The origin of the Huns and their relationship to other peoples identified in ancient sources as Iranian Huns such as the Xionites, the Alchon Huns, the Kidarites, the Hephthalites, the Nezaks, and the Huna, has been the subject of long-term scholarly controversy. Ancient Greek and Roman sources do not provide any information on where the European Huns came from, besides that they suddenly appeared in 370 CE. However, there are some possible mentions of the Huns or tribes related to them that pre-date 370. Chinese sources, meanwhile, indicate several different, sometimes contradictory origins for the various "Iranian Hun" groups. In 1757, Joseph de Guignes first proposed that the Huns and the Iranian Huns were identical to the Xiongnu. The thesis was then popularized by Edward Gibbon. Since that time scholars have debated the proposal on its linguistic, historical, and archaeological merits. In the mid-twentieth century, the connection was attacked by the Sinologist Otto J. Maenchen-Helfen and largely fell out of favor. Some recent scholarship has argued in favor of some form of link, and the theory returned to the mainstream, but there is no consensus on the issue.[1] It also remains disputed whether the various “Iranian Huns” belonged to a single or multiple ethnic groups.
The chief piece of evidence linking the Xiongnu to the European and Iranian Huns is the similarity of their names. Supporting evidence is provided by historical records indicating that the term Xiongnu was used for the people referred to in Sogdian and Sanskrit texts as the Xwn and Huṇa respectively, terms used for peoples called Huns in the West. Another important connection is the use of similar metallic cauldrons by the European Huns and the Xiongnu. Additionally, recent archaeogenetic studies have confirmed a similar profile of some Hun-era individuals to the Xiongnu. There remain a number of outstanding differences, however, including generally different archaeological profiles and a wide variety of customs attested among the various Hunnic groups. Additionally, there is a two hundred-year gap between the last recorded activities of the Xiongnu and the first appearance of the Huns in Europe and Central Asia. These issues have caused many scholars to reject the identification.
^Ball 2021, p. 174.
and 27 Related for: Origin of the Huns information
BYZANTINE EMPIRE ROMAN EMPIRE HUNS Lombards Franks TOCHARIANS Paleo-Siberians Samoyeds Tungus MEROË ◁ ▷ TheoriginsoftheHuns and their links to other steppe...
The history oftheHuns spans the time from before their first secure recorded appearance in Europe around 370 AD to after the disintegration of their...
called Attila theHun, was the ruler oftheHuns from 434 until his death, in March 453. He was also the leader of an empire consisting ofHuns, Ostrogoths...
migration of a homogeneous population. TheHuns have often been considered a people with Turkic origins and/or associated with the Xiongnu. However, the precise...
The term Iranian Huns is sometimes used for a group of different tribes that lived in Central Asia, in the historical regions of Transoxiana, Bactria,...
called White Huns [...] The Ephthalitae are ofthe stock oftheHuns in fact as well as in name, however, they do not mingle with any oftheHuns known to...
collectively as the Iranian Huns is generally accepted, but whether these groups are all inter-related remains controversial. Some scholars claimed Huns as Proto-Mongolian...
'honest', 'sincere'). Isabelle Robinet outlines the etymological originsof hundun. Semantically, the term hundun is related to several expressions, hardly...
shortly after the Hunas invasion of that region. The Gujara-Pratihara were "likely" formed from a fusion ofthe Alchon Huns ("White Huns") and native Indian...
The Hunnic language, or Hunnish, was the language spoken by Huns in the Hunnic Empire, a heterogeneous, multi-ethnic tribal confederation which invaded...
The Battle of Nedao was fought in Pannonia in 454 CE between theHuns and their former Germanic vassals. Nedao is believed to be a tributary ofthe Sava...
forward, the exact originofthe Pashtun tribes is acknowledged as being obscure. Modern scholars have suggested that a common and singular origin is highly...
Theoriginofthe Albanians has been the subject of historical, linguistic, archaeological and genetic studies. The first mention ofthe ethnonym Albanoi...
human history have made the Carpathian Basin the melting pot of Europe. New ancient genomes confirm the Asian originof European Huns, Avars and Magyars and...
Gál, Sándor Szilárd; Tomka, Péter; Török, Tibor (25 May 2022). "The genetic originofHuns, Avars, and conquering Hungarians". Current Biology. 32 (13):...
Hunor and Magor were, according to Hungarian legend, the ancestors oftheHuns and the Magyars. The legend was first promoted in Gesta Hunnorum et Hungarorum...
Mogor, by his wife Eneth. It was from them that theHuns, or Hungarians, took their origins. ... [A]s Hunor and Mogor were Ménrót's first born, they journeyed...
The Azerbaijani people are a Turkic ethnic group of mixed ethnic origins, primarily the indigenous peoples of eastern Transcaucasia, the Medians, an ancient...
address the issue oftheoriginofthe Romanians. The Romanian language descends from the Vulgar Latin dialects spoken in the Roman provinces north ofthe "Jireček...
called White Huns [...] The Ephthalitae are ofthe stock oftheHuns in fact as well as in name, however they do not mingle with any oftheHuns known to...
of gold to encourage theHuns to remain at peace with the Romans. In 433 with the rise of Attila and Bleda to unify theHuns, the payment was doubled to...
Huna, or Huns, including the Puranas and Mahabharata, and in historic records ofthe Guptas of Patna. According to Kulbhushan Warikoo, some Huns claim to...
quoted in William Herbert, Attila, King oftheHuns (London: Bohn) 1838:350f. Patrick Howarth, Attila, King oftheHuns: Man and Myth 1995:183f. András Róna-Tas...
453; after the Battle of Nedao in 454 AD, the coalition oftheHuns and the incorporated Germanic vassals gradually disintegrated. By 450 AD, the Romans had...
Global Information