Proto-Turkic · reconstructed language
*kagan
noun
Meaning
- male ruler, khan, khagan, king
Etymology / origin
Of uncertain origin. Cognate with Mongolian ᠬᠠᠭᠠᠨ (qaɣan), which, according to Clauson, may be a loanword in Mongolic from Turkic. Bailey an Dybo suggest an Iranian origin. Bailey derives from an archaic *γ(w)ā-γā which he compares with Avestan 𐬵𐬎𐬎𐬋𐬌𐬱𐬙𐬀 (huuōišta, “greatest”), Sogdian 𐼲𐼴𐽁𐽂𐽀 (ɣwštr, “supreme”) Dybo derives the word from Middle Iranian and reconstructs *hwa-kama- (“autokrator”), from Proto-Iranian *hwa- (“self”) + *kama- (“to wish”), and compares Sogdian 𐼲𐼴𐽂𐼸𐼰𐼺𐼰 (ɣwtkʾmʾ) Vovin and Vajda-Werner suggest a Yenisean origin, from Proto-Yeniseian *ɢej-qan (“khagan, ruler”, literally “big-ruler”). If so, cognate with Ket ӄань (qānʲ, “king”). More at Khagan.
- ӄань(Ket)→
- *ɢej-qan(qfa-yen-pro)→
- 𐼲𐼴𐽂𐼸𐼰𐼺𐼰(sog)→
- *hwa-(ira-pro)→
- 𐼲𐼴𐽁𐽂𐽀(sog)→
- 𐬵𐬎𐬎𐬋𐬌𐬱𐬙𐬀(ae)→
- ᠬᠠᠭᠠᠨ(Mongolian)→
- kagan (Proto-Turkic)
- Relations: cog, cog, cog, cog, cog, der, cog
Related words
Sources
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