Luandi

The Luandi (simplified Chinese: 挛鞮; traditional Chinese: 攣鞮; pinyin: Luándī; Wade–Giles: Luan-ti; alternatively written as Xulianti simplified Chinese: 虚连题; traditional Chinese: 虛連題; pinyin: Xūliántí) was the ruling clan of the Xiongnu that flourished from the 3rd century BCE to 4th century CE. The form Luandi comes from the Book of Han, while the form Xulianti comes from the Book of Later Han.

Etymology

Lanhai Wei and Hui Li reconstruct the Old Chinese pronunciation of 挛鞮 as *lyuan-tlïγ, evolving from an earlier 虚连题 (*Hala-yundluγ), as a result of a historical sound shift involving the initial dropping of *h- by demonstrating its occurrence in several historical sources. Furthermore, the conjugation of the roots *hala, meaning colorful; *yund meaning horse, *-luγ as the participle suffix would have resulted in the semantic meaning "tribe with skewbald horses" in an early Turkic dialect, allowing it to be further identified with the historical Ulayundluğ tribe. Moreover, the authors argue that the conquest of the same clan by the Xue in the 4th century CE eventually gave birth to the Xueyantuo.

Later, different branches of the Luandi clan adopted Chinese surnames to legitimize their rule. The branch that founded the Han-Zhao dynasty changed its surname to Liu (劉), aligning themselves with the imperial family of the Han dynasty. Conversely, the branch that founded the Hu Xia dynasty adopted the surname Helian (赫連).

Upon establishing the Xia state in 407 CE, the ruler Bobo renounced the Sinicized surname "Liu" in favor of "Helian" as the royal clan name. According to the Book of Jin, he selected these specific characters to construct a folk etymology meaning "connected directly to the heavens" (徽赫與天連), thereby asserting a divine link to his imperial majesty.

However, modern historical linguists generally reject this political wordplay as a secondary rationalization designed to legitimize his rule to Han-Chinese subjects. Instead, scholars identify "Helian" as a phonetic variant or dialectal transcription of Qilian (祁連), which ancient Chinese texts explicitly record as the native Xiongnu word for "sky" or "heaven". Linguists reconstruct this Xiongnu root as an Altaic or Proto-Turkic cognate related to *Kök (sky/blue) or *Kün (sun), directly aligning with the ideopraxis of Tengrism practiced by early Turkic steppe peoples.

Status and relation

The Luandi held some of the highest positions in the Xiongnu society, including the title of chanyu within the Xiongnu confederacy. In the confederation, Luandi was a paternal dynastic tribe, Huyan was an initially maternal dynastic tribe, and Xubu was a subsequently maternal dynastic tribe. They were the three most prominent tribes ("Houses" in N. Bichurin) in the Xiongnu.

There were four other noble tribes: Huyan, Xubu, Qiulin and Lan. The Huyan belonged to the dominating left wing, and the Lan and the Xubu belonged to the right wing. A source also considered Lan and Luandi as two variants of the same word due to their phonetic similarity. This was also attributed to the way the name Lan was used to identify Xiongnu's supreme rulers.

Rulers

The earliest prominent figure from the clan itself was perhaps their leader Touman. He would be succeeded by his son Modu Chanyu. Later on, the branch of the Luandi clan that founded the Han-Zhao dynasty changed their surname to Liu (劉), the surname of the Han dynasty emperors, while the branch that established the Hu Xia dynasty changed their surname to Helian (赫連).

List of rulers

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Hanshu, chapter 94a, l. 7a
  2. ↑ Hou Hanshu, chapter 89, l. 7b
  3. 1 2 Wei, Lanhai; Li, Hui. "About the names of Chanyu family and branch tribes of Xiongnu".
  4. ↑ Wen-sheng, Bao (2010). "Name and Origin of Xueyantuo Tribe". Journal of Inner Mongolia University. S2CID 163563213.
  5. ↑ "舊唐書/卷199下 - 维基文库，自由的图书馆". zh.wikisource.org (in Chinese). Retrieved 2022-09-28.
  6. ↑ Fang, Xuanling (648). Book of Jin (Jin Shu). Vol. 130.
  7. ↑ "Book of Jin, Volume 130: 載記第30 赫連勃勃 (Helian Bobo)". Wikisource.
  8. ↑ Yan, Shigu (620). Book of Han (Han Shu) Commentary. 祁連山即天山也，匈奴呼天為祁連 (Qilian Mountain means Sky Mountain; the Xiongnu call the sky 'qilian'.)
  9. ↑ Chen, Sanping (1998). "Akviri and Helian: Notes on Nomadic Surnames". Central Asiatic Journal. 42 (1): 24–35.
  10. ↑ Bichurin N.Ya., "Collection of information on peoples in Central Asia in ancient times", vol. 1, Saint Petersburg, 1851, p. 15 ( note 1: Huyan and Xubu always were in marital relationship with Chanyu. Xubu had a post of the State Judge. The custom of taking for the Khan maidens only from the same houses also survived in the Chingis-khan's house.)
  11. ↑ Taskin B.S., "Materials on Sünnu history", Science, Moscow, 1968, p. 130 (In Russian)
  12. 1 2 Wang, Penglin (2018). Linguistic Mysteries of Ethnonyms in Inner Asia. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books. p. 34. ISBN 9781498535274.

References

  • Wang, Zhonghan (2004). "Outlines of Ethnic Groups in China". Taiyuan: Shanxi Education Press. ISBN 7-5440-2660-4. p. 134.
  • Lin, Gan (1986). "A Comprehensive History of Xiongnu". Beijing: People's Press. CN / K289. p. 11-12.
  • Book of Han, vol. 94a.
  • Book of Later Han, vol. 89.
  • Bichurin N.Ya., "Collection of information on peoples in Central Asia in ancient times", vol. 1, Sankt Petersburg, 1851