Khan (title)

Khan (title)

Khan/ Kahn (Mongolian: хаан, xaan; Middle Mongolian: ᠬᠠᠭᠠᠨ, qaγan; Turkish: kağan or hakan; Azerbaijani:xan; Ottoman: han; Old Turkic: , kaγan; Chinese: 可汗, kèhán Goguryeo : 皆, key; Silla : 干, kan; Baekje : 瑕, ke) Persian: خان, is an originally Turkiс and subsequently Central Asian title for a sovereign or military ruler, widely used by medieval nomadic Turko-Mongol tribes living to the north of China. 'Khan' is also seen as a title in the Xianbei confederation for their chief between 283 and 289. The Rourans were the first people who used the titles Khagan and Khan for their emperors, replacing the Chanyu of the Xiongnu, whom Grousset and others assume to be Turkic. It was subsequently adopted by the Ashina before the Göktürks (hence the Turkic peoples) and the Mongols brought it to the rest of Asia. In the middle of the sixth century it was known as "Kagan – King of the Turks" to the Persians.

It now has many equivalent meanings such as commander, leader, or ruler. Presently Khans exist in South Asia, Central Asia, Eastern Europe and Turkey. The female alternatives are Khatun and Khanum, These titles or names are sometimes written as Han, Kan, Hakan, Hanum, or Hatun (in Turkey), "xan", "xanım" (in Azerbaijan). Various Mongolic and Turkic peoples from Central Asia had given the title new prominence after the Mongol rule throughout the Old World and later brought the title "Khan" into Northern Asia. which later was adopted by locals in the country as a title. Khagan is rendered as Khan of Khans and was the title of Genghis Khan and the persons who are elected to rule the Mongol Empire. For instance Möngke Khan and Ogedei Khan would be "Khagans," but not Chagatai Khan who was not proclaimed ruler of the Mongol Empire by the kurultai.