The Westerly Drifting of Nomades, from the Fifth to the Nineteenth Century. Part XII. The Huns. Author(s): H. H. Howorth Source: The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 3 (1874), pp. 452-475 Published by: Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2840917 . Accessed: 16/06/2014 14:08 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 188.72.127.119 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 14:08:20 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 452 H. H. HOWORTH.-Westerly Drifting of Nomades. servicein obtaininga translationof these annals whichwould throw great light on the early historyof the niorades. So far as he wN-as aware, the earliestwestern evidence was in the fewwords of Scythian, given by Herodotus,and whichhe consideredto be Manchoo. The WESTERLYDRIFTING of NOMADES,from the FIFTH to the NINETEENTHCENTURY. By H. IH. HowoRTH.-Part XII. The HUNS. I HAVEnow reachedthe terminationof my journey. By your forbearance,I have been permittedto tracethe gradualprogress of the successivewaves ofnomladic invaders which have pressed upon easternEurope since the fifthcentury; and have, I hope, thrownsome light onl a veryconfused subject, which is dryenough to repel most inquirers,and yet importantenough to stand at the verythreshold of all sound ethnologicalreasoning. It is a weakness with me, to believe that we can only approachthe greatproblem of the originsof man by tracinghis historyback fromthe presentto the earlierpast; and the naturalgateway to this long lane is, I believe,to be foundin the revolution5of the Asiaticnomades, who have been thelatest, as theyare thetypical, examplesof one race displacinganother. Withthis view, I have triedto traceback the Mongols,the Turks,and the pre-Turkish races to theirancient homes, and to unravelsome of the crooked details of their affinities.Much remainsto be done, for the subject is both very complicatedand very large; but for the present,I have done with it in reachingthe Huns. They form the first,as the Mongolsdo the last, of a serieswhich has much in common,and wlhosestory may be wroughtinto a continuous whole. I hope to take up the subject again at a futuretime, to correctmany mistakeswhich are almost inevitablein such inquiries,and to carryback the storyto the days of Herodotus; but in the meanwhile,I wish to workout the race revolutions amongthe Slaves, which have beenmuch mistaken, and are closely connectedwith those of the nomades; and this subjectwill be treatedof, with your permission, in the nextseries of papers. The Huns have been the subjectsof a greatdeal ofcontroversy. Empiricalanswers, of very differentkinds, have been givento the riddle of their race affinities;some connectingthem with the Mongols,others with the Turks,others again, and the most influential,with the Ugrians; but a vast deal of matterstill remainsto be broughttogether about them,whose partialcol- lection may, I hope, put the question of their affinitieson a saferbasis. I have morethan once observedthat the cul-de-sacformed by This content downloaded from 188.72.127.119 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 14:08:20 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions H. H. HowoRtTH.- WesterlyDrifting of Nomades. 453 the Caucasus, the Caspian, and the Euxine, is a by-wash in which a greatmany of the nomadicinvaders of easternEurope have dropped some of their numibers;and we may hopefully approachthat region in searchof relicsof tribesand races known elsewheremerely as historicnames; and 1 believe this to be especiallythe case with the Huns. With thisobject I now pro- pose to examine the pedigree of the Lesghiantribes. Trustiing formy factschiefly to Guldenstadt(Beschreibungr der Kaukasis- chen Lander) and to Klaproth. The firstthing that strikes one, in lookingover the namesof these tribes is, that one ofthem, and that the most important,is actually still called Avar; on proceedingfurther, we findthat the Circassiansgive the Lesghian tribes the general name Hhannoatche(i.e. Huns), while the Georgianscall those who are otherwiseknown as Avar,by the name Chundsach(i.e., Huns, or Chunni). One of the Chiefsof the Lesghian princes is entitled "Awar Khani; in Russian, "AvarskoiKhan." The same individualis called "Chundsakhis Batoui" by the Georgians. Again,the chiefvillage of the "Avar" tribe is called "Chundsach"; in Turkish,"Avar," vide Gulden- stadt, op. cit. I have already observedthat primaftfcie it is probablethat we should meetwith someremains of tlhe"RHuns" in the great by-washof the migratingflood of tribesthat have passed over the Russian Steppe. It is not strange,therefore, that we shouldthere, and there only,meet with tribes who still bear the name of "Avar" and "Hun," and who,therefore, have a prima facie right to be consideredas the descendantsof the ancientHuns. Klaproth,whom it is too muchthe fashionnow- a-days to abuse, and who,in spite of somemistakes, perhaps, did morethan all otherinquirers put together,to clear up the his- toricalethnography of Asia, firstmade a detailedexaminiation of the traces of the " Huns " in the Caucasus. It had lolngbeen knlownthat among the "Lesghialns,"there was a redoubtable tribe called the "Avars," whose chief was called "Avarkhan," and whose countrywas named " Chundsag." These naimes were startlingenough to have attention called to theem,as offeringsome evidence on the probleinof Hunnic ethnologry; buitit was reservedfor Klaproth to give themtheir due weight. The most brilliantand effectiveproof adduced by him was the followinglist ofnames, in whichthe namesof the variousHunn-ic leaders are put side by side withthose of nanmesin commonuse now amongthe Lesghians. Attila Adilla, a very commoinman's namiie, Ould Ouldin Ouldin,an "Avar" family. Boudak Boudakh Sultan. Ellak Ellak. I)iliigit.sikv 1)im,ngsiltsika faial1 ie., This content downloaded from 188.72.127.119 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 14:08:20 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 454 H. H. HOWORTH.- WesterlyDrifting of Nomades. Eskanm,daugc,hter ofAttila Eska, a woman's nanme. Balamir Balamir. Almius ArmLius Leel Leel. Tsolta Solta. Geysa Gaissa. Zarolta Zarolta. To thosewho are accustomedto ethnographicinquiries, this list of names is of itselfalmost conclusive; but it may be strelngth- ened considerablyby the examinationof the few Hunnic words that have reached us. "In the Lesghi-Avar tonigue,"says Klaproth," a riveris called 'or, hor,ouor."' Jornandes(chap- ter 52) says " Pars Hunnorumnin fugamversa eas partesScytlhiae petiit quas Danubii amnlisfluenta praetermeant quxe lingua sua Ilunnivar appellant." I have always thoughtthat this last sentence ought to be read thus: "que lingua sua Hunni Var appellant"; and my conjectureis amplyconfirmed by a MS. in the French Royal library,number 5873. It is of the 13th century,and on folio31, we read tlhus: " q' lingua sua huni uar appellant." Thus we findthe " Huns " givingthe name of Uar or Var, to the river Dallube: the riverpar excellence;while Var, or Or,is the veryname for river among the LesghianAvares. (See Klaproth, Tableaux Historiquesdel Asie, 245-6.) Among the Avares, " Til" meant black; "dir," which is only another formof the same word,has the same mieaningamong the Avarean Lesghi tribes of Antsukh and Tchar. "Vokolabras," meanit "chiefpriest," amono the old Avares. " Vokhula,"miieans "cllief" among, the Lesohs of Antsukh. Amongthe nainesof Avar chiefs that have come downto us, those of Baian, Samur,Solakh, and Kokh are still in use amongthe Lesghi and Mitsdgeghi.(Klap- roth,op. cit.,268.) Amongthe ancientBulgarians, the princes werestyled " Boilad," whichanswers exactly to the Avar-Lesghi ternmfor princes, which is, be-led. (Klaproth,op. cit.,261.) These proofsare colnclusive,and suggest furtherquLestions. In a paper of this series, on the "Alans," I have triedto show that their decendantsare to be traced in the Ingushes -and Mitsgeglli,whose language has some affinitieswith the Avarian and other tongues of Lesghistan; but that the latt6r has an additional foreigniielement. If Klaproth's contentionbe right, and also ouLrown argument about the Ingushes,it wouldmake the A lans and Huns moreor less related,whiclh, frolm- what we know of themin ancientauthors, is by no means improbable. Let uis continue. The Lesghian tribes proper,have been divided ac- cordingto their languages,by Guldenstadtand Klaproth,into fourwvell marked divisions: first,the Avar, including the dialects of Ayuzutg,Dslhar, alid Chunsagg,whlich are inlreality idtentical This content downloaded from 188.72.127.119 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 14:08:20 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions H. H. HOWORTIL.- WesterlyDrifting of Nomades. 455 second,the Andi; third,the Dido; fourth,the Kazikumuk; and fifth,the Akush and Kubetchi. The two last divisionsI slhould be disposed to class totether. They differconsiderably froml Avar,and have a muchcloser affinity with the Ingushes. I slhall say moreabout thempresently. The Dido dialect is, I believe, chieflymarked, as we shouldexpect from its position,by a large mixtureof- Georgian words. We have left the Avar and thle Andi; Andi, I make to be a corruptionof Hun; and I believe the Avars and Andi of the Caucasus representvery fairly the differencethere was betweenthe Huns and Avares of the old time. Genericallyclassed as one by the ancients,as wveclass the Andi and Avares now under the genericterm of Lesghs; but specificallyshowing, considerable niarks of difference.These nmarksof differenceare of much interestand importance.