Khatun

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Khatun (Persian: خاتون - Khātūn) is a female title of nobility, prominently used in the First Turkish Empire and in the subsequent Mongol Empire.

Although the title gained prominence among the Turko-Mongol tribes of Inner Asia, it is - like the titles Tarkhan, Beg and Yabghu - not of Altaic, but of Indo-European (in this case Middle Iranian) Sogdian origin.[1][2][3]

Before the advent of Islam in Central Asia, Khatun was the title of the Queen of Bukhara. According to the Encyclopaedia of Islam:[2]

“ Khatun 'is a title of Sogdian origin borne by the wives and female relatives of the Tu-chueh and subsequent Turkish Rulers. ”

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  1. ^ Carter Vaughn Findley, "Turks in World History", Oxford University Press, 2005, p. 45: "... Many elements of Non-Turkic origin also became part of Türk statecraft [...] for example, as in the case of khatun [...] and beg [...] both terms being of Sogdian origin and ever since in common use in Turkish. ..."
  2. ^ a b Fatima Mernissi, "The Forgotten Queens of Islam", University of Minnesota Press, 1993. pg 21: "... Khatun 'is a title of Sogdian origin borne by the wives and female relatives of the Tu-chueh and subsequent Turkish Rulers ..."
  3. ^ Leslie P. Peirce, "The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire", Oxford University Press, 1993. pg 312: "... On the title Khatun, see Boyle, 'Khatun', 1933, according to whom it was of Soghdian origin and was borne by wives and female relations of various Turkish Rulers. ..."