The origin of the Xiongnu is disputed and no theory has more support than another. Xiongnu, with our current information, is
unclassifiable or a
language isolate, that is, a language whose relationship with another language is not apparent.
Turkic language According to Savelyev and Jeong (2020): 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. 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, and some of the tribal names have been compared to
Old Turkic.
(Para-)Yeniseian language 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. Hyun Jin Kim found similarities in a
Jie-language song in the
Book of Jin (composed during the 7th century) to Yeniseian. 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: • 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: • 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. Vovin remarks that certain horse names in Xiongnu appear to be Turkic with Yeniseian prefixes. 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. As a result, there are two competing models for the classification of Xiongnu into Yeniseian:
Yeniseian model Yeniseian languages • Northern Yeniseian • Southern Yeniseian •
Assanic • Pumpokolic •
Xiongnu Para-Yeniseian model Xiongnu-Yeniseian •
Yeniseian •
Para-Yeniseian •
Xiongnu • ?A 2025 paper claims that, based on analysis of the limited Xiongnu lexicon and the only extant text of the Jie language, that the Xiongnu language is related to the
Arin language, which went extinct in the 18th century.
(Para-)Mongolic language 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. The
Book of Wei indicates that the
Rouanrouans were descendants of the
Donghu. The
Book of Liang adds: 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.
Iranian language 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). According to him, the Iranians directed the Xiongnu and influenced their culture and models. 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.
Other possible origins Other, less developed, hypotheses posit that Xiongnu is of
Finno-Ugric or
Sino-Tibetan affiliation. It is possible that some eastern Xiongnu peoples may have spoken a
Koreanic language.
Multiple languages 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.
Possible link with Hunnic Some researchers suggest a linguistic connection between the Huns, Hunas, and the Xiongnu people, There is no consensus about the linguistic origins of the Huns. As with the Xiongnu, some scholars have suggested that the Huns originated from Mongolic or Turkic speaking groups. There are likewise suggestions that Hunnic (or Hunnish) was originally a Yeniseian language, or the result of hybridisation with such a language. It is also possible that the Huns originated from Indo-European peoples. For instance, it has been suggested that because the Huns had significantly interacted with
Eastern Iranian-speaking tribes in Transoxiana and Bactria, they may have adopted the
Kushan-Bactrian language. == Contact with Chinese ==