Ashina tribe

Ashina
阿史那
Āshǐnà
The tamga of the Ashina clan, representing the mountain goat
Regions with significant populations
Central and East Asia
Languages
Old Turkic
Middle Chinese
Sogdian
Tocharian
Religion
Tengrism
Buddhism (minority)

The Ashina (Chinese: 阿史那; pinyin: Āshǐnà; Wade–Giles: A-shih-na; Middle Chinese: (Guangyun) [ʔɑʃi̯ə˥nɑ˩]) were a Turkic lineage and the ruling dynasty of the Göktürks. They rose to prominence in the mid-6th century when the leader, Bumin Qaghan (died 552), revolted against the Rouran Khaganate. The two main branches of the family, one descended from Bumin and the other from his brother Istämi, ruled over the eastern and western parts of the Göktürk empire, respectively, forming the First Turkic Khaganate (552–603).

Origin

Primary Chinese sources ascribed different origins to the Ashina tribe. They were first attested to 439, as reported by the Book of Sui: on the 18th day of the 10th month, the Tuoba ruler Emperor Taiwu of Northern Wei overthrew Juqu Mujian of the Northern Liang in eastern Gansu, and 500 Ashina families fled northwest to the Rouran Khaganate near Gaochang.

According to the Book of Zhou, History of the Northern Dynasties, and the New Book of Tang, the Ashina clan was a component of the Xiongnu confederation, but this is contested. The Göktürks were also posited as having originated from an obscure Suo state (索國), north of the Xiongnu. According to the Book of Sui and the Tongdian, they were "mixed barbarians" (雜胡; záhú) from Pingliang.

According to some researchers (Duan, Xue, Tang, and Lung) the Ashina tribe descended from the Tiele confederation, who were likewise associated with the Xiongnu. Like the Göktürks, the Tiele were a Turkic tribal confederation on the steppe. However, Lee & Kuang (2017) state that Chinese histories did not describe the Ashina-led Göktürks as descending from the Dingling or belonging to the Tiele confederation. The name "Ashina" was recorded in ancient Muslim chronicles in these forms: Aś(i)nas (al-Tabari), Ānsa (Hudud al-'Alam), Śaba (Ibn Khordadbeh), Śana, Śaya (Al-Masudi).

Etymology

Indo-European

The Sogdian merchant An Jia conversing with a Turkic noble in his yurt (579 AD).

Several researchers, including Peter B. Golden, H. W. Haussig, S. G. Klyashtorny, Carter V. Findley, D. G. Savinov, B. A. Muratov,S. P. Guschin, and András Róna-Tas have posited that the term Ashina ultimately descends from an Indo-European root, possibly Tocharian or one of Eastern Iranic languages, such as the Saka. Jonathan Ratcliffe also supports this theory.

Carter V. Findley assumes that the name "Ashina" comes from one of the Saka languages of central Asia and means "blue" (which translates to Proto-Turkic *kȫk, whence Old Turkic 𐰚𐰇𐰚 kök, and same in all Modern Turkic languages). The color blue is identified with the east, so that Göktürk, another name for the Turkic empire, meant the "Turks of the East"; meanwhile, Peter Benjamin Golden favours a more limited denotation of Göktürks as denoting only the Eastern Turks. Findley also said that the term böri, used to identify the ruler's retinue as 'wolves', probably also derived from one of the Iranian languages.

H. W. Haussig and S. G. Kljyashtorny suggest an association between the name and the compound "kindred of Ashin" ahşaẽna (in Old Persian). This is so even in East Turkestan; then the desired form would be in the Sogdian 'xs' yn' k (-әhšēnē) "blue, dark"; Khotan-Saka (Brahmi) āşşeiņa (-āşşena) "blue", where a long -ā- emerged as development ahş-> āşş-; in Tocharian A āśna- "blue, dark" (from Khotan-Saka and Sogdian). There is textual support for either of these versions in the Göktürk Orkhon inscriptions, in which the Göktürks are described as the "Blue Turks"; being descended from the marriage between Blue Sky and the Brown Earth.

According to Kuastornyj, the perfect translation of "Ashina" as an Indo-European word meaning "blue" indicates that the Türks of the First Turkic Khaganate period may aware of the non-Türkic origin of the name "Ashina." In this hypothesis of Louis Bazin, this knowledge was being suppressed in the Second Turkic Khaganate period by the Türkic nationalist policies of Bilge Qaghan.

Turkic or East Asian

Turkic horseman (Tomb of An Jia, 579 AD).

Peter A. Boodberg reconstructs the Chinese transcription 阿史那's Middle Chinese pronunciation as *’âṣinâ, which he derives from Turkic *ašïn, further from Proto-Turkic root *aš- ("to cross a mountain"), referring to the origin legend wherein the wolf-descended Turks had to cross mountains. Boodberg additionally derives the Middle Chinese transcription 阿史那 *’âṣitək (whence standard Chinese Āshǐdé) from this same root *aš-, immediately through *aşıd-.

Japanese Sinologist and historian Kurakichi Shiratori suggested that Ashina comes from *Esh- in Proto-Turkic. Christopher I. Beckwith reads the word Ashina as a Turkic name Arslan, based on Byzantine historian Menander Protector's record that “the name of the earliest rulers of the Turks was Arsilas” meaning that Ashina may have been an earlier form or a Chinese corrupted form of Arslan.

Based on Chinese sources' testament that the Ashina, upon becoming the head of Turks, exhibited a tuğ banner with a wolf head over their gate in reminiscence of its origins, the name "Ashina" is translated by Boodberg as "wolf", cf. Tuoba 叱奴 *čino, Middle Mongol činua, Khalkha čono. Gumilev, on the other hand, considered 阿 (A) as a prefix, a respect marker placed before a name, and accepted 'shih-na' as činua, just as Boodberg did; thus, he concluded that A-shih-na means "noble wolf." Nevertheless, Golden contends that derivation from Mongolic is mistaken.

On the Khor-Asgat inscription, the form Ašїnas is written and is similar to the Sogdian form Ašinas from the Bugut and Karabalgasun steles and the Arabic forms Ašinās and Ašnās from medieval Islamic sources. Reasoning that Chinese editors usually avoided the coda /-s/, Takashi Ōsawa hypothetically derives the family name Ašїnas from their tribal ancestress's name *A-ši-na and the final element -as, which he explains as a plural suffix (similar to the Turkic Käŋäräs < Käŋär "(Kangar / Kangly)" + suffix -(ä)s) as proposed by Marquart, Melioranskii and others.

He further links *A-ši-na to the Xiongnu title 閼氏, which was pronounced *′ât-zie in Late Middle Chinese, meant "wife of a ruler", and might be derived from *aš / eš, *azhi / *ezhi < *ašïn / *ešin, and *azhïn / *ezhin, further from Tungusic *Aši < *asun / *asi < *hasun < *khasu < *kasun < *katsun and Turko-Mongolic *Ači < ačun < *hatun < khatun < katun.

Legends

Turkic horsemen with long hair on the Miho funerary couch. Circa 570 AD. Northern Dynasties, China.

Chinese chroniclers recorded four origin tales, which Golden termed "Wolf Tale I", "Wolf Tale II", "Shemo (Žama) and the Deer Tale" and "Historical Account", of the Turks in dynasty histories and historical compilations "based on or copied from the same source(s) and repeated in later collections of historical tales".

These stories were sometimes pieced together to form a chronologically coherent narrative of early Ashina history. However, as the Book of Zhou, the Book of Sui, and the Youyang Zazu were all written around the same time, during the early Tang dynasty, it is debatable whether they could truly be considered chronological or rather should be considered competing versions of the Ashina's origin.

The record of Turks in Zhoushu (written in the first half of the seventh century) describes the use of gold by Turks around the mid-fifth century:

"(The Turks) put gold sculpture of wolf head on their tuğ banner; their military men were called Fuli, that is, wolf in Chinese. It is because they are descendants of the wolf, and naming so is for not forgetting their ancestors."

According to Klyashtorny, the origin myth of Ashina shared similarities with the Wusun, although there is a significant difference that, whereas in the Wusun myth the wolf saves the ancestor of the tribe, it is not as in the case of the Turks. He also adds that Turk system of beliefs linking at least some sections of the Turk ruling class to the Sogdians and, beyond them, to the Wusun.

Funeral rite

Statue of Niri Qaghan, Xinjiang, China

The Chronicle of Northern Zhou describes the funeral rites of the Ashina. The deceased were laid to rest in a tent, and animals would be sacrificed around the tent. Relatives of the deceased would ride horses around the tent and ritualistically cut themselves about the face as a display of mourning, or "blood tears". The individual and their belongings would then be incinerated.

According to D. G. Savinov, no burials have been found in South Siberia nor Central Asia that are fully consistent with the description of Ashina burials. According to Savinov this may be for several reasons:

  1. Göktürk burial sites in Central Asia and Southern Siberia are not yet open;
  2. The source is a compilation in character, and burial rituals and funeral cycle from various sources are listed in a unified manner;
  3. Göktürk funeral rites in the form in which they are recorded in written sources, developed later on the basis of the various components present in some of the archaeological sites of Southern Siberia of earlier Turkic cultures.[which?]

It is thought that the rite of cremation which was adopted by the ruling elite did not spread among the common people of the Khaganate. This may be attributed to the different ethnic origin of the ruling family.

Physical appearance

Bust of Kul Tigin (684–731), an Ashina Prince.

According to the Book of Zhou and the History of the Northern Dynasties, the Ashina clan was related to the "Yenisei Kyrgyz", who resided near the Pamir mountains and are described as possessing red hair and blue eyes in the New Book of Tang (Xin Tangshu 217b.6147), a description previously used to describe the Wusun. However according to Lee & Kuang (2017), the Göktürks differed from the Kyrgyz in their physiognomy and "no comparable depiction of the Kök Türks or Tiele is found in the official Chinese histories."

Lee & Kuang state that the most likely explanation for the West Eurasian physiognomy of the Yenisei Kyrgyz is a high frequency of the Eurasian Indo-European haplogroup R1a-Z93. Today, predominantly Asian Turkic groups such as Kyrgyz, a descendant of the Yenisei Kirghiz have one of the highest frequencies of R1a, with over 63% of the population while R1a-Z93 is most common (>30%) in the Altai people in Russia.

The Chinese Buddhist pilgrim Xuanzang visited the western Göktürk capital Suyab in modern-day Kyrgyzstan and left a description of the Ashina Tong:

The khan wore a green satin robe; his hair, which was ten feet long, was free. A band of white silk wound round his forehead and hung down behind. The ministers of the presence, numbering two hundred in number, all wearing embroidered robes, stood on his right and left. The rest of his military retinue [was] clothed in fur, serge and fine wool, the spears and standards and bows in order, and the riders of camels and horses stretched far out of [sight].

20th-century Chinese historian Xue Zongzheng claimed original Ashina members had physical features similar to Sogdians was by the time of Qilibi Khan, an eighth generation descendant of Bumin Qaghan, presented as a sign of mixed ancestry among the Ashina.

However, both Shibi Khan (609–619 AD) and Heshana Qaghan (604–612 AD) were doubtful of Qilibi being Ashina because he resembled a Sogdian more than a Göktürk which prevented him from being a shad.

This hypothesis was not supported by general consensus. DNA studies on early members of the Ashina family revealed that they were exclusively East Asian. Muqan Qaghan, the third qaghan of the First Turkic Khaganate, was described by Chinese authors as having an unusual appearance. He had eyes like "colored glazes", he had a very red complexion, and his face was over a foot wide.

Genetics

Empress Ashina (551–582), an early royal Ashina member and immediate descendant of the founding Göktürk khagans, belonged genetically to the Ancient Northeast Asians (ANA,   yellow area), supporting the Northeast Asian origin of the Ashina tribe and the Gökturks.

In 2023 the first genetic analysis on an early royal Ashina member (Empress Ashina, the daughter of Muqan Qaghan) found nearly exclusively Northeast Asian ancestry (97.7%) next to a minor West-Eurasian component (2.3%). The West-Eurasian component corresponded to a single mixture event dating to around 1566 ± 396 years before Ashina's lifetime (dating to c. 1000 BC).

It was determined that Empress Ashina belonged to the North-East Asian mtDNA haplogroup F1d. The Ashina individual was found to be genetically closer to East Asians than modern Central Asian Turkic groups. However, East Asian Turkic groups such as Dolgan, Salar, Tuvan, Yakut, Chuvash Altaian, Altaian-Chelkan, Khakass, Kazakh-China, Kyrgyz-China showed genetic affinity with Ashina. The Ashina individual was genetically closest to post-Iron Age Tungusic and Mongolic Steppe pastoralists, supporting the near-exclusively Northeast Asian origin of the Ashina tribe and early Turkic populations.

The ancient Türkic royal family of the Göktürks was found to share genetic affinities to post-Iron Age Tungusic and Mongolic pastoralists, while having heterogeneous relationships towards various later Turkic-speaking groups, suggesting genetic heterogeneity and multiple sources of origin for the later populations of the Turkic empire. This shows that the Ashina lineage had a dominating contribution on Mongolic and Tungusic speakers but limited contribution on Turkic-speaking populations. According to the authors of the 2023 study, these findings "once again validates a cultural diffusion model over a demic diffusion model for the spread of Turkic languages" and refutes "the western Eurasian origin and multiple origin hypotheses" in favor of an East Asian origin for the royal Ashina family.

Legacy

Members of the Ashina dynasty also ruled the Basmyls, and Karluk Yabghu's State; and possibly also Khazars and Karakhanids (if the first Karakhanid ruler Bilge Kul Qadir Khan indeed descended from the Karluk Yabghus). According to some researchers, the Second Bulgarian Empire's Asen dynasty might be descendants of Ashina.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ "Moreover, the two most senior titles after that of the khagan in the Turkic Khaganate were shad, which had Iranian roots and yabghu, of Tocharian origin."
  2. ↑ Amended to *aş- "to cross [a mountain]" in Çalışkan (2018)
  3. ↑ Ōsawa's hypothetical reconstruction; the Göktürks' ancestress was unnamed in Chinese sources
  4. ↑ Pulleyblank (1962) attempted to link the Xiongnu title 閼氏 < *ɑt-tēh to Proto-Mongolic *qati (whence also *qači- > *qačun > Turkic qatun / xatun); however, Vovin (2002) proposed that Old Chinese 閼氏 *ɑt-tej ~ *en-tej transcribed Xiongnu form *ɑlte ~ *elte, which Vovin compared to Kott alit "wife", ali:t, alat "woman", Assan alit "wife", Arin biqam-álte, kekm-elte "wife", all from Proto-Yeniseian *ʔalit ~ *ʔar1it "woman"
  5. ↑ The title Khatun is proposed to be a loanword from Sogdian xwt'yn (xwatēn).
  6. ↑ For an English translation, see Golden (2018:300-304)
  7. ↑ However, Duan Chengshi wrote in Miscellaneous Morsels from Youyang that the mythological ancestors of Kyrgyz tribe (Jiānkūn bùluò 堅昆部落) were "a god and a cow" (神與牸牛), (unlike Göktürks, whose mythological ancestress was a she-wolf).
  8. ↑ Simo was described as having a physical appearance similar to that of a Sogdian (original Chinese: 胡人 húrén "non-Chinese peoples of the North or West, barbarian, > Iranian > Sogdian") and so was suspected by the Ashina khagans Shibi and Chuluo of being born out of an adulterous relationship, and therefore was not entrusted with great authorities, like commanding the army as a shad.

References

  1. ↑ International Turkic Academy, (2015), TÜRK BENGÜ TAŞI: Şivеet-Ulаan Damgalı Anıtı, p. 13 (in Turkish)
  2. ↑ Grač, 1957, p. 408-414
  3. ↑ "The tamga of the royal clan of the first Turkish empire was a neatly drawn lineal picture of an ibex", Kljastornyj, 1980, p. 93
  4. ↑ Peter B. Golden, (1992), An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples, p.126:
    "Whatever language the A-shih-na may have spoken originally, in tirne, they and those they ruled would all speak Turkic, in a variety of dialects, and create, in a broadly defined sense, a cornmon culture."
  5. ↑ Zhiping Yang, (2025), The Orkhon Inscriptions: Examining Turk Attitudes Towards Chinese in 8th Century, p.1:
    "The western side of the monoliths contains Chinese inscriptions; the other three sides runic characters."
  6. 1 2 Ratcliffe, Jonathan (2020). "Masters of Political Theology: Eric Voegelin and the Mongols". In Trepanier, Lee (ed.). Eric Voegelin's Asian Political Thought. Lexington Books. p. 114.
  7. ↑ Zhivkov, Boris (2015). Khazaria in the Ninth and Tenth Centuries. Translated by Manova, Daria. Brill. p. 23. ISBN 978-90-04-29307-6.
  8. ↑ Empires, Diplomacy, and Frontiers. (2018). In N. Di Cosmo & M. Maas (Eds.), Empires and Exchanges in Eurasian Late Antiquity: Rome, China, Iran, and the Steppe, ca. 250–750 (pp. 269–418).
    "Mythology employing shamanic symbolism along with references to the sky-god Tengri were, evidently, tools to strengthen the Türk ruler's legitimacy, and some scholars see this practice as amounting to a state religion, "Tengrism," in which the ruling Ashina family gained legitimacy through its support from Tengri."
  9. ↑ Peter B. Golden, (2010) Central Asia in World History, p. 43-44:
    "The Türks, like many of their subjects, were believers in Tengri."
    "The qaghan claimed that he was "heaven-like, heaven-conceived" and possessed qut (heavenly good fortune), a sign of the heavenly mandate to rule."
  10. ↑ Liu Mau-tsa, (1958), 1: p. 172-173
  11. ↑ Tsvetelin Stepanov, (2008), The Bulgars and the steppe empire in the early Middle Ages: The problem of the others, p. 65-66
  12. 1 2 3 Wei Zheng et al., Book of Sui, Vol. 84. (in Chinese)
  13. ↑ Wei Shou, Book of Wei, Vol. 4-I. (in Chinese)
  14. ↑ Sima Guang, Zizhi Tongjian, Vol. 123. (in Chinese)
  15. ↑ 永和七年 (太延五年) 九月丙戌 Academia Sinica (in Chinese) Archived 2013-10-16 at the Wayback Machine
  16. 1 2 Christian 1998, p. 249.
  17. 1 2 Linghu Defen et al., Book of Zhou, Vol. 50. (in Chinese)
  18. 1 2 Li Yanshou (李延寿), History of the Northern Dynasties, Vol. 99. (in Chinese)
  19. ↑ New Book of Tang, vol. 215 upper. "突厥阿史那氏, 蓋古匈奴北部也." "The Ashina family of the Turk probably were the northern tribes of the ancient Xiongnu." translated by Xu (2005)
  20. ↑ Xu Elina-Qian, Historical Development of the Pre-Dynastic Khitan, University of Helsinki, 2005
  21. ↑ 杜佑, 《通典》, 北京: 中華書局出版, (Du You, Tongdian, Vol.197), 辺防13 北狄4 突厥上, 1988, ISBN 7-101-00258-7, p. 5401. (in Chinese)
  22. ↑ Tang, Li （ University of Salzburg, Austria ）. "A Brief Description of the Early and Medieval Türks" in Turkic Christians in Central Asia and China (5th - 14th Centuries), Studies in Turkic philology. Minzu University Press. p. VII.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  23. ↑ Duan: Dingling, Gaoju and Tiele. 1988, pp. 39–41
  24. ↑ Xue, Zongzheng History of Turks (1992). 39–85
  25. ↑ Rachel Lung, Interpreters in Early Imperial China, John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2011, p. 48 "Türk, or Türküt, refers to a state of Ašina clan (of Tiele [鐵勒] tribe by ancestral lineage)"
  26. ↑ Duan: Dingling, Gaoju and Tiele. 1988, pp. 39–41
  27. ↑ Old Book of Tang Vol. 199 lower "鐵勒，本匈奴別種" tr. "Tiele, originally a splinter race from Xiongnu"
  28. ↑ Suishu, Vol. 84 "鐵勒之先，匈奴之苗裔也" tr. "Tiele's predecessors are Xiongnu's descendants."
  29. ↑ Suribadalaha, "New Studies of the Origins of the Mongols", p. 46–47
  30. ↑ Cheng, Fangyi. "The Research on the Identification Between Tiele and the Oghuric Tribes".
  31. 1 2 3 Lee & Kuang (2017), p. 201.
  32. ↑ Гумилёв Л. Н. Древние тюрки. М.-Л., Наука, 1967.
  33. ↑ P. B. Golden, "Irano-Turcica: The Khazar sacral kingship revisited," in Acta Orientalia Hungarica 60:2 (2007) p. 165, 172, n. 33
  34. 1 2 Baumer, Christoph (18 April 2018). History of Central Asia, The: 4-volume set. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 228. ISBN 978-1-83860-868-2.
  35. 1 2 3 Yatsenko, Sergey A. (August 2009). "Early Turks: Male Costume in the Chinese Art". Transoxiana. 14.
  36. ↑ Golden, Peter; Mair, Victor (2006). Contact and Exchange in the Ancient World. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press. p. 142. ISBN 0824828844.
  37. ↑ Haussig Н. W. "Byzantinische Qullen über Mittelasien in ihrer historischen Aussage" // Prolegomena to the sources on the history of pre-Islamic Central Asia. Budapest, 1979. S. 55–56.
  38. ↑ Кляшторный С. Г. Проблемы ранней истории племени тÿрк (ашина). // Новое в советской археологии. / МИА № 130. М.: 1965. С. 278–281.
  39. ↑ Kjyashtorny S. G. The Royal Clan of the Turks and the Problem of its Designation // Post-Soviet Central Asia. Edited by Touraj Atabaki and John O'Kane. Tauris Academic Studies. London*New York in association with IIAS. International Institute for Asian Studies. Leiden-Amsterdam, p. 366–369.
  40. ↑ Findley, Carter (11 November 2004). The Turks in World History (1 ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 39. ISBN 978-0195177268.
  41. ↑ Савинов Д.Г. Владение Цигу древнетюркских генеалогических преданий и таштыкская культура. // Историко-культурные связи народов Южной Сибири. Абакан: 1988. С. 64–74.
  42. ↑ Wen S.-Q., Muratov B.A., Suyunov R.R. The haplogroups of the representatives from ancient Turkic clans – Ashina and Ashide // BEHPS. ISSN 2410-1788, Volume 3, No. 2 [1,2]. March 2016. p. 154–157. R.R. Suyunov, Муратов Б.А., Суюнов Р.Р. Саки-динлины, аорсы, Ашина и потомки кланов Дешти-Кипчака по данным ДНК-генеалогии // Вестник Академии ДНК-генеалогии (Бостон, США) → Том 7, №8, Август 2014, стр. 1198–1226., Muratov, Муратов Б.А. ДНК-генеалогия тюркоязычных народов Урала, Волги и Кавказа. Том 4, серия «Этногеномика и ДНК-генеалогия», ЭИ Проект «Суюн». Vila do Conde, Lidergraf, 2014, илл. ISBN 978-5-9904583-2-1.
  43. ↑ Rona-Tas, Andras (1999). Hungarians and Europe in the Early Middle Ages: An Introduction to Early Hungarian History. Central European University Press. pp. 280–281. ISBN 9639116483.
  44. 1 2 Sinor & Klyashtorny 1996, pp. 328–329
  45. ↑ Ratcliffe, Jonathan (2020). Trepanier, Lee (ed.). Eric Voegelin's Asian Political Thought. Lexington Books. p. 114.
  46. ↑ C. V. Findley 39.
  47. ↑ Golden, P.B. (1992) Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples. Series: Turcologia, Volume 9. Otto-Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden p. 117
  48. ↑ Findley, Carter V. (2005). The Turks in World History. Oxford University Press, USA. p. 55. ISBN 978-0-19-517726-8.
  49. ↑ Golden & Mair 2006, p. 142:"This Iranian linguistic connection was first out firward by Haussig and Bailey (Haussig, 1979, 55-57; Bailey, 1985, 104). ... More recently, Sergei Klyashtorny has revisted this theme, and building on the earlier work, suggests that A-shih-na is the transcription of the Khotanese Saka âşşeina/aşşena "blue" ... or perhaps Tocharian âśna "blue" (1994, 445-447). This nicely dovetails with the usage of "Kök Türk," Blue Türks, found in the Kül Tegin / Bilge Qaghan inscription (Tekin 1988, 8/9, 36-37). Both etymologies lead us back to the Eastern Iranian - Tocharian world of Eastern Turkestan."
  50. ↑ Coatsworth, John; Cole, Juan; Hanagan, Michael P.; Perdue, Peter C.; Tilly, Charles; Tilly, Louise (16 March 2015). Global Connections. Cambridge University Press. p. 218. ISBN 978-0-521-19189-0.
  51. ↑ Roemer, Hans Robert (2021). History of the Turkic Peoples in the Pre-Islamic Period / Histoire des Peuples Turcs à l'Époque Pré-Islamique (in French). Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. p. 151. ISBN 978-3-11-240229-0. "Dans le recit relatif aux premiers kagans, les grandes inscriptions de l'Orkhon dèsignent le peuple qui avait créé l'empire et habité le pays par le terme kök türk, ce que l'on traduit habituellement les "Turcs bleu chair (bleus)". Sans aborder les nombreuses interprétations du mot kök dans cette combinaison, notons sa convergence sémantique parfaite avec la signification, reconstituée ici, du nom A-che-na: "bleu". Un calque èvident du nom suppose la connaissance conservée de sons sens primitif et de son origine étrangère (tout à fait compatible avec les composantes poly-ethniques de la culture du premier Kaganant turc), lesquels perdirent toutefois leur popularité dans le milieu culturel et politique "nationaliste" (selon l'expression de L. BAZIN, qui caractérise à l'époque de Bilgä-kagan le milieu dirigeant d'Ötükän, centre de pourvoir dans la région de l'Orkhon)."
  52. ↑ Roemer 2021, p. 151: "Ainsi, le fait que dans les monuments de l'Orkhon soit mentionée la combinaison kök türk que l'on peut interpréter comme "Kök et les Türks", "A- che-na- et les Turcs", permet de constater la présance dans le texte du nom du clan royal turc, ainsi que la possibilité que les Turcs aient été conscients en tout cas en ce qui concerne le période presque légendaire des premiers kagans, de la dualité de leur confédèration tribale. "
  53. 1 2 3 Çalışkan, Mehmet (2018). "A-shi̇h-na keli̇mesi̇ni̇n eti̇moloji̇si̇ne dai̇r yeni̇ bi̇r fi̇ki̇r" [A New Approach the origin of the word A-shih-na]. Sanal Türkoloji Araştırmaları Dergisi [Online Turkology Research Journal]. 3 (5). Peter A. Boodberg kelime için iki farklı etimoloji önermiştir. İlki Moğolca er-çinoa (on kurt), ikincisi Türkçe (dağı) aş- fiilinden aşın. Boodberg A-shih-te kelimesinin aslının da aş- kökünden aşıd olduğunu iddia etmiştir. [Peter A. Boodberg proposed two different etymologies for the word. The first is the Mongolic er-činoa (ten wolves), and the second is derived from the Turkic verb aş- (to cross [a mountain]). Boodberg also claimed that the word A-shih-te originates from the root aş-, specifically from the form aşıd.]
  54. 1 2 Boodberg, Peter A. (July 1936). "The Language of the T'o-Pa Wei". Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies. 1 (2): 181–182 of 167–185. doi:10.2307/2717850. ISSN 0073-0548. JSTOR 2717850. T'u-chüeh Turks: Metal workers for the Juan-juan in a closed valley where their ancestor took refuge; descendants from wolves (and possibly deer, cf. Yu-yang Tsa-tsu 酉陽雜俎, ch. IV, lb-2a); come forth from the mountain to overthrow their masters [...] a) tk. aš— " to cross a mountain," ašïn — "id"; it is most probably this root which is hidden beneath the Chinese transcription of the clan name of the T'u-chüeh Turks, A-shih-na 阿史那, KD 1,885,647: 'âṣinâ, and A-shih-te 阿史德, KD 981: 'âṣitək. [...]
  55. ↑ Kljyashtorny, Sergey G (1998), "The Royal Clan of the Turks and the Problem of its Designation", Post-Soviet Central Asia, I.B.Tauris, doi:10.5040/9780755619801.ch-024, ISBN 978-1-86064-327-9, retrieved 8 April 2025
  56. ↑ Beckwith, Christopher I. (21 July 2020), "C. On the Royal Clan of the Turks", The Tibetan Empire in Central Asia, Princeton University Press, pp. 206–208, doi:10.1515/9780691216300-016, ISBN 978-0-691-21630-0, retrieved 8 April 2025
  57. ↑ Bichurin, 1950, p. 220–221
  58. ↑ Zhoushu, vol. 50: quote: "旗纛之上，施金狼頭。侍衞之士，謂之附離，夏言亦狼也。蓋本狼生，志不忘舊。"
  59. ↑ Suishu vol. 84. quote "故牙門建狼頭纛，示不忘本也。"
  60. ↑ Boodberg, 1936, p. 182
  61. ↑ Gumilev, 1967, p. 23
  62. 1 2 Golden, Peter B. (August 2018). "The Ethnogonic Tales of the Türks". The Medieval History Journal, 21(2). 21 (2): 292.
  63. ↑ Pulleyblank, Edwin G. (1962) "The Consonantal System of Old Chinese - Part 2", Asia Major, 9, p. 262- 264
  64. ↑ Vovin, Alexander. (2002). "Did the Xiongnu speak a Yeniseian language? Part 2: Vocabulary", in Altaica Budapestinensia MMII, Proceedings of the 45th Permanent International Altaistic Conference, Budapest, June 23–28, pp. 389–394.
  65. ↑ Peter Benjamin Golden (1998), "Turks and Iranians: An historical sketch" in Johanson, Lars; Csató, Éva Ágnes (2015). The Turkic Languages. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1-136-82534-7., page 5
  66. ↑ Clauson, Gerard (1972). An Etymological Dictionary of Pre-Thirteenth-Century Turkish. Oxford: Clarendon Press. pp. 602–603. ISBN 978-0-19-864112-4.
  67. ↑ Takashi Ōsawa, “A hypothesis on the etymology of the Old Turkic royal clan name Ašina/Ašinas and the transformation process in the early Abbasid period”, Chronica, S. 11, (2011), pp. 145-153.
  68. ↑ Inagaki, Hajime. Galleries and Works of the MIHO MUSEUM. Miho Museum. pp. 120–124.
  69. 1 2 Zhoushu, vol. 50 "Zhou Shujuan". Archived from the original on 11 October 2007. Retrieved 15 May 2007.
  70. ↑ Youyang Zazu, vol. 4 [permanent dead link]
  71. ↑ Youyang Zazu, "vol. 4". Siku Quanshu version, pp. 119, 120, 121 of 161.
  72. ↑ Suishu, vol. 84 "Sui Shu Juan". Archived from the original on 10 February 2008. Retrieved 28 December 2007.
  73. ↑ Xue, Zongzheng. History of Turks (1992) 39–85
  74. ↑ Zhoushu, vol. 50. quote: "旗纛之上，施金狼頭。侍衞之士，謂之附離，夏言亦狼也。蓋本狼生，志不忘舊。"
  75. ↑ Baumer, Christoph (2018). The history of Central Asia : the age of decline and revival. London. p. 183. ISBN 978-1838608682.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  76. ↑ Савинов Д.Г. Народы Южной Сибири в древнетюркскую эпоху Глава II. Раннетюркское время 1. Древнетюркские генеалогические предания и археологические памятники раннетюркского времени (с. 31–40)
  77. ↑ Zhoushu, "vol. 50 - section Tujue"
  78. ↑ Beishi, "vol. 99 -section Tujue"
  79. ↑ Peter B. (25 July 2018). "The Ethnogonic Tales of the Türks". The Medieval History Journal. 21 (2): pp. 300-304 of pp. 291–327."
  80. ↑ Youzang Zazu, "vol. 4", quote: 「堅昆部落非狼種，其先所生之窟在曲漫山北。自謂上代有神與牸牛交於此窟。」. Siku Quanshu version, p. 121 of 161
  81. ↑ Lee & Kuang (2017) "A Comparative Analysis of Chinese Historical Sources and Y-DNA Studies with Regard to the Early and Medieval Turkic Peoples", Inner Asia 19. p. 204-205 of 197-239
  82. ↑ Golden, Peter B. (August 2018). "The Ethnogonic Tales of the Türks". The Medieval History Journal, 21 (2): p. 302, fn. 57, of pp. 297-304
  83. ↑ 結骨 (Kyrgyz)... 人皆長大，赤發、皙面、綠瞳，以黑髮為不祥。Xin Tangshu 217b.6147
  84. ↑ Lee & Kuang 2017, p. 202.
  85. ↑ Lee & Kuang 2017, p. 216.
  86. ↑ Underhill et al. 2014.
  87. ↑ Zerjal, Tatiana; Wells, R. Spencer; Yuldasheva, Nadira; Ruzibakiev, Ruslan; Tyler-Smith, Chris (2002). "A genetic landscape reshaped by recent events: Y-chromosomal insights into central Asia". American Journal of Human Genetics. 71 (3): 466–482. doi:10.1086/342096. ISSN 0002-9297. PMC 419996. PMID 12145751.
  88. ↑ "ta-Kuan"", probably tarkhan is intended; see Christian 260.
  89. ↑ Adapted from Watters I:74,77.
  90. ↑ Atwood, Christopher P. (2015). "The Kai, the Khongai, and the Names of the Xiōngnú". International Journal of Eurasian Studies. 2 p. 62 of 35–63.
  91. ↑ Jiu Tangshu, vol. 194a, txt: 「思摩者, 頡利族人也. 始畢、處羅以其貌似胡人, 不類突厥, 疑非阿史那族類, 故歷處羅, 頡利世, 常為夾畢特勒, 終不得典兵為設。」
  92. ↑ Lee & Kuang 2017, pp. 201–202.
  93. ↑ Wang, Penglin (2018). Linguistic Mysteries of Ethnonyms in Inner Asia. Lanham: Lexington. pp. 189–190. ISBN 978-1498535281. "According to Xue Zongzheng (1992:80), the emergence of less-Caucasoid features in the Turkic ruling class was probably due to the intermarriage with the Chinese imperial families from generation to generation. Consequently, up to the Qagan's eighth generation descendant, Ashina Simo, his racial features remained unchanged to the extent in which he was described as looking like a Hu (Sogdian) person, not akin to Turkic, and suspected to be not of Ashina genealogical strain, and henceforth was unfortunately not trusted for military commandership (JTS 194.5163). Xue Zongzheng argues that 'looking like a Hu person' was originally the intrinsic feature of the Ashina lineage, then became presented as a sign of impure blood as a result of the qualitative change occurred in the hybrid physical features combining both Mongoloid and Caucasoid physical traits."
  94. ↑ Jiu Tangshu, [舊唐書/卷194上 - 维基文库，自由的图书馆 vol. 194a], txt: '思摩者, 頡利族人也. 始畢、處羅以其貌似胡人, 不類突厥, 疑非阿史那族類, 故歷處羅, 頡利世, 常為夾畢特勒, 終不得典兵為設'
  95. ↑ translated by and quoted in Lee & Kuang (2017) "A Comparative Analysis of Chinese Historical Sources and Y-DNA Studies with Regard to the Early and Medieval Turkic Peoples", Inner Asia 19. p. 201-202. note 13
  96. ↑ Ahmet., Tasagil (15 September 2023). Gök-Türkler. Onat, Ayse., Izgi, Özkan., Türk Tarih Kurumu. (3 cilt birarada 1. baski ed.). Ankara. ISBN 9789751624604. OCLC 880367410.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  97. ↑ Yang, Xiaomin; Meng, Hailiang; Zhang, Jianlin; Yu, Yao; Allen, Edward; Xia, Ziyang; Zhu, Kongyang; Du, Panxin; Ren, Xiaoying; Xiong, Jianxue; Lu, Xiaoyu; Ding, Yi; Han, Sheng; Liu, Weipeng; Jin, Li (9 January 2023). "Ancient Genome of Empress Ashina reveals the Northeast Asian origin of Göktürk Khanate". Journal of Systematics and Evolution. 61 (6): 1056–1064. Bibcode:2023JSyEv..61.1056Y. doi:10.1111/jse.12938. ISSN 1674-4918. S2CID 255690237.
  98. ↑ Wang (2018), p. 190.
  99. ↑ Beishi vol. 99 "狀貌奇異，面廣尺餘，其色赤甚，眼若琉璃。"
  100. ↑ Zhoushu, vol. 50 ""狀貌多奇異，面廣尺餘，其色甚赤，眼若瑠璃。"
  101. ↑ Emmerick, Ronald Eric (1979). Akten des VII. Internationalen Kongresses für Iranische Kunst und Archäologie : München, 7.-10. Berlin: Dietrich Reimer Verlag GmbH. p. 449. ISBN 9783496001034.
  102. ↑ Yang et al. 2023, pp. 3–4.
  103. ↑ Jeong, Choongwon (2020). "A Dynamic 6,000-Year Genetic History of Eurasia's Eastern Steppe". Cell. 183 (4): Figure S4A. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2020.10.015. ISSN 0092-8674. PMC 7664836.
  104. 1 2 Meng, Hailiang (2023). "Ancient Genome of Empress Ashina reveals the Northeast Asian origin of Göktürk Khanate". Journal of Systematics and Evolution. 61 (6): 1056. Bibcode:2023JSyEv..61.1056Y. doi:10.1111/jse.12938. Ashina individual clustered with ancient populations from Northeast Asia and eastern Mongolia Plateau, and especially with the Northeast Asian hunter-gatherers.
  105. ↑ Yang et al. 2023.
  106. ↑ Zizhi Tongjian Vol. 212, cited in Zuev Yu.A., Horse Tamgas from Vassal Princedoms (translation of 8-10th century Chinese Tanghuyao), Kazakh SSR Academy of Sciences, Alma-Ata, 1960, p. 104, 132 (in Russian)
  107. ↑ Klyashtorny, S.G. "The Polovcian Problems (II)" in Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae, Vol. 58, No. 3, Proceedings of the First International Conference on the Mediaeval History of the Eurasian Steppe: Szeged, Hungary May 11—16, 2004: Part III (2005). p. 245
  108. ↑ Golden, Peter B. An Introduction to the History of Turkic Peoples, p. 142-143
  109. ↑ Kli︠a︡shtornyĭ, S. G. (2004). Gosudarstva i narody Evraziĭskikh stepeĭ : drevnostʹ i srednevekovʹe. Sultanov, T. I. (Tursun Ikramovich) (2-e izd., isprav. i dop ed.). Sankt-Peterburg. ISBN 5858032559. OCLC 60357062. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  110. ↑ Pritsak, Omeljan (September 1978). "The Khazar Kingdom's Conversion to Judaism" (PDF). Harvard Ukrainian Studies. II (3): 261–281.
  111. ↑ Golden, Peter Benjamin (2007a). "Khazar Studies: Achievements and Perspectives". In Golden, Peter B.; Ben-Shammai, Haggai; Róna-Tas, András (eds.). The World of the Khazars: New Perspectives. Handbook of Oriental Studies. Vol. 17. BRILL. pp. 7–57. ISBN 978-90-04-16042-2.
  112. ↑ "Karluk Yabghu State (756-940)" Qazaqstan Tarihy. quote: "In 840, in the Central Asian steppes an important event occurred. The Yenisei Kyrgyz invasion destroyed the Uighur Khaganate, forcing the Uighurs to flee to Turfan oasis and to Gansu [original article mistakenly has Guangzhou]. The Karluk Djabgu and the ruler of Isfijab, Bilge Kul Qadeer-Khan, took advantage of the situation and proclaimed himself as a sovereign ruler and assumed a new title of Khagan."
  113. ↑ Sychev N. V., (2008), Книга династий, p. 161-162
  114. ↑ Kül-Tegin monument. Turkic Khaganate and research of the First Czechoslovak- Mongolian expedition in Khöshöö Tsaidam 1958, p. 82

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