Luandi

{{Short description|Ruling clan of the ancient Xiongnu tribal confederation}}

{{other|Luandi (disambiguation)}}

The Luandi ({{zh|t=攣鞮|s=挛鞮|p=Luándī|w=Luan-ti}}; alternatively written as Xulianti {{zh|t=虛連題|s=虚连题|p=Xūliántí}}) was the ruling clan of the Xiongnu that flourished from the 3rd century BCE to 4th century CE. The form Luandi comes from the Book of Han,[http://ctext.org/dictionary.pl?if=gb&id=67867 Hanshu], chapter 94a, l. 7a while the form Xulianti comes from the Book of Later Han.[http://ctext.org/dictionary.pl?if=gb&id=77825 Hou Hanshu], chapter 89, l. 7b

Etymology

Lanhai Wei and Hui Li reconstruct the Old Chinese pronunciation of 挛鞮 as *lyuan-tlïγ, evolving from an earlier 虚连题 (*Hala-yundluγ), as a result of a historical sound shift involving the initial dropping of *h- by demonstrating its occurrence in several historical sources. Furthermore, the conjugation of the roots *hala, meaning colorful; *yund meaning horse, *-luγ as the participle suffix would have resulted in the semantic meaning "tribe with skewbald horses" in an early Turkic dialect, allowing it to be further identified with the historical Ulayundluğ tribe.{{Cite web |last1=Lanhai |first1=Wei |last2=Li |first2=Hui |title=About the names of Chanyu family and branch tribes of Xiongnu |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318898663}} Moreover, the authors argue that the conquest of the same clan by the Xue in the 4th century CE eventually gave birth to the Xueyantuo.{{Cite journal |last=Wen-sheng |first=Bao |date=2010 |title=Name and Origin of Xueyantuo Tribe |journal=Journal of Inner Mongolia University|s2cid=163563213 |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=舊唐書/卷199下 - 维基文库,自由的图书馆 |url=https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E8%88%8A%E5%94%90%E6%9B%B8/%E5%8D%B7199%E4%B8%8B |access-date=2022-09-28 |website=zh.wikisource.org |language=zh}}

On the other hand, Anna Dybo reconstructs the Old Chinese pronunciation of 攣鞮 as *r(h)wan-de and posits that the clan's name, among other lexemes, were borrowed from "one of the Eastern Middle Iranian languages which was similar to a kind of archaic Khotanese Saka", and thus comparable to Khotanese Saka runde, plural of rre from *rwant- "king".Dybo, Anna (2014), [https://kpfu.ru/portal/docs/F230999094/01.pdf “Early contacts of Turks and problems of Proto-Turkic reconstruction”], in Tatarica, 2, p. 9

Status and Relation

The Luandi held some of the highest positions in the Xiongnu society, including the title of chanyu within the Xiongnu confederacy. In the confederation, Luandi was a paternal dynastic tribe, Huyan was an initially maternal dynastic tribe, and Xubu was a subsequently maternal dynastic tribe. They were the three most prominent tribes ("Houses" in N. Bichurin)Bichurin N.Ya., "Collection of information on peoples in Central Asia in ancient times", vol. 1, Saint Petersburg, 1851, p. 15 ( note 1: Huyan and Xubu always were in marital relationship with Chanyu. Xubu had a post of the State Judge. The custom of taking for the Khan maidens only from the same houses also survived in the Chingis-khan's house.) in the Xiongnu.

There were four other noble tribes: Huyan, Xubu, Qiulin and Lan. The Huyan belonged to the dominating left wing, and the Lan and the Xubu belonged to the right wing.Taskin B.S., "Materials on Sünnu history", Science, Moscow, 1968, p. 130 (In Russian) A source also considered Lan and Luandi as two variants of the same word due to their phonetic similarity.{{Cite book|title=Linguistic Mysteries of Ethnonyms in Inner Asia|last=Wang|first=Penglin|date=2018|publisher=Lexington Books|isbn=9781498535274|location=Lanham, MD|pages=34}} This was also attributed to the way the name Lan was used to identify Xiongnu's supreme rulers.

Rulers

The earliest prominent figure from the clan itself was perhaps their leader Touman. He would be succeeded by his son Modu Chanyu. Later on, the branch of the Luandi clan that founded the Han-Zhao dynasty changed their surname to Liu (劉), the surname of the Han dynasty emperors, while the branch that established the Hu Xia dynasty changed their surname to Helian (赫連).

= List of rulers =

See also

Notes

{{reflist}}

References

{{refbegin}}

  • Wang, Zhonghan (2004). "Outlines of Ethnic Groups in China". Taiyuan: Shanxi Education Press. {{ISBN|7-5440-2660-4}}. p. 134.
  • Lin, Gan (1986). "A Comprehensive History of Xiongnu". Beijing: People's Press. CN / K289. p. 11-12.
  • Book of Han, vol. 94a.
  • Book of Later Han, vol. 89.
  • Bichurin N.Ya., "Collection of information on peoples in Central Asia in ancient times", vol. 1, Sankt Petersburg, 1851

{{refend}}

Category:Han dynasty

Category:Nomadic groups in Eurasia

Category:Asian royal families

Category:Xiongnu

{{china-hist-stub}}