state founded by a people of Proto-Mongolic Donghu origin.*Pulleyblank, Edwin G. (2000)"Ji 姬 and Jiang 姜: The Role of Exogamic Clans in the Organizatio ...

(330–555) was the first people to use the titles Khagan and Khan for their emperors, replacing the

Chanyu 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''" in 402 CE. The title was most famously used by the ruling L ...

of the

, whom Grousset and others assume to be

. The Rourans were stated to be descendants of the Donghu people, who in turn are assumed to be proto-Mongols, Mongolic-speaking, or a "non-Altaic" group. The

Avar Khaganate The Pannonian Avars () were an alliance of several groups of Eurasian nomads of various origins. The peoples were also known as the Obri in chronicles of Rus, the Abaroi or Varchonitai ( el, Βαρχονίτες, Varchonítes), or Pseudo-Avars ...

(567–804), who may have included Rouran elements after the

Göktürks The Göktürks, Celestial Turks or Blue Turks ( otk, 𐱅𐰇𐰼𐰰:𐰉𐰆𐰑𐰣, Türük Bodun; ; ) were a nomadic confederation of Turkic peoples in medieval Inner Asia. The Göktürks, under the leadership of Bumin Qaghan (d. 552) and ...

crushed the Rouran ruling Mongolia, also used this title. The Avars invaded Europe, and for over a century ruled the Carpathian region. Westerners Latinized the title "Khagan" into "Gaganus" (in Historia Francorum), "Cagan" (in the Annales Fuldenses), or "Cacano" (in the Historia Langobardorum).

Mongol khagans

'' The Secret History of the Mongols'', written for that very dynasty, clearly distinguishes ''Khagan'' and ''Khan'': only

Genghis Khan ''Chinggis Khaan'' ͡ʃʰiŋɡɪs xaːŋbr />Mongol script: ''Chinggis Qa(gh)an/ Chinggis Khagan'' , birth_name = Temüjin , successor = Tolui (as regent)Ögedei Khan , spouse = , issue = , house = Borjigin , ...

and his ruling descendants are called ''Khagan'', while other rulers are referred to as ''Khan''. The title "Khagan" or "Khaan" most literally translates to "great/supreme ruler" in the Mongol language, and by extension "sovereign", "monarch", "high king", or "emperor". The title can also be expanded with the addition of "Yekhe" (meaning "great" or "grand") to produce "Yekhe Khagan", meaning "Great Emperor". The Mongol Empire began to split politically with the Toluid Civil War during 1260–1264 and the death of

Kublai Khan Kublai ; Mongolian script: ; (23 September 1215 – 18 February 1294), also known by his temple name as the Emperor Shizu of Yuan and his regnal name Setsen Khan, was the founder of the Yuan dynasty of China and the fifth khagan-emperor of th ...

in 1294, but the term ''Ikh Khagan'' (Great Khan, or Emperor) was still used by the emperors of the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368), who also took on the title of the Emperor of China. After the fall of the Yuan dynasty, the title continued to be used by monarchs of the Northern Yuan dynasty. Thus, the Yuan is sometimes referred to as the ''Empire of the Great Khan'', coexisting with the other independent Mongol-ruled khanates in the west, including the Chagatai Khanate and Golden Horde. Only the Ilkhanate truly recognized the Yuan's overlordship as allies (although it was effectively autonomous). Because Kublai founded the Yuan, the members of the other branches of the

Borjigin A Borjigin, ; ; russian: Борджигин, Bordžigin; English plural: Borjigins or Borjigid (from Middle Mongolian);''Histoire des campagnes de Gengis Khan'', p. 119. Manchu plural: is a member of the Mongol sub-clan, which started with Bo ...

could take part in the election of a new Khagan as the supporters of one or other of the contestants, but they could not enter the contest as candidates themselves. Later, Yuan emperors made peace with the three western khanates of the Mongol Empire and were considered as their nominal suzerain. The nominal supremacy, while based on nothing like the same foundations as that of the earlier Khagans (such as the continued border clashes among them), did last for a few decades, until the Yuan dynasty collapsed in 1368. After the breakdown of Mongol Empire and the fall of the Yuan dynasty in the mid-14th century, the Mongols turned into a political turmoil. Dayan Khan (1464–1517/1543) once revived the Emperor's authority and recovered its reputation on the Mongolian Plateau, but with the distribution of his empire among his sons and relatives as fiefs it again caused decentralized rule. The last Khagan of the Chahars, Ligdan Khan, died in 1634 while fighting the Jurchen-led Later Jin dynasty. In contemporary Mongolian language the words "Khaan" and "Khan" have different meanings, while English language usually does not differentiate between them. The title is also used as a generic term for a king or emperor (as , ), as in "" (, "king/khaan of Spain Juan Carlos"). The early Khagans of the

were: #

(1206–1227; 21 years) # Ögedei Khan (1229–1241; 12 years) # Güyük Khan (1246–1248; 2 years) # Möngke Khan (1251–1259; 8 years)

Among Turkic peoples

The title became associated with the

Ashina Ashina may refer to: *Ashina tribe, a ruling dynasty of the Turkic Khaganate *Ashina clan (Japan),_one_of_the_Japanese_clans *Ashina_District,_Hiroshima.html" ;"title="DF 7 of 80; retrieved 2013-5-4 ..., one of the Japanese clans *Ashina District, H ...

ruling clan of the

and their dynastic successors among such peoples as the Khazars (cf. the compound military title Khagan Bek). Minor rulers were rather relegated to the lower title of khan. Both Khagan as such and the

form Hakan, with the specification in Arabic ''al-Barrayn wa al-Bahrayn'' (meaning literally "of both lands and both seas"), or rather fully in

Ottoman Turkish Ottoman Turkish ( ota, لِسانِ عُثمانى, Lisân-ı Osmânî, ; tr, Osmanlı Türkçesi) was the standardized register of the Turkish language used by the citizens of the Ottoman Empire (14th to 20th centuries CE). It borrowed extens ...

''Hakan ül-Berreyn vel-Bahreyn'', were among the titles in the official full style of the Great Sultan (and later Caliph) of the Ottoman Empire, reflecting the historical legitimation of the dynasty's rule as political successor to various conquered (often Islamised) states. (The title began: Sultan Hân N.N., Padishah, ''Hünkar'', Sovereign of the House of Osman,

Sultan of Sultans Sultan of Sultans is the literal English translation of the Ottoman Turkish royal title ''Sulṭānü's-Selāṭīn''. The title was firstly used by Sultan of Delhi Sultanate in Persian context. As with various other laudatory titles of Semi ...

, Khan of Khans, Commander of the Faithful and Successor of the Prophet of the Lord of the Universe; next followed a series of specifically "regional" titles, starting with Protector of the Holy Cities of Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem.) "Khagan" is the second title of

Safavid Safavid Iran or Safavid Persia (), also referred to as the Safavid Empire, '. was one of the greatest Iranian empires after the 7th-century Muslim conquest of Persia, which was ruled from 1501 to 1736 by the Safavid dynasty. It is often conside ...

and Qajar shahs (kings) of Iran. For example, Agha Muhammad Khan Qajar, Fath Ali Shah and other Qajar shahs used this title. The nickname of Shah Ismail and other Safavid shahs is ''Kagan-i Suleyman shan'' (Khagan with the glory of Solomon).

Ottoman Empire

Ottoman rulers, after the 14th century, used only two titles "shah" and "khan" until end of the empire. Sultans like Mehmed the Conqueror and Suleiman the Magnificent used the title "Khagan of the two seas". Yazıcıoğlu Ali, in early 15th century, traced

Osman Osman is the Persian transliteration and derived from the Arabic masculine given name Uthman ( ar, عُثْمان, , link=no ''‘uthmān'') or an English surname. It may refer to: People * Osman (name), people with the name * Osman I (1258–132 ...

's genealogy to Oghuz Khagan, the mythical ancestors of Western Turks, through his senior grandson of his senior son, so giving the Ottoman sultans primacy among Turkish monarchs. Though it was not entirely an imitation of

id doctrine, the Oghuz claim to sovereignty followed the same pattern. Bayezid I advanced this claim against Timur, who denigrated the Ottoman lineage.

Chinese Khagans

Emperor Taizong of Tang was crowned

Tian Kehan Khan of Heaven or Tian Kehan, Celestial Kha(ga)n, Heavenly Kha(ga)n, Tengri Kha(ga)n (; Old Turkic: 𐱅𐰭𐰼𐰃𐰴𐰍𐰣‬) was a title addressed to the Emperor Taizong of Tang by various Turkic nomads. It was first mentioned in accounts on ...

, or "heavenly Khagan" after defeating the Tujue (

). A later letter sent by the Tang court to the Yenisei Kirghiz Qaghan explained that "the peoples of the northwest" had requested Tang Taizong to become the "Heavenly Qaghan". The Tang dynasty Chinese Emperors were recognized as Khagans of the Turks at least from 665 to 705; moreover, two appeal letters from the Turkic hybrid rulers, Ashina Qutluγ Ton Tardu in 727, the Yabgu of

Tokharistan Tokharistan (formed from "Tokhara" and the suffix ''-stan'' meaning "place of" in Persian) is an ancient Early Middle Ages name given to the area which was known as Bactria in Ancient Greek sources. In the 7th and 8th century CE, Tokharistan c ...

, and Yina Tudun Qule in 741, the king of Tashkent, addressing

Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Emperor Xuanzong of Tang (; 8 September 685 – 3 May 762), personal name Li Longji, was the seventh emperor of the Tang dynasty in China, reigning from 712 to 756 CE. His reign of 44 years was the longest during the Tang dynasty. In the early ...

as Tian Kehan during the Umayyad expansion.Xue, pp. 674–675.

Among the Slavs

In the early 10th century, the Rus' people employed the title of ''kagan'' (or ''qaghan''), reported by the Persian geographer Ahmad ibn Rustah, who wrote between 903 and 913. It is believed that the tradition endured in the eleventh century, as the metropolitan bishop of

Kiev Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

in the Kievan Rus',

Hilarion of Kiev Hilarion or Ilarion (russian: Иларион, uk, Іларіон, be, Іларыён) was the first non-Greek Metropolitan of Kiev and all Rus in Medieval Kievan Rus (Ruthenia). He held the metropolitan post before or during the ongoing 11th cent ...

, calls both grand prince Vladimir I of Kiev (978–1015) and grand prince Yaroslav the Wise (1019–1054) by the title of ''kagan'', while a graffito on the walls of Saint Sophia's Cathedral gives the same title to the son of Iaroslav, grand prince Sviatoslav II of Kiev (1073–1076).

Notes

References

Citations

Sources

* Fairbank, John King. ''The Cambridge History of China ''. Cambridge University Press, 1978.
''web page''
* Grousset, René. (1970). ''The Empire of the Steppes: a History of Central Asia''. Translated by Naomi Walford. Rutgers University Press. New Brunswick, New Jersey, U.S.A.Third Paperback printing, 1991. (casebound); (pbk). * Whittow, Mark. ''The Making of Byzantium, 600–1025'', University of California Press, Berkeley, Los Angeles, 1996. * Xue, Zongzheng (1992). ''A History of Turks''. Beijing: Chinese Social Sciences Press. . * Zhou, Weizhou 985(2006). ''A History of Tuyuhun''. Guilin: Guangxi Normal University Press. .