Tuoba

By the 8th century, the Old Turkic form of the name was Tabγač (), usually anglicized as Tabgatch and with the second character transcribed as ; it has also been anglicized as '''T'o-pa and as Toba'. whose Middle Chinese pronunciation has been reconstructed as *tʰuwk-pjot, *T'ak-bwat, or *T'ak-buat. The name is also sometimes clarified as the Tuoba Xianbei (, Tuòbá Xiānbēi''). ==Ethnicity and language==

According to Hyacinth (Bichurin), an early 19th-century scholar, the Tuoba and their Rouran enemies descended from common ancestors. The Rouran state was undoubtedly multi-ethnic. As the ancient sources regard the Rouran as a separate branch of the Xiongnu Book of Song and Book of Liang connected Rourans to the earlier Xiongnu while The Weishu stated that the Rourans were of Donghu origins and the Tuoba originated from the Xianbei, who were also Donghu's descendants. The Xianbei were likely not of a single ethnicity, but rather a multilingual, multi-ethnic confederation. The Donghu ancestors of Tuoba and Rouran were most likely proto-Mongols. Alexander Vovin (2007) identifies the Tuoba language as a Mongolic language. On the other hand, Juha Janhunen proposed that the Tuoba might have spoken an Oghur Turkic language. René Grousset, writing in the early 20th century, identifies the Tuoba as a Turkic tribe. According to Peter Boodberg, a 20th-century scholar, the Tuoba language was essentially Turkic with Mongolic admixture. Chen Sanping observed that the Tuoba language contains both elements. According to Joo-Yup Lee nomadic confederations were often made up of tribes of diverse linguistic backgrounds. For instance, the ruling elite of the Tuoba Wei dynasty (386–534CE) was made up of both Turkic and Mongolic groups. While migrating southward to northern China from their original abode in northeastern Mongolia, the Para-Mongolic Tuoba assimilated several Turkic Dingling (Tiele) tribes such as the Hegu (Qirghiz) and Yizhan. As a result, the Dingling elements constituted as much as a quarter of the Tuoba tribe. Liu Xueyao stated that the Tuoba may have had their own language which should not be assumed to be identical with any other known languages. Andrew Shimunek (2017) classifies Tuoba (Tabghach) as a "Serbi" (i.e., para-Mongolic) language. Shimunek's Serbi branch also consists of the Tuyuhun and Khitan languages. An-King Lim (2016, 2023) classifies Tuoba (Tabghatch) as Turkic language. ==History==

, Tuyuhun Kingdom, Tuoba Wei 330–555 AD The Tuoba were a Xianbei clan. The distribution of the Xianbei people ranged from present day Northeast China to Mongolia, and the Tuoba were one of the largest clans among the western Xianbei, ranging from present day Shanxi province and westward and northwestward. They established the state of Dai from 310 to 376 AD and ruled as the Northern Wei from 386 to 536. The Tuoba states of Dai and Northern Wei also claimed to possess the quality of earth in the Chinese Wu Xing theory. All the chieftains of the Tuoba were revered as emperors in the Book of Wei and the History of the Northern Dynasties. A branch of the Tuoba in the west known as the Tufa also ruled the Southern Liang dynasty from 397 to 414 during the Sixteen Kingdoms period. The Northern Wei started to arrange for Chinese elites to marry daughters of the Xianbei Tuoba royal family in the 480s. More than fifty percent of Tuoba Xianbei princesses of the Northern Wei were married to southern Chinese men from the imperial families and aristocrats from southern China of the Southern dynasties who defected and moved north to join the Northern Wei. Some Chinese exiled royalty fled from southern China and defected to the Xianbei. Several daughters of the Xianbei Tuoba Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei were married to Chinese elites: the Han Chinese Liu Song royal married of the Northern Wei; married , a descendant of Jin dynasty (266–420) royalty; married ; and married Xiao Baoyin (萧宝夤), a member of Southern Qi royalty. Emperor Xiaozhuang of Northern Wei's sister the Shouyang Princess was wedded to Emperor Wu of Liang's son . One of Emperor Xiaowu of Northern Wei's sisters was married to Zhang Huan, a Han Chinese, according to the Book of Zhou. His name is given as Zhang Xin in the Book of Northern Qi and History of the Northern Dynasties which mention his marriage to a Xianbei princess of Wei. His personal name was changed due to a naming taboo on the emperor's name. He was the son of Zhang Qiong. When the Eastern Jin dynasty ended, Northern Wei received the Han Chinese Jin prince as a refugee. A Northern Wei Princess married Sima Chuzhi, giving birth to Sima Jinlong (司馬金龍). Northern Liang Xiongnu King Juqu Mujian's daughter married Sima Jinlong. ==Genetics==

According to Zhou (2006) the haplogroup frequencies of the Tuoba Xianbei were 43.75% haplogroup D, 31.25% haplogroup C, 12.5% haplogroup B, 6.25% haplogroup A and 6.25% "other." Zhou (2014) obtained mitochondrial DNA analysis from 17 Tuoba Xianbei, which indicated that these specimens were, similarly, completely East Asian in their maternal origins, belonging to haplogroups D, C, B, A and haplogroup G. ==Chieftains of Tuoba Clan 219–376 (as Princes of Dai 315–376)==

(569 CE). As a consequence of the Northern Wei's extensive contacts with Central Asia, Turkic sources identified Tabgach, also transcribed as Tawjach, Tawġač, Tamghaj, Tamghach, Tafgaj, and Tabghaj, as the ruler or country of China until the 13th century. The Orkhon inscriptions in the Orkhon Valley in modern-day Mongolia from the 8th century identify Tabgach as China. In the 11th century text, the Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk ("Compendium of the languages of the Turks"), Turkic scholar Mahmud al-Kashgari, writing in Baghdad for an Arabic audience, describes Tawjach as one of the three components comprising China. At the time of his writing, China's northern fringe was ruled by Khitan-led Liao dynasty while the remainder of China proper was ruled by the Northern Song dynasty. Arab sources used Sīn to refer to northern China and Māsīn to represent southern China. In his account, al-Kashgari refers to his homeland, around Kashgar, then part of the Kara-Khanid Khanate, as Lower China. The rulers of the Karakanids adopted Tamghaj Khan (Turkic: the Khan of China) in their title, and minted coins bearing this title. Much of the realm of the Karakhanids including Transoxania and the western Tarim Basin had been under the rule of the Tang dynasty prior to the Battle of Talas in 751, and the Karakhanids continued to identify with China, several centuries later. This name has been used in China in recent years to promote ethnic unity. ==See also==