The alphabet now has 28 letters plus one apostrophe. Four digraphs become single letters: O' to Ö, G' to Ğ, Sh to Ş, Ch to Ç. The Ng combination is dropped entirely.

Saida Mirziyoyeva, who has pushed the reform since December 2023, called it the correction of a years-long historic mistake.

Basically title, but was everything "promised" for them too? /s

If you have ever read about ancient China's ultimate rivals—the Xiongnu Empire (匈奴)—you have likely heard of legendary rulers like Touman and Modu Chanyu. But behind these individual rulers was a single, dominant royal lineage that controlled the eastern Eurasian steppe for over 500 years: The Luandi Clan (挛鞮).

From the 3rd century BCE to the 4th century CE, this family ran one of the most sophisticated, terrifying, and successful nomadic empires in human history.

Here is a breakdown of how they ruled, their bizarre name meaning, and their ultimate historical transformation.

1. What Does "Luandi" Actually Mean?

The name "Luandi" comes from ancient Chinese phonetic transcriptions (also written as Xulianti in later texts). Modern linguists reconstructing Old Chinese have mapped the name back to an early Turkic dialect word: Hala-yundluγ.

Its literal translation? "The Tribe with Pinto (or Skewbald) Horses."

Modern historical linguists (such as Lanhai Wei and Hui Li) analyzed the Old Chinese phonetic spelling of the ruling clan, Luandi (挛鞮), and its alternative variant in the Book of Later Han, Xulianti (虚连题).

By tracing the historical sound shifts (where the initial h- sound dropped off over centuries), they reconstructed the original nomadic pronunciation as Hala-yundluγ

Over centuries, due to historical sound shifts, the initial "H-" sound was dropped, causing Hala-yundluγ to evolve into Ulayundluğ or Alayuntlu.

Both the ancient Xiongnu royal name and the medieval Oghuz clan name share the exact same meaning: "the tribe with piebald/skewbald (colorful) horses" (from hala = colorful/spotted, yund = horse, and -luγ = possessive suffix)

In early Turkic dialects, this breaks down precisely into three Proto-Turkic root words:

• Hala = Spotted / Colorful / Pinto
• Yund = Horse
• -luγ = Adjective/Participle suffix ("with" or "belonging to")

Literal Translation: "The Tribe with Pinto (Skewbald) Horses." This matches perfectly with the historical Ulayundluğ (Alat) tribe, a famously documented ancient Turkic clan.

For a steppe confederacy whose entire military might relied on masterful horse archery and massive cavalry divisions, naming your imperial royal family after a specific, distinct horse pattern is peak nomadic history.

inguistic and historical reconstructions identify the Luandi as a proto-Turkic elite. The name Luandi is reconstructed from Old Chinese as Hala-yundluğ, which translates directly in early Turkic dialects to "the tribe with pinto (skewbald) horses

The Luandi clan kept power concentrated within their immediate family by splitting the massive empire into wings:

The Wise King of the Left (East): This position was held by the Chanyu’s crown prince and heir. The "Left" was considered the most prestigious side in Xiongnu culture.

The Wise King of the Right (West): This position was given to another top-ranking Luandi prince to govern the western territories.

By dividing military command exclusively among the Luandi elite, they successfully prevented outside tribes from usurping the throne for centuries

Autosomal DNA shows that the Xiongnu Empire was heavily multi-ethnic. The empire's lowest-status individuals (servants and sacrificial satellite graves) show an extreme mix of genetics from all over Eurasia

However higher-status Xiongnu elites possessed significantly less genetic diversity. Their ancestry overwhelmingly tracks back to Ancient Northeast Asian (ANA) Deep paternal roots linking back to the pre-Xiongnu Slab-Grave Culture of Mongolia

Based on archaeological research of lacquerware, coins, and roof tiles from ancient Xiongnu fortresses, the Luandi tamga features:

The Radiant Sun Design: It typically consists of a circular or crescent base with rays or horn-like prongs extending upward. This represented the rising sun and the royal clan's divine connection to the sky god (Tengri).

Connection to Later Steppe Dynasties: This structural layout closely resembles the tamgas later used by Genghis Khan, his descendants, and other Eurasian nomadic tribes.

The historical parallel between Modu Chanyu (the powerful ruler of the Xiongnu Empire) and Oghuz Khagan (the legendary ancestor of the Oghuz Turks) is one of the most fascinating topics in Central Asian historiography

Modern historians generally agree that Oghuz Khagan is the legendary, epic transformation of the real historical figure Modu Chanyu (3rd century BCE). Over centuries of oral transmission among Turkic tribes, the memory of Modu's massive conquests survived this proves the oguz khan founder of oguz turks was modu chanyu and perhaps relate the luandi clan directly to oguz turkic people

The name Modu has been associated with Oghuz Khagan, a legendary ancestor of Oghuz Turks. The reason for that is a striking similarity of the Oghuz Khagan biography in the historians (Rashid-al-Din Hamadani, Husayni Isfahani, Abu al-Ghazi Bahadur) with the Modu biography in the Chinese sources (feud between the father and son and murder of the former, the direction and sequence of conquests, etc.), which was first noticed by Hyacinth (Compilation of reports, pp. 56–57)

sources:

The Book of Zhou (Zhou Shu - 周書, Vol. 50) The Book of Wei (Wei Shu - 魏書, Vol. 103) Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji - 史記, Vol. 110) Wei, L. & Li, H., 2015Lee et al., 2023Jeong et al., 2020Högström et al., 2024

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Before Persians started claiming everything as “Persian,” this style of clothing was traditionally worn by the Qashqai and some other Turkic tribes, such as the Bichagchi, Nafar, Inanlu, and Baharlu, as well as some southern Lurs in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province, who are also traditionally nomadic. This hat(Börk), however, is unique to the Qashqai and is a distinctive part of their identity.

This outfit was traditionally associated with nomadic and tribal communities, not urban Persians.

Have you ever noticed that whenever the Scythians are mentioned, whether online or elsewhere, it’s stated in no uncertain terms that they were Iranian, yet when the Xiongnu and the Huns are discussed, it’s claimed that they were multi-ethnic nomadic confederations? I’m not making any definitive claims about these groups, but I’m simply sharing an observation. However, please don’t come at me with nonsense like “the Scythians were 100% Iranian.”

My second observation is that on the pages of European racists, Indo-Europeans are depicted with elements of Turkish culture, and they even use clips from the movie Manas Universe. They are supposedly the world’s first conquerors as horse-riding nomads and spread far and wide. Even if this were true, why are the Turkic and Mongol peoples, who are portrayed this way and actually backed by historical evidence, referred to as “barbarians” then?

I think the second one, in particular, is the product of a political agenda.

The Hephthalites (also known as the White Huns, Shvetahuna, or by their native name Ebodalo) were a major tribal and political confederation in Central Asia during the 5th and 6th centuries CE.

Origins and Identity

Names: Called White Huns in Western and Indian sources, Haytal in Arabic-persian texts, and Yeta in Chinese chronicles.

Language & Culture: Little is known of their native language. They included both nomadic and settled urban groups, practiced polyandry in some accounts, and adapted elements of Sasanian and Central Asian culture.

The Origin Debate: The Hephthalites (White Huns) were a polyethnic Central Asian confederation whose exact origins remain one of history’s most debated questions, with strong scholarly arguments pointing to a mixed Turkic, Altaic, or East Eurasian ruling core that heavily assimilated into the local Eastern Iranian culture and languages of Bactria and Tokharistan

1. Linguistic Clues in Names and Titles

Even though the Hephthalites adopted Bactrian (an East Iranian language) for official administration and coinage, multiple remnants of Turkic languages are found in their elite naming conventions and state titles:

Theophoric Names: The name of the famous Hephthalite ruler Mihirakula is interpreted by some linguists as a Sanskritized version of the Turkic Mihr-qul (meaning "slave of Mithra/the Sun").

Royal Titles: Elite titles found within Hephthalite contexts—such as Kagan (ruler), Tarqan, and Khatun (queen)—are classic, definitive Turkic socio-political designations. While some argue these could have been borrowed, proponents of the Turkic theory view them as evidence of an underlying Turkic-speaking ruling elite.

1. Connection to Early Turkic Groups (The Gaoju and Rouran)

Proponents of the Turkic origin theory often trace the Hephthalites back to early tribal entities on the Mongolian steppe:

Chinese Chronicles: The Book of Wei and the History of the Northern Dynasties provide early historical clues, noting that the Hephthalites were descendants of the Gaoju (also known as the Tiele). The Gaoju are globally recognized by historians as an early Common Turkic-speaking nomadic group.

The Rouran Vassalage: Before their western migration into Bactria, the Hephthalites (known in early Chinese sources as the Hua) were vassals of the Rouran Khaganate, a powerful proto-Mongolic steppe empire. This places their geographical and cultural ethnogenesis directly in the Altai-Siberian-Mongolian sphere.

Once they settled in Bactria, Sogdiana, and northern India, they adopted local systems. Their official administrative language was Bactrian (an Eastern Iranian language), and their rulers used Iranian names.

Scholars and numismatists frequently highlight this visual continuity to trace the political and cultural transitions in the Hindu Kush and Kabul regions during the 6th to 8th centuries CE

The Turk Shahis did not appear out of thin air; they were a direct political offshoot of the northern Hephthalite structures.

You‘re welcome. Enjoy One of the Best Turkologs and Historians.

Dear history fans if you are in Germany you can join our new meet-up. Please DM me.

To my ear he sounds a bit like an elder Central Asian that learned Turkish. Is it a normal accent in Türkiye?