Xiongnu language

Apart from tribal and sovereign names, some words, a song in the potentially related Jie language, and Chinese descriptions, the language(s) of the Xiongnu is very poorly documented, and very fragmentarily attested.

The origin of the Xiongnu is disputed and no theory has more support than another.

Xiongnu, with our current information, is unclassifiable{{Cite web |title=Glottolog 4.6 - Xiong-Nu |url=https://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/xion1234 |access-date=2022-08-21 |website=glottolog.org}} or a language isolate,{{Sfn|Di Cosmo|2004|p=164|loc=}} that is, a language whose relationship with another language is not apparent.

According to Savelyev and Jeong (2020):{{Sfn|Savelyev|Jeong|2020|p=|loc=}} the "predominant part of the Xiongnu population is likely to have spoken Turkic" languages, even though comparative archaeogenetic analysis, of the remains of Xiongnu and other peoples, has suggested that they were likely multiethnic.{{Sfn|Savelyev|Jeong|2020|p=|loc=}}

Wink (2002) suggests that the Xiongnu spoke an ancient form of Turkic, and if they were not Turkic themselves, that they were influenced by Turkic peoples.

Benjamin (2007) proposes that the Xiongnu were either Proto-Turks or Proto-Mongols, and that their language would have been similar to that of the Dingling.

Chinese historical works link the Xiongnu to various Turkic peoples:

• The ruling dynasty of the Göktürks were originally part of the Xiongnu.
• The Uyghur khagans claimed Xiongnu ancestry.
• The Book of Wei states that the Yueban were descended from the northern Xiongnu. It is also stated that Yueban language and customs were similar to those of the Tiele.
• The Book of Jin lists 14 southern Xiongnu tribes who entered Old Yan{{Specify|date=June 2024}}, and some of the tribal names have been compared to Old Turkic.

In the 20th century, Lajos Ligeti was the first linguist to hypothesize on the Yeniseian origin of the Xiongnu language. In the early 1960s, Edwin Pulleyblank further developed this theory and added evidence.

The Yeniseian origin theory proposes that the Jie, a Western Xiongnu people, were Yeniseians.{{Sfn|Vovin|Edward Vajda|Étienne de la Vaissière|2016}} Hyun Jin Kim found similarities in a Jie-language song in the Book of Jin (composed during the 7th century) to Yeniseian.{{Sfn|Hyun Jin Kim|2013}}{{Sfn|Hyun Jin Kim|2015}}{{Failed verification|date=July 2024}} Pulleyblank and Vovin then affirmed that the Jie were the minority ruling class of the Xiongnu, ruling over the other Turkic and Iranian groups.

According to Kim, the dominant language of the Xiongnu was likely Turkic or Yeniseian, but their empire was multiethnic.

It is possible that Xiongnu nobility titles originated from Yeniseian and were loaned into Turkic and Serbi-Mongolic languages:{{Sfn|Di Cosmo|2004|p=164|loc=}}{{Sfn|Vovin|2003|p=|loc=}}

• The words "tarqan", "tegin", and "kaghan" originate from Xiongnu, and they may therefore have a Yeniseian origin.
• The Xiongnu word for "heaven" may be derived from Proto-Yeniseian *tɨŋVr.

Certain Xiongnu words appear to be cognate with Yeniseian:{{Sfn|Vovin|2003|p=|loc=}}{{Sfn|Vovin|2015|p=|loc=}}

• Xiongnu kʷala "son" compared to Ket qalek "younger son".
• Xiongnu sakdak "boot" compared to Ket sagdi "boot".
• Xiongnu gʷawa "prince" compared to Ket gij "prince".
• Xiongnu dar "north" compared to Yugh tɨr "north"
• Xiongnu dijʔ-ga "clarified butter" compared to Ket tik "clear"

According to Pulleyblank, the consonant cluster /rl/ appears word-initially in certain Xiongnu words. This indicates that Xiongnu may not have a Turkic origin. Most of the attested vocabulary also appears Yeniseian in nature.{{cite journal |last=Pulleyblank |first=Edwin George |author-link=Edwin G. Pulleyblank |year=1963 |title=The consonantal system of Old Chinese. Part II |url=http://www2.ihp.sinica.edu.tw/file/1114AUnNESH.pdf |journal=Asia Major |volume=9 |page=264 |access-date=2011-02-06}}

Vovin remarks that certain horse names in Xiongnu appear to be Turkic with Yeniseian prefixes.{{Sfn|Vovin|2003|p=|loc=}}

Savelyev and Jeong doubt the theory of Yeniseian origin as the Xiongnu genetically correspond to Iranians, unlike Yeniseians, who have a strong Samoyedic affinity.{{Sfn|Savelyev|Jeong|2020|p=|loc=}}

It is also possible that Xiongnu is linked to Yeniseian in a Para-Yeniseian phylum, both linked in a Xiongnu-Yeniseian family, but others believe it was a Southern Yeniseian language.{{Sfn|Vovin|2015|p=|loc=}}{{Sfn|Vovin|2000|p=87-104|loc=}}

As a result, there are two competing models for the classification of Xiongnu into Yeniseian:

{{tree list}} Yeniseian languages

• Northern Yeniseian
• Southern Yeniseian
• Assanic
• Pumpokolic
• Xiongnu{{tree list/end}}

{{tree list}} Xiongnu-Yeniseian

• Yeniseian
• Para-Yeniseian
• Xiongnu
• ?{{tree list/end}}

Certain linguists posit that the Xiongnu spoke a language similar to Mongolic. According to some Mongolian archaeologists, the people of the slab-grave culture were the ancestors of the Xiongnu, and some scholars believe the Xiongnu were the ancestors of Mongols.

According to Bichurin, the Xianbei and the Xiongnu were the same people, just with different states.{{Sfn|N. Bichurin|1950}}

The Book of Wei indicates that the Rouanrouans were descendants of the Donghu. The Book of Liang adds:

{{Blockquote|text=They [the Rouanrouans] also constituted a branch of the Xiongnu.}}

Ancient Chinese sources also designate various nomadic peoples to be the ancestors of the Xiongnu:

• The Kumo Xi, speakers of a Para-Mongolic language
• The Göktürks, who spoke the Orkhon Turkic language (or Göktürk), a Siberian Turkic language.
• The Tiele, who also spoke Turkic.

Other elements seem to indicate a Mongolic or Serbi-Mongolic origin of the Xiongnu:

• Genghis Khan designated the era of Modu Chanyu, in a letter addressed to the Taoist Qiu Chuji, as "the bygone times of our Chanyu".
• Xiongnu solar and lunar symbols resemble the Mongolic Soyombo symbol.{{Cite journal |last=Miller |first=Bryan |date=2009 |title=Elite Xiongnu Burials at the Periphery: Tomb Complexes at Takhiltyn Khotgor, Mongolian Altai (Miller et al. 2009) |url=https://www.academia.edu/2086480 |journal=Academia |language=en |url-access= |access-date=2022-08-21}}

On the basis of Xiongnu names of nobility, it was proposed that the Xiongnu spoke an Iranian language.

Beckwith suggests that the name "Xiongnu" is cognate with the word "Scythian", or "Saka", or "Sogdian" (all referring to Central Iranian peoples).{{Sfn|Beckwith|2009|p=71-73|loc=}}{{Sfn|Beckwith|2009|p=405|loc=}} According to him, the Iranians directed the Xiongnu and influenced their culture and models. {{Sfn|Beckwith|2009|p=71-73|loc=}}

Harmatta (1994) affirms that Xiongnu names are of Scythian origin, and that Xiongnu would therefore be an Eastern Iranian language.

According to Savelyev et Jeong (2020), ancient Iranians contributed significantly to Xiongnu culture. Additionally, genetic studues indicate that 5% to 25% of Xiongnu were of Iranian origin.{{Sfn|Savelyev|Jeong|2020|p=|loc=}}

Other, less developed, hypotheses posit that Xiongnu is of Finno-Ugric{{Sfn|Di Cosmo|2004|p=166|loc=}} or Sino-Tibetan affiliation.{{Cite journal |date=2017 |title=Xia and Ket Identified by Sinitic and Yeniseian Shared Etymologies // 確定夏國及凱特人的語言為屬於漢語族和葉尼塞語系共同詞源 |url=https://caj.harrassowitz-library.com/article/CAJ/2017/1-2/5 |journal=Central Asiatic Journal |language=en |volume=60 |issue=1–2 |pages=51–58 |doi=10.13173/centasiaj.60.1-2.0051 |access-date=2022-08-25 |last1=Jingyi Gao 高晶一 |url-access=subscription }} It is possible that some eastern Xiongnu peoples may have spoken a Koreanic language.{{Cite web |date=2004-03-05 |title=騎馬흉노국가 新羅 연구趙甲濟(月刊朝鮮 편집장)의 심층취재 |url=http://monthly.chosun.com/client/news/viw.asp?ctcd=&nNewsNumb=200403100027 |access-date=2022-08-25 |website=monthly.chosun.com |language=ko}}{{Cite web |last=교수 |first=김운회 동양대 |date=2005-08-30 |title=금관의 나라, 신라 |url=https://www.pressian.com/pages/articles/47234 |access-date=2022-08-25 |website=www.pressian.com |language=ko}}{{Cite web |last=조선일보 |date=2020-08-04 |title=경주 사천왕사(寺) 사천왕상(四天王像) 왜 4개가 아니라 3개일까 |url=https://www.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2009/02/26/2009022601873.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141230090440/http://news.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2009/02/26/2009022601873.html |archive-date=December 30, 2014 |access-date=2024-06-30 |website=조선일보 |language=ko}}{{Cite web |date=2018-10-02 |title=자료검색>상세_기사 {{!}} 국립중앙도서관 |url=http://www.nl.go.kr/nl/search/SearchDetail.nl?category_code=ct&service=KOLIS&vdkvgwkey=14167918&colltype=YON_ART&place_code_info=132&place_name_info=%EC%97%B0%EC%86%8D%EA%B0%84%ED%96%89%EB%AC%BC%EC%8B%A4(3%EC%B8%B5)&manage_code=MA&shape_code=B&refLoc=portal&category=storage&srchFlag=Y&h_kwd=%E6%96%B0%E7%BE%85%E5%BB%BA%E5%9C%8B%E8%A8%AD%E8%A9%B1%EC%9D%98+%E7%A1%8F%E7%A9%B6%7C4%E8%BC%AF(1972%EB%85%84+5%EC%9B%94),+p.+1-52 |access-date=2022-08-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181002190914/http://www.nl.go.kr/nl/search/SearchDetail.nl?category_code=ct&service=KOLIS&vdkvgwkey=14167918&colltype=YON_ART&place_code_info=132&place_name_info=%EC%97%B0%EC%86%8D%EA%B0%84%ED%96%89%EB%AC%BC%EC%8B%A4(3%EC%B8%B5)&manage_code=MA&shape_code=B&refLoc=portal&category=storage&srchFlag=Y&h_kwd=%E6%96%B0%E7%BE%85%E5%BB%BA%E5%9C%8B%E8%A8%AD%E8%A9%B1%EC%9D%98+%E7%A1%8F%E7%A9%B6%7C4%E8%BC%AF(1972%EB%85%84+5%EC%9B%94),+p.+1-52 |archive-date=2018-10-02 |language=ko}}

A more developed and supported hypothesis than the previous ones indicate a multiethnic origin, and the primary language of the Xiongnu would be too poorly attested to conclude a relationship to any other language.{{Sfn|Di Cosmo|2004|p=165|loc=}}

{{See also|Origin of the Huns}}

File:Geographical location of the Xiongnu steppe empire and the heartland of the European Huns.png

Some researchers suggest a linguistic connection between the Huns, Hunas, and the Xiongnu people,{{Cite web |last=Vaissière |first=Étienne |title=Xiongnu |url=https://www.academia.edu/2455107 |publisher=Encyclopedia Iranica}}. However, this is debated, as there is also the possibility that the Huns, despite sharing the same migration route and having relations with the Xiongnu, originated from Indo-European peoples.{{Cite journal |last=Maenchen-Helfen |first=Otto J. |date=1944–1945 |title=Huns and Hsiung-Nu |journal=Byzantion, Vol. 17 |pages=222–243}}. In 2005, As-Shahbazi suggested that there were originally a Hunnish people who had mixed with Iranian tribes in Transoxiana and Bactria, where they adopted the Kushan-Bactrian language.{{cite encyclopedia |last= Shapur Shahbazi |first= A | title= SASANIAN DYNASTY | encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Iranica Online Edition | access-date=2012-09-03|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/sasanian-dynasty}} It should be known that there is no consensus about the linguistic origins of the Huns. Some scholars have suggested that the Huns originated from Mongolic or Turkic groups, making them possibly linguistically distinct from the Xiongnu people.{{cite journal |last1=Parker |first1=Edward Harper |title=The Origin of the Turks |journal=The English Historical Review |date=1896 |volume=11 |issue=43 |pages=431–445 |jstor=547136 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/547136 |issn=0013-8266}}{{cite journal |last1=Taşağıl |first1=Ahmet |title=TURKISH - MONGOLIAN RELATIONS IN THE EARLY PERIOD |journal=Manas Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi |date=1 May 2005 |volume=7 |issue=13 |pages=20–24 |url=https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/manassosyal/issue/49971/640582 |language=en |issn=1694-5093}}

File:Fig6Ishjamts p166R1.gif script (Mongolia and Inner Mongolia).]]

File:Bronze seal of a Xiongnu chief (seal, reverse image, transcription).jpg |isbn=978-1-316-27267-1 |page=19 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YLD0BQAAQBAJ&pg=RA1-PR19 |via=Google Books}}]]

The Xiongnu had mutual contact with the Chinese civilization, and the Chinese were their sole contact with the outside world besides the tribes around them which they were the dominating force above them.{{cite web |last1=Kim |first1=Hyun Jin |title=The Xiongnu |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277727.013.50 |website=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Asian History |language=en |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780190277727.013.50 |date=29 March 2017|isbn=978-0-19-027772-7 }} In 53 BC, Huhanye (呼韓邪) decided to enter into tributary relations with Han China.{{sfn|Grousset|1970|pp=[https://archive.org/details/empireofsteppesh00prof/page/37 37–38]}} The original terms insisted on by the Han court were that, first, the Chanyu or his representatives should come to the capital to pay homage; secondly, the Chanyu should send a hostage prince; and thirdly, the Chanyu should present tribute to the Han emperor. The political status of the Xiongnu in the Chinese world order was reduced from that of a "brotherly state" to that of an "outer vassal" (外臣). One of the most significant inscriptions in the Xiongnu language, found in the Xiongnu capital Longcheng, was written in Chinese characters and spell out *darƣʷa, meaning "leader" or "chief".{{cite journal |last1=Vovin |first1=Alexander |title=Two Newly Found Xiōng-nú Inscriptions and Their Significance for the Early Linguistic History of Central Asia |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/jeal/2/2/article-p315_6.xml |journal=International Journal of Eurasian Linguistics |pages=315–322 |doi=10.1163/25898833-12340036 |date=1 December 2020|volume=2 |issue=2 |url-access=subscription }} There also were a Xiongnu inscription unearthed in Buryatia that has Chinese characters written on it, suggesting that Chinese alphabet was in usage in the area of this is result of Han influence via trade networks.{{cite journal |last1=Otani |first1=Ikue |title=A reconsideration of a Chinese inscription carved on lacquerware unearthed from Barrow No. 7 of the Tsaram Xiongnu cemetery (Buryatia, Russia): new reflections on the organization of the central workshops of the Han |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s41826-019-00025-y#Fig4 |journal=Asian Archaeology |pages=59–70 |language=en |doi=10.1007/s41826-019-00025-y |date=1 July 2020|volume=3 |issue=1–2 |url-access=subscription }} Another inscription that uses Chinese characters is located in the royal tomb complex of the Xiongnu that spells out:

[乘輿][...] [...] [...]年考工工賞造 嗇夫臣康掾臣安主右丞臣 [...] [...]令臣[...]護工卒史臣尊省,

It translates:

[Fit for use by the emperor] made in the [?] year of the [? era] by the master artisan of the Kaogong imperial workshop Shang. Managed by the workshop overseer, your servant Kang; the lacquer bureau head, your servant An. Inspected by the Assistant Director of the Right, your servant [?]; the Director, your servant [?]; and the Commandery Clerk for Workshop Inspection, your servant Zun.{{cite web |last1=Miniaev |first1=Sergey |title=Investigation of a Xiongnu Royal Tomb Complex in the Tsaraam Valley |url=https://www.academia.edu/3269337}}

Xiongnu influence in the Chinese language includes the Chinese word for lipstick (胭脂) which spells out as *'jentsye and derives from the Xiongnu word for wife (閼氏) which is spelled out in the same manner.{{cite web |last1=Zhingwei |first1=Feng |title=发表于《Aspects of Foreign Words/Loanwords in the Word's language》 (The Multi-Faceted Nature of Language Policies that Aim to Standardize and Revive Language), Proceedings for 11th International Symposium, The National Institute for Japanese Language, p200-229, 2004, Tokyo. |url=http://www.lingviko.net/feng/loanword-zwfeng.pdf}} Several terms in animal husbandry, including names for different species of horses and camels that have uncertain foreign-originating etymologies, also had been suggested to have Xiongnu origins.{{cite web |last1=Şengül |first1=Fatih |title=The Horse-Related Terms and Animal Names in the Language of Xiongnus (Asian Huns) |url=https://www.academia.edu/43478344 |date=1 January 2020}} The name of the Qilian Mountains also originates from Xiongnu. A Xiongnu deity named Jinglu (徑路) was depicted as a sword and the spelling is the same as the Chinese word for "path" or "way". This deity had a temple dedicated to him and the worship included carving gold using the holy knife.Schuessler, Axel. "Phonological Notes on Hàn Period Transcriptions of Foreign Names and Words" in Studies in Chinese and Sino-Tibetan Linguistics 53.{{cite book |last1=Miller |first1=Bryan K. |title=Xiongnu: The World's First Nomadic Empire |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BkPnEAAAQBAJ&q=jinglu+&pg=PP1 |publisher=Oxford University Press |language=en |date=2024|isbn=978-0-19-008369-4 }}

After the dissolution of the Xiongnu, a few tribes remained to exist, which were the tribes of Chuge, Tiefu, Lushuihu, and Yueban. Except for the Yueban, also called the Weak Xiongnu, the rest of the tribes migrated to China and started their own settlements. One of those unique settlements is Tongwancheng, which has a mixed Xiongnu and Chinese etymology, specifically 統萬 (tongwan), a possible cognate with the word tümen which exists in both Turkic and Mongolian, meaning "leading 10,000" or "leading a myriad".

{{Portal|Language|China}}

• Huns
• Para-Yeniseian languages
• Proto-Mongols
• Kayı (tribe)

{{Notelist}}

• {{Cite journal |last=Ts. Baasansuren |date=Summer 2010 |title=The Scholar Who Showed the True Mongolia to the World |volume=6 |issue=14 |journal=Mongolica |language=en}} pp. 40
• {{Cite book |last=Harold W. Bailey |url=https://archive.org/details/EtymologyOfXiongnuNamesByTheLateH.w.Bailey |title=Indo-Scythian Studies: being Khotanese Texts |date=1985 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |language=en |jstor=312539 |access-date=22 August 2022}}
• {{Cite book |last=Beckwith |first=Christopher I. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5jG1eHe3y4EC |title=Empires of the Silk Road: A History of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the Present |date=16 March 2009 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-13589-2 |language=en |access-date=22 August 2022}}
• {{Cite book |last=Craig Benjamin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fX8YAAAAQBAJ |title=The Huns, Rome and the Birth of Europe |date=18 April 2013 |publisher=Cambridge University Press | isbn=978-1-107-06722-6 |language=en |access-date=20 August 2022}}
• {{Cite book |last=N. Bichurin |title=Collection of information on the peoples who inhabited Central Asia in ancient times |date=1950 |language=en}}
• {{Cite book |last=Di Cosmo |first=Nicola |url=https://www.academia.edu/5129526 |title=Ancient China and its Enemies: The Rise of Nomadic Power in East Asian History |date=2004 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |language=en |access-date=25 August 2022 |url-access=}}
• {{Cite book |last=Shimin Geng |url=http://scholar.ilib.cn/A-QCode~yyyfy200502001.html |title=阿尔泰共同语、匈奴语探讨 |date=2005 |publisher=语言与翻译 |language=zh |issn=1001-0823 |oclc=123501525 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120225170056/http://scholar.ilib.cn/A-QCode~yyyfy200502001.html |access-date=25 August 2022|archive-date=2012-02-25 }}
• {{Cite book |last=Peter B. Golden |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281319978 |title=An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples: Ethnogenesis and State-Formation in Medieval and Early Modern Eurasia and the Middle East |date=1992 |publisher=Wiesbaden: O. Harrassowitz |isbn=978-3-447-03274-2 |language=en |chapter=Chapter VI – The Uyğur Qağante (742–840)". |access-date=20 August 2022 |url-access=}}
• {{Cite book |last=Peter B. Golden |title=Some Notes on the Avars and Rouran |date=2013 |publisher=Curta, Maleon |location=Iași |language=en}}
• {{Cite book |last=Peter B. Golden |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326609440 |title=The Ethnogonic Tales of the Türks |date=August 2018 |publisher=The Medieval History Journal |language=en |access-date=20 August 2022}}
• {{Cite book |last=János Harmatta |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9U6RlVVjpakC |title=History of Civilizations of Central Asia: The Development of Sedentary and Nomadic Civilizations, 700 B. C. to A. D. 250 |date=1 January 1994 |publisher=UNESCO |isbn=978-9231028465 |language=en |access-date=22 August 2022}}
• {{Cite book |last=Andreas Hölzl |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cC9tDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22Para-Yeniseic%22&pg=PA377 |title=A typology of questions in Northeast Asia and beyond |date=2018 |publisher=Martin Haspelmath |isbn=978-3-96110-102-3 |pages=532 |language=en |doi=10.5281/zenodo.1344467 |issn=2363-5568 |access-date=21 August 2022}}
• {{Cite book |last1=Huang Yungzhi |last2=Li Hui |date=2017 |url=http://loca.fudan.edu.cn/lh/Doc/A141.pdf |title=The genetic and linguistic evidence for the Xiongnu-Yenisseian hypothesis |publisher=Man in India |language=en |access-date=21 August 2022}}
• {{Cite book |last=Hyun Jin Kim |title=The Huns, Rome and the Birth of Europe |date=2013 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-107-00906-6 |language=en}}
• {{Cite book |last=Hyun Jin Kim |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mcf4CgAAQBAJ |title=The Huns |date=November 2015 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-1317340904 |language=en |access-date=21 August 2022}}
• {{Cite book |last=Joo-Yup Lee |title=The Historical Meaning of the Term Turk and the Nature of the Turkic Identity of the Chinggisid and Timurid Elites in Post-Mongol Central Asia |date=2016 |publisher=Central Asiatic Journal |language=en}}
• {{Cite journal |last1=Savelyev |first1=Alexander |title=Early nomads of the Eastern Steppe and their tentative connections in the West |last2=Jeong |first2=Choongwoon |date=7 May 2020 |journal=Evolutionary Human Sciences |volume=2 |language=en |doi=10.1017/ehs.2020.18 |hdl=21.11116/0000-0007-772B-4 |pmid=35663512 |pmc=7612788 }}
• {{Cite book |last=Denis Sinor |title=Aspects of Altaic Civilization III |language=en}}
• {{Cite book |last=D. Tumen |url=http://user.dankook.ac.kr/~oriental/Journal/pdf_new/49/11.pdf |title=Anthropology of Archaeological Populations from Northeast Asia |date=February 2011 |publisher=Oriental Studies |location=Dankook |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130729140858/http://user.dankook.ac.kr/~oriental/Journal/pdf_new/49/11.pdf |language=en |access-date=21 August 2022|archive-date=2013-07-29 }}
• {{Cite journal |last=Vovin |first=Alexander |author-link=Alexander Vovin |title=Did the Xiong-nu speak a Yeniseian language? |date=2000 |issue=1 |journal=Central Asiatic Journal |volume=44 |pages=87–104 |jstor=41928223 |language=en}}
• {{Cite book |last=Vovin |first=Alexander |url=https://www.academia.edu/1804191 |title=Did the Xiongnu speak a Yeniseian language? Part 2: Vocabulary |date=2003 |publisher=Altaica Budapestinensia MMII |language=en}}
• {{Cite book |last1=Vovin |first1=Alexander |title=Who were the *Kjet (羯) and what language did they speak? |last2=Edward Vajda |last3=Étienne de la Vaissière |date=2016 |publisher=Journal Asiatique |language=en}}
• {{Cite book |last=Vovin |first=Alexander |url=https://core.ac.uk/outputs/229243025 |title=ONCE AGAIN ON THE ETYMOLOGY OF THE TITLE qaγan |date=2015 |publisher=Studia Etymologica Cracoviensia |location=Cracovie |language=en |access-date=21 August 2022 |url-access=}}
• {{Cite book |last=A. Wink |title=Al-Hind: making of the Indo-Islamic World |date=2002 |publisher=Brill |isbn=0-391-04174-6 |language=en}}
• {{Cite book |last=Xumeng |first=Sun |url=https://prism.ucalgary.ca/bitstream/handle/1880/112546/ucalgary_2020_sun_xumeng.pdf?sequence=3 |title=Identifying the Huns and the Xiongnu (or Not): Multi-Faceted Implications and Difficulties |date=14 September 2020 |publisher=PRISM: University of Calgary's Digital Repository (Thesis) |language=en |access-date=21 August 2022}}
• {{Cite book |last=Ying-Shih Yü |title=The Hsiung-Nu |date=1990 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |language=en}}

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Category:Unclassified languages

Category:Yeniseian languages

Category:Iranian languages

Category:Extinct languages of Asia