Hunnic language

Hunnic
Native toHunnic Empire
RegionFrom Eurasian steppe into Europe
EthnicityHuns
Extinctafter 469
Language codes
ISO 639-3xhc
xhc
GlottologNone
The extent of the Huns, and a rough map of the extent of the Hunnic language

The Hunnic language, or Hunnish, was the language spoken by Huns in the Hunnic Empire, a heterogeneous, multi-ethnic tribal confederation which invaded Eastern and Central Europe, and ruled most of Pannonian Eastern Europe, during the 4th and 5th centuries CE. A variety of languages were spoken within the Hun Empire.[1] A contemporary report by Priscus has that Hunnish was spoken alongside Gothic and the languages of other tribes subjugated by the Huns.[2]

As no inscriptions or whole sentences in the Hunnic language have been preserved, the attested corpus is very limited, consisting almost entirely of proper names in Greek and Latin sources.[3]

There is no consensus on the classification of the Hunnish language,[4] but due to the origin of these proper names it has been compared with Turkic,[5][6] Mongolic, Iranian,[7] and Yeniseian languages,[8] and with various Indo-European languages.[9] Other scholars consider the available evidence inconclusive and the Hunnish language therefore unclassifiable.[10]

  1. ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 377.
  2. ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 382.
  3. ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 376.
  4. ^ Ball 2021, p. 170.
  5. ^ Pronk-Tiethoff 2013, p. 58.
  6. ^ Kim 2013, p. 30.
  7. ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 390–391.
  8. ^ Vajda, Edward J. (2013). Yeniseian Peoples and Languages: A History of Yeniseian Studies with an Annotated Bibliography and a Source Guide. Oxford/New York: Routledge.
  9. ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, pp. 424–426.
  10. ^ Doerfer 1973, p. 50; Golden 1992, pp. 88–89; Sinor 1997, p. 336; Róna-Tas 1999, p. 208.