English
khagan
Khagan comes from Old Turkic 𐰴𐰍𐰣 ‘male ruler, khagan, king’, and goes back to Proto-Turkic *kagan.
- Proto-Turkicprehistoric (reconstructed)*kagan‘male ruler, khan’reconstructed
- Old Turkicmodern𐰴𐰍𐰣qaɣan‘male ruler, khagan, king’
- Englishearliest quotation 1988khagan
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Turkicprehistoric (reconstructed)*kagan‘male ruler, khan’reconstructed
- Old Turkicmodern𐰴𐰍𐰣qaɣan‘male ruler, khagan, king’
- Englishearliest quotation 1988khagan
Earliest quotation: 1988, Milorad Pavić, Dictionary of the Khazars: “As early as the year 740 A.D., one of…”
Every English word from Proto-Turkic *kagan
Today it means
noun A khan of khans, a ruler of a khaganate; (the holder of) an imperial rank used among certain Turkic and Mongolian peoples, equal in status to an emperor.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Turkic *kagan / khagan