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Huns and Xiongnu identified by Hungarian and Yeniseian shared etymologies

Article · December 2013

DOI: 10.13173/centasiaj.56.2013.0041

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 Huns and Xiongnu Identified by Hungarian and Yeniseian
Shared Etymologies

By
Jingyi Gao 儈Ღа
(Eesti Keele Instituut / Institute of the Estonian Language)

1. Introduction
The Hungarian language is academically considered a Uralic language, related to
Mansi, Khanty, Estonian and Finnish, inter alia. However, only 21 percent of
Hungarian word roots are derived from Uralic languages, while some 30 percent are
of uncertain origin (Kenesei 2004: 134). The present study identifies that ten basic
Hungarian word roots actually have etymological equivalents in the Yeniseian lan-
guages. It is reasonable to suggest that these etyma belong to a Hunnic substratum
that is related to Yeniseian.
On the Huns, de Guignes (1748) first suggested that they were an offspring of
the Xiongnu (सྤ, *xiuo-na – Old Chinese according to Gu 1986/20101, *qho-
na – Old Chinese according to Zhèng-zhng 2003/20132) people with evidence from
historical sources. De la Vaissière (2005) discussed the similarities between Hunnic
and Xiongnu cauldrons, buried on river banks both in Hungary and in the Ordos.
Érdy (2008) summarised eight archaeological connections and four ancient written
sources to support this Hun-Xiongnu connection. On the Yeniseians, Ligeti (1950)
first suggested that they were an offspring of the Xiongnu people with only one
Xiongnu-Yeniseian etymology (Xiongnu *sak-dak ‘shoe’ ~ Ket sagdi ‘shoe’).
Pulleyblank (1962) suggested the same with more evidence from phonology and
etymology.
Vovin (2000, 2002) supported the suggested Yeniseian-Xiongnu connection with
more evidence from morphology and etymology. Vovin put forward the etymologi-

This research was supported by the Estonian Research Council grant no. SF0050027s10. The
author is affiliated to the Eesti Keele Instituut, as well as to the universities of Tallinn and
Tartu, and wishes to extend his gratitude to the editor, the editorial board and the peer reviewers
of the CAJ for their efficient work and stylistic help.
1 This Old Chinese reconstruction belongs to the Peking School of Chinese linguistics established
by the eminent Chinese linguist Wáng Lì (1900–1986). The methodology of the Peking School
is very conservative, in not relying on hypothetical Sino-X data, but solely by concentrating on
attested Sinitic data. The Peking School is acknowledged by most linguists active in China.
2 This Old Chinese reconstruction is acknowledged by many innovative Chinese linguists.

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 42 Jingyi Gao 儈Ღа

cal link between the ethnonym Jie (㗟, *ket – Old Chinese cited by Vovin, *kiat –
according to Gu 1986/2010, *kad – Zhèng-zhng 2003/2013) and the Proto-Ye-
niseian root *ket ‘person, human being’. Go (2008: 9) discussed another chain of
evidence, namely that the Xiongnu were genetically related to the Xia (༿) empire,
coinciding with Chinese historiography.3 The original meaning of the ethnonym Xia
(༿, *ea – Old Chinese according to Gu 1986/2010, *raas – Zhèng-zhng
2003/2013) is glossed in the first Chinese standard dictionary as ‘person of the cen-
tral states’.4 Thus this root could also be etymologically akin to the Yeniseian root
meaning ‘person’ (2002-VWJ 1: 421: Proto-Yeniseian *ket: Ket kt ~ Yug kt ~
Kottish hit/xit ~ Assan hit/ht ~ Arin it/qit/kit ~ Pumpokol kit). Both Xia/*ea and
Jie/*kiat are thus related to the Xiongnu.
Gao (2012: 243) contributed fresh new evidence: The successors of the Xia (༿)
empire were provided with a small fiefdom called Qi (ᶎ, *khi – Old Chinese
according to Gu 1986/2010, *kh
 – Zhèng-zhng 2003/2013). 5 The ethnonym
Qi/*khi can also be etymologically related to the ethnonym Xia/*ea. It implies
that both Xia/*ea and Qi/*khi belong to the same Yeniseian root meaning ‘per-
son’. The ethnonyms Jie/*kiat and Qi/*khi are phonetically closer to the Yeniseian
root, but their original senses are assumed. The ethnonym Xia/*ea is phonetically
more distant, but its original sense is attested. These three ethnonyms together form
a chain of evidence supporting a strong Yeniseian-Xiongnu connection. The present
study identifies Hungarian and Yeniseian shared etymologies which can testify both
the link between Huns and Xiongnu and the Yeniseian-Xiongnu connection.

2. Materials and methods

The present study uses methods employed in traditional etymology (cf. Rask 1818),
that mean comparing word roots in attested lects. Basically, the Hungarian language
(with etymological links to the controversial Hunnic source, the Isfahan codex)6 is
compared with the Yeniseian languages (Ket, Yug, Kottish, Assan, Arin, and
Pumpokol). The etymologies of the Hungarian language are referenced in its
authoritative etymological dictionary (1984-TESz). The Hunnic words are taken
from a Hungarian-Hunnic glossary (Detre 2004). The etymologies of the Yeniseian

3 Cf. Sh jì ྐグ, fasc. 110: ໢ያ ඼ඛ♽ኟྡྷẶஅⱑ⿰ஓ (“The ancestors of the Xiongnu were
descendants of the Xia-hou people.”) and Hàn sh ₎᭩, fasc. 94: ໢ያ ඼ඛኟྡྷẶஅⱑ⿰
(id.).
4 Shu wén ji zì 茢肫豻螳: ኟ ୰ᅧஅேஓ (“The Xia were people of the central states.”).
5 Sh jì ྐグ fasc. 36: ᮯᮾᶂබ⪅ ኟྡྷ⚷அᚋⱑ⿰ஓ Ẃ᫬ᡈᑒᡈ䳽 ࿘Ṋ⋤ඞẂ⣗ ồ⚷அᚋ
ᚓᮾᶂබ ᑒஅ᪊ᮯ ௨ዊኟྡྷẶ♭ (“Duke Dong Lou of the Qi fiefdom was the descendant of
the Great Yu of the Xia-hou. During the Yin period, their fiefdom developed intermittently.
When King Wu of Zhou had defeated King Zhou of Yin, he searched for the descendants of the
Great Yu. When he had reached Duke Dong Lou, he assigned him to the Qi territory, in order to
perform the sacrifice to the founders of the Xia-hou”).
6 Because this Hunnic source is controversial, the present study does not rely on it. Abandoning
it, however, would not alter the present etymological study between Hungarian and Yeniseian.

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 Huns and Xiongnu Identified by Hungarian and Yeniseian Shared Etymologies 43

languages are referenced in their latest etymological dictionary (2002-VWJ) and in

the work by Starostin (1982).
For a better relative comparison, etymological equivalents in some other lan-
guages (chiefly Uralic) are cited according to relevant etymological works (1988-
UEW, 2001-SSA, etc.). Non-English glosses are translated into English for the pre-
sent study. The phonetic data are given in orthographies (in boldface and italic) or
transcriptions (in italic). If a given word is longer than one morpheme, the targeted
morpheme is underlined (if certain). In successive data, dialectal or authorial vari-
ants are separated by a slash /; grammatical variants or allomorphs are separated by
a backslash \.

3. Results and discussion

01) Hungarian ég ‘sky’ (~ Hunnic Isfahan codex ige/igesi ‘sky’) is compared
with Ket es’/ ‘sky, god’, Yug es ‘sky, god’, Kottish š/eš ‘sky, god’, Assan öš/e
‘sky, god’, Arin es/eš ‘sky, god’, Pumpokol e ‘sky’, eg ‘god’ (2002-VWJ 1: 272–
273 “Proto-Yeniseian *es”). This etymon has also been identified in other lan-
guages: Kamass eš ‘god’, Koibal eš ‘god’. It can be postulated that this could be a
Proto-Hunnic root which has entered Kamass and Koibal. We think the ending in
Proto-Yeniseian should be -g instead of -s. It is more reasonable to develop from g
to s, i.e. g ֜ š ֜  ֜ s, not from s to g. ƺREFUTATION: Previously suggested
etymological link from Hungarian ég ‘sky’ to “Proto-Finno-Ugric *säe” ‘air’ [after
Finnish sää ‘weather’, Komi si ned/si nad ‘air’] is rejected due to both phonetic and
semantic disagreements. It was already caveated in 2001-SSA 3: 244.
02) Hungarian tenger ‘sea’ is compared with Ket tal’s’/t ‘high’, Yug tlsi/
tgl ‘high’, Pumpokol tokar-du ‘high’ (2002-VWJ 2: 309 “Proto-Yeniseian
*t(g)l”). This etymon has also been identified in other languages, e.g. Old Turkic
teiz ‘sea’, teri ‘sky’, Turkish deniz ‘sea’, Written Mongolian tenger ‘sky’, and it
has been suggested as a loanword word from Turkic to Hungarian (e.g. 1984-TESz
3: 888). It can be postulated that this could be a Proto-Hunnic root meaning ‘ex-
treme’, which has developed to (1) ‘the horizontal extreme of land, i.e. sea’ in
Hungarian and some Turkic languages, (2) ‘the vertical extreme, i.e. high’ in Ye-
niseian, and (3) ‘the vertical extreme of land, i.e. sky’ in some Turkic languages and
Mongolic. The Uralic, Turkic and Mongolic languages could be Hunnic-influenced
languages. A similar etymological direction from Yeniseian to Turkic and Mongolic
has been first suggested by Georg (2001).
03) Hungarian hegy ‘mountain’ (~ Hunnic Isfahan codex jagh ‘mounatin’) is
compared with Ket qaj ‘mountain’, Yug aj ‘mountain’, Kottish xei/khei ‘moun-
tain’, Arin ena-háj ‘forest’, Pumpokol kónno ‘mountains’ (2002-VWJ 2: 78–79
“Proto-Yeniseian *qaj”). This etymon has not been identified in other languages. It
can be postulated that this could be a Proto-Hunnic root. ƺREFUTATION: Previously
suggested etymological link from Hungarian hegy ‘mountain’ to “Proto-Finno-Ugric
*kaa” ‘end, top’ [after Finnish kasa ‘angle, corner’, Estonian (dialect) kadsa ‘lower
end of the blade of ax’, Lappic gæe/kiehtj/ieš ttš/kietš/kietše ‘end, top / end

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 46 Jingyi Gao 儈Ღа

4. Overview
Among these ten newly identified Hungarian and Yeniseian shared etymologies, a
regular sound change can be concluded: The -ó\-ava- rhyme in Hungarian is corre-
lated with the *-eg,-og,-g rhyme in Proto-Yeniseian (see Table).

Table 1. Hungarian and Yeniseian rhyme correspondence: -ó\-ava- ֞ȗǦeg,Ǧog,Ǧg

Proto-
Hungarian Hunnic Ket Yug Kottish Arin Pumpokol
Yeniseian
tó\tava- tava d d -tg -t’uk dánni *deg
‘lake’ ‘lake’ ‘lake’ ‘lake’ ‘lake’ ‘lake’ ‘lakes’ ‘lake’

hó\hava- hava q  -- -- -- *qog

‘snow’ ‘snow’ ‘ice’ ‘ice’ -- -- -- ‘ice’

só sava t  ši-/i- -- e *t'g

‘salt’ ‘salt’ ‘salt’ ‘salt’ ‘salt’ -- ‘salt’ ‘salt’

A rhyme correspondence represents strict and composite interlinguistic sound

correlations. A rhyme correspondence achieves that not only a single phoneme but
also a composite rhyme is consistently correlated among related lects, thus ruling out
chance resemblances. We can expect more rhyme correspondences in Hungarian and
Yeniseian shared etymologies in further studies.
All the newly identified Hungarian and Yeniseian shared etymologies belong to
the basic vocabulary, and are primarily used in Hungarian. They could not be loan-
words from Yeniseian to Hungarian, either from Hungarian to Yeniseian, due to
their geographic distance. These Hungarian words should belong to the Hunnic
substratum. The Hunnic substratum and the Yeniseian languages are descendants of
Proto-Hunnic. The Hun-Xiongnu connection and the Yeniseian-Xiongnu connection
are testified by the Hungarian and Yeniseian shared etymologies. These connections
can be merged to a Hunnic continuity that includes the historical Xiongnu, the Huns,
the Hunnic substratum of Hungarian, and the attested Yeniseian languages.

5. Conclusion
The present study has identified ten Hungarian and Yeniseian shared etymologies
that belong to the basic vocabulary, and observes that a regular sound change can be
stated in three Hungarian and Yeniseian shared etymologies. The regular sound
change validates the etymological connection between Hungarian and Yeniseian.
The Hungarian and Yeniseian shared etymologies support a Hunnic continuity that
includes the historical Xiongnu, the Huns, the Hunnic substratum of Hungarian, and
the attested Yeniseian languages.

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