“Hunnic Language of the Attila Clan” — Omeljan Pritsak (1982)

“Hunnic Language of the Attila Clan” — Omeljan Pritsak

Harvard Ukranian Studies, 1982

In this paper, published almost forty years ago, Ukrainian historian, linguist and medievalist Omeljan Pritsak (Омеля́н Йо́сипович Пріца́к; 1919–2006) made an extensive and meticulous etymological analysis (49 pages) of the onomastic material based on the 33 names of the members of the Hunnic royal clan and statesmen between ad 375 and 555. It turns out that 31 of these names are definitely related to words in various Turkic languages. The other two are Mamas, a Greek Christian name, and Laudaricus, probably Gothic. The following is a short summary of his remarkable and commendable investigation. The table produced here is in much more legible and presentable form compared with the original. Some end notes are added to clarify certain contents, too.

 

I. Names of members of the dynasty 

1. Balamur

2. Basiġ

3. Kürsig

4. Öldin

5. Donat

6. Qara Tön

7. Munǯuq

8. Öktär

9. Hr-Ȫgä

10. Ōy Bars

11. Es Qām

12. Blidä

13. Attila

14. Ata Qām

15. Mamas

16. Laudaricus

17. Ēlläg

18. Deŋirčig

19. Hērnäk

20. Еmnəčür

21. Ölčindür

22. Gesəm

23. Munǯu

24. Elmingir

25. Elminčür

 

II. Names of leading Hunnic statesmen and officers ca. 448–449

 

26. Adam

27. Berik

28. Edäkün

29. Čerkün

30. Eslä

31. Krekän

32. Ünegǟsi

33. Sköttä

 

The works of Greek writers (especially Priscus, d. ca. 472) and Latin writers (especially Jordanes, ad 551, based on the work of Cassiodorus, fl. ca. 530) contain the names of some twenty-five persons among Attila’s immediate kin and eight names of their close associates—together thirty-three names over a period of some one hundred and eighty years (ca. 375–555). One can assume that all these persons spoke the same idiom. It is reasonable, then, to use this onomastic material to determine the language of the ruling clan of the so-called European Huns.

 

Special literature dealing with the language of the Huns includes:

 

Gerhard Doerfer, “Zur Sprache des Hunnen,” CAJ (Wiesbaden) 17 (1973): 1–50; Lajos (Louis) Ligeti, “Dengizikh és Bécs állítólagos kun megfelelôi,” Magyar Nyelv (Budapest), 58 (1962): 142–52 = L. L., A Magyar nyelv török kapcsolatai és ami körülötlük van, vol. 2 (Budapest, 1979), pp. 155-61; Otto Maenchen-Helfen, “Zu Moór's Thesen über die Hunnen,” Beiträge zur Namenforschung (Heidelberg), 14 (1963): 273–78; idem, “Iranian names of the Huns,” in W. B. Henning Memorial Volume (London, 1970), pp. 272–75; idem, The World of the Huns (Berkeley, 1973), especially chap. 9: “Language,” pp. 376–443; Elemer Moór, “Zur Herkunft der Hunnen mit besonderer Berücksichtigung ihres Namenmaterials,” Beiträge zur Namenforschung 14 (1963): 63–104; idem, “Noch einmal zum Hunnenproblem,” Beiträge zur Namenforschung 16 (1965): 14–22; Gyula (Julius) Németh, “A hunok nyelve,” in Attila és hunjai (Budapest, 1940), pp. 217–26, 315–16 = [Turkish translation by János Eckmann], “Hunların dili,” Türk Dili Belleten, ser. 3, nos. 12–13 (Ankara, 1949), pp. 106-114; Pavel Poucha, “Mongolische Miscellen. IV. Zum Hunnenproblem,” CAJ 1 (1955): 287–71; Omeljan Pritsak, “Kultur und Sprache der Hunnen,” in Festschrift für Dmytro Cyzevs'kyj (Berlin, 1954), pp. 238–49 = О. P., Studies, no. VII; idem, “Ein hunnisches Wort,” Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft (Wiesbaden), 104 (1954): 124–35 = O. P., Studies, no. IX; idem, “Der Titel Attila,” Festschrift für Max Vasmer (Berlin, 1956), pp. 404–419, = О. Р., Studies, no. VIII; Gottfried Schramm, “Eine hunnisch-germanische Namensbeziehung?,” Jahrbuch für fränkische Landesforschung 20 (1960): 129–155. (Note the list of abbreviations, pp. 474–76.)

 

The Hunnic material to be analyzed here belongs to four periods: 

 

(1) ca. ad 375 — the time of the first name, that of the epic Hunnic ruler who allegedly entered the East European Ostrogothic realm then, as recorded by Jordanes from the Hunnic epic tradition;

 

(2) ca. 390–420 — the time of names 2 to 6, which are historical, although the relationship of their bearers to Attila (and to each other) remains unknown;

 

(3) ca. 420–480 — the names in this subdivision, including 7–21 and 26–33, are taken from the surest historical and genealogical information;

 

(4) ca. 536–555 — the fully historical names, 22–25, are of actors in the Hunnic epilogue.

 

The Hunnic names that have come down to us are transmitted mostly in the works of fourteen contemporary (5^th–6^th century) Greek and Latin writers. Six Greek and two Roman writers lived in the 5^th century, whereas three Greek and three Roman writers were from the 6^th century. Also, four works (two Greek and two Roman) were written between the 7^th and 9^th century by authors who had at their disposal rich sources since then lost. We have no serious reason to question the accuracy of their data.

 

The majority of the Hunnic names (20 of the 33) were recorded by the intelligent politician and historian Priscus of Panium in Thrace (d. after 472), who spent some time at Attila’s court (448–449) as the Byzantine ambassador to the Hunnic realm. In fact, thirteen, or more than one third, of the names are known to us only from Priscus’s notations: Ἄδάμει^dat, Ἄτακάμ, Βασίχ, Βέριχος, Ἔδέκων, Ἔσκάμ, Ζέρκων, Ἤσλαν^acc, Κουρσίχ, Κρέκαν, Μάμα^gen, Σκόττας, ᾯηβάρσιον^acc.

 

An earlier Byzantine ambassador to the Huns, Olympiodorus of Thebae in Egypt, visited the Hunnic rulers in 412. In his historical writings, he mentions two names unknown in other sources : Δονάτος and Χαράτων. The history of Justinian I’s reign by Agathias (fl. 556) mentions two more otherwise unrecorded names: Ἔλμίγγειρος and Ἔλμινζούρ.

 

A later but nonetheless reliable chronicler, Theophanes Byzantius (752–818), who incorporated materials from many lost sources in his work, also saved one Hunnic name: Γιέσμου^gen.

 

Three church historians of the first half of the 5^th century transmitted several names: Socrates of Constantinople (d. 440), Sozomen of Ghazzah in Palestine (d. ca. 450), and Theodoret of Antioch (d. 451). Of the Greek authors, only Sozomen and the secular historian Zosimus (who wrote after 498) mentioned the name Οὔλδιν ~ Οὔλδης, and Socrates notes the name Οὔπταρος.

The “Chronicon paschale,” compiled by an unknown cleric during the reign of Heraclius I (610–641) sometime shortly after 628, contains variants of two names: Βλίδας and Δινζίριχος.

Editions of the Byzantine Greek sources are the following:

 

Agathias, Historiarum libri quinqué, ed. Ludwig Dindorf, HGM 2 (Leipzig, 1871), pp. 132–432; Chronicon paschale, ed. L. Dindorf (Bonn, 1832); Joannes Malalas, Chronographia, ed. L. Dindorf (Bonn, 1831); Olympiodorus, ed. René Henry, “Codices” 1–84, in Photius, Bibliothèque (Paris, 1959); Priscus, in EL, ed. Carolus de Boor, vol. 1 (Berlin, 1903); Procopius, History of the Wars, ed. H. B. Dewing, 6 vols. (Cambridge, Mass., 1914–35); Socrates, Historia ecclesiastica, ed. J. P. Migne, PG, vol. 67 (Paris, 1864), cols. 28–842; Sozomen, Historia ecclesiastica, ed. J. P. Migne, PG, vol. 67 (1864), cols. 843–1630; Theodoret, Historia ecclesiastica, ed. Felix Scheidweiler (Berlin, 1954); Theophanes, Chronographia, ed. C. de Boor (Leipzig, 1883); Zosimus, Historia nova, ed. Ludwig Mendelssohn (Leipzig, 1887).

 

First among the Latin authors is Jordanes, a pro-Roman Ostrogoth who in 551 (probably in Ravenna) wrote his “Getica,” or history of the Goths (and Huns). In composing the work, he made use of a very important (now lost) Gothic history by the Roman senator Cassiodorus (ca. 490–585), as well as of Gothic and Hunnic popular traditions.

 

Jordanes includes thirteen Hunnic names in his work. Six of them also appear in the work of Priscus (Attila = Ἀττίλας, Bleda = Βλήδας, Dintzic = Δεγγιζίχ, Hernac = Ήρνάχ, Mundzuco^abl = Μουνδίουχον^acc, Roas = Ῥόῦα^gen), one in the work of Sozomen and Zosimus (Huldin = Οὔλδιν ~ Οὔλδης), and two in the work of Socrates (Octar = Οὔπταρος, Roas = Ῥούγας). Jordanes himself preserved four Hunnic names for posterity: Balamur, Ellac, Emnetzur, and Vltzindur.

 

Several names already known from the Greek and other Latin sources occur in the historical apology for Christianity by the Spaniard Paulus Orosius (fl. 414–417), as well as in the “Gallic Chronicle of 452,” the “Gallic Chronicle of 511,” and, especially, in the Chronicle by Marcellinus Comes (534). The last work gives five Hunnic names: Attila, Bleda, Denzic- = Δινζίχνρ-, Huldin, and Mundo.

Two Hunnic names survived in Latin works: Laudaricus in the “Gallic Chronicle of 511” (mentioned above), and Hunigasio^abl in the (older) “Vita Sancti Lupi” (probably compiled in the 5^th с.; the saint [ca. 3834–79] was bishop of Troyes in France).

Editions of the Latin sources are the following:

 

“Anonymus Ravennas,” ed. O. Cuntz, Itineraria Romana (Leipzig, 1929), see also the edition of Schnetz (listed on p. 475); “Gallic Chronicle of 452,” ed. Theodor Mommsen, “Chronica Gallica a. CCCCLII,” Chronica Minora 1 (= MGH AA, 9) (Berlin, 1892); “Gallic Chronicle of 511,” ed. T. Mommsen, “Chronica Gallica a. DXI,” Chronica Minora 1 (= MGH AA, 9) (Berlin, 1892); Jordanes, Getica, ed. Elena C. Skržinskaja, Jordan o proisxoidenii i dejanijax getov, Getica (Moscow, 1960); Jordanes, Romana, ed. Th. Mommsen (= MGH AA, 5, 1) (Berlin, 1882); Marcellinus Comes, Chronicon, ed. Th. Mommsen, Chronica Minora 2 (= MGH AA, 11) (Berlin, 1894); Orosius, Historiorum adversum paganos libri VII, ed. Karl Zangemeister (Vienna, 1882); “Vita Sancti Lupi,” Bollandi, Acta Sanctorum, Julii, Tomus VII, ed. Joannes Baptista Sullerius et al. (Venice, 1769); Surius, Historiae sen vitae sanctorum, ed. Laurentius Gastaldi (Turin, 1877), vol. VII: Julius.

		Greek Source			Latin Source
	Date in Hunnic History	Author/Title	Provenance	Hunnic Name	Author/Title	Provenance	Hunnic Name
Members of the Dynasty
1	375				Jordanes	551	Balamur
2	395	Priscus	d. ca. 472	Βασίχ
3	395	Priscus	d. ca. 472	Κουρσίχ
4	ca. 395–410	Sozomen	ca. 450	Οὔλδης, Οὔλδιν	Orosius	fl. 414–417	Uldin
		Zosimus	after 498	Οὔλδιν	Marcellinus Comes	534	Huldin
					Jordanes, “Romana”	551	Huldin
5	ca. 410–412	Olympiodorus	425	Δονάτος
6	ca. 412–420	Olympiodorus	425	Χαράτων
7	ca. 420–430	Priscus	d. ca. 472	Μουνδίουχουacc	Jordanes	551	Mundzucoabl
		Theophanes	810–814	Μουνδίουgen
8	d. 430	Socrates	d. 440	Οὔπταρος	Jordanes	551	Octar
9	ca. 430–433	Socrates	d. 440	Ῥούγας	“Gallic Chron. 452”	ca. 452	Rugila
		Priscus	d. ca. 472	Ῥόῦαgen, Ῥόῦαυacc	“Gallic Chron. 511”	6th century	Ruga
		Theodoret	d. ca. 451	Ῥωίλας	Jordanes	551	Roas
10	d. 449	Priscus	d. ca. 472	ᾯηβάρσιονacc
11	448–449	Priscus	d. ca. 472	Ἔσκάμ
12	433–444	Priscus	d. ca. 472	Βλήδας	“Gallic Chron. 452”	452	Bleda
		Marcellinus Comes	534	Βλίδας	Marcellinus Comes	534	Bleda
		“Chronicon paschale”	after 628	Βλίδας	Jordanes	551	Bleda
13	433–453	Priscus	d. ca. 472	Ἀττίλας	“Gallic Chron. 452”	452	Attila
		Procopius	545–551	Ἀττίλας	“Gallic Chron. 511”	6th century	Attila
		Malalas	d. 578	Ἀττίλας	Marcellinus Comes	534	Attila
					Jordanes	551	Attila
					“Anon Ravennas”	ca. 700	Attyla
14	d. 433	Priscus	d. ca. 472	Ἄτακάμ
15	d. 433	Priscus	d. ca. 472	Μάμαgen
16	d. 451				“Gallic Chron. 511”	6th century	Laudaricus
17	d. 455				Jordanes	551	Ellac
18	d. 469	Priscus	d. ca. 472	Δεγγιζίχ	Marcellinus Comes	534	Denzicisgen
		Marcellinus Comes	534	Δινζιχίρος
		“Chronicon paschale”	after 628	Δινζίριχος, Δινζίχ	Jordanes	551	Dintzic
19	fl. after 469	Priscus	d. ca. 472	Ήρνάχ*	Jordanes	551	Hernac
20	fl. after 469				Jordanes	551	Emnetzur
21	fl. after 469				Jordanes	551	Vltzindur
22	5th–6th century	Theophanes	810–814	Γιέσμουgen
23	d. 536	Procopius	545–551	Μοῦνδος	Marcellinus Comes	534	Mundo
		Malalas	d. 578	Μοῦνδος	Jordanes	551	Mundo
		Theophanes	810–814	Μοῦνδος
24	fl. 556	Agathias	ca. 536–582	Ἔλμίγγειρος
25	fl. 556	Agathias	ca. 536–582	Ἔλμινζούρ
Hunnic Statesmen and Officers ca. 448–449
26	ca. 448–449	Priscus	d. ca. 472	Ἄδάμειdat
27	ca. 448–449	Priscus	d. ca. 472	Βέριχος
28	ca. 448–449	Priscus	d. ca. 472	Ἔδέκων
29	ca. 448–449	Priscus	d. ca. 472	Ζέρκων
30	ca. 434–449	Priscus	d. ca. 472	Ἤσλανacc
31	ca. 448–449	Priscus	d. ca. 472	Κρέκαν
32	ca. 448–449	Priscus	d. ca. 472	Ὀνηγήσιος	Saint Lupus** d. 479		Hunigasioabl
33	ca. 448–449	Priscus	d. ca. 472	Σκόττας

* cf. “The List of the Bulgar Kings” ca. 8^th century: Ирникъ in Omeljan Pritsak, Die bulgarische Fürstenliste und die Sprache der Protobulgaren (Wiesbaden, 1955).

** “Vita sancti Lupi” (d. 479). cf. “S. Lupi Trecensis episcopi,” Surius, Historiae seu vitae sanctorum, ed. Laurentius Gastaldi, vol. VII: Julius (Turin, 1877), p. 556, 1. 25.

Superscripts:
abl. = ablative.
acc. = accusative.
dat. = dative.
gen. = genitive.