QuoteReplyTopic: etymology Xiong Nu/ Hunnic Posted: 30-Aug-2004 at 10:12
just my 2 cents:
"Xiong Nu" is the current pronounciation in modern (Mandarin) Chinese of 2 Chinese characters. But their ancient pronounciation is probably "Hoon no" since consonnant "Xi-" is a Northern Chinese deformation of "H-" (see how Pekinese call "Hong Kong": "Xiang Gang"). So "Hoon no" <-> "Hunnic"?
I heard somewhere that Xiongnu's (Hsiung-nu) ancient pronounciation was Hongnu (Hung-nu) but I didn't have time to confirm this info. I have my humble doubts on that.
Again, there is still a question: is Hongnu/Xiongnu really intented to mean "Ferocious Slaves" or is it just a Chinese transcription of a name similar to "Hun"?
Does "Xiong" means "Ferocious" during Han? BTW, most nomadic peoples seemed to get their Chinese names by transcription. For example, what did "Xianbei", "Tujue(Turk)", "Qidan(Khitan)" or "Dangxiang" mean in Chinese?
"Xiong Nu" is most likely to be pronounced "Hung Nu" in ancient Chinese because Cantonese ("Hung No") and Hakka are closer to ancient Chinese pronunciations than Mandarin.
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