Khatun

Khatun
A khatun is the female counterpart to a khan or a kagan of the Turkic Khaganates and in the subsequent Mongol Empire.
Etymology and history
Before the advent of Islam in Central Asia, Khatun was the title of the queen of Bukhara. According to the Encyclopaedia of Islam, "Khatun [is] a title of Sogdian origin borne by the wives and female relatives of the Göktürks and subsequent Turkish rulers."
According to Bruno De Nicola in Women in Mongol Iran: The Khatuns, 1206–1335, the linguistic origins of the term "khatun" are unknown, though possibly of Old Turkic or Sogdian origin. De Nicola states that prior to the spread of the Mongols across Central Asia, Khatun meant 'lady' or 'noblewoman' and is found in broad usage in medieval Persian and Arabic texts.
Peter Benjamin Golden observed that the title qatun appeared among the Göktürks as the title for the khagan's wife and was borrowed from Sogdian xwāten "wife of the ruler" Earlier, British Orientalist Gerard Clauson (1891–1974) defined xa:tun as "'lady' and the like" and says there is "no reasonable doubt that it is taken from Sogdian xwt'yn (xwatēn), in Sogdian xwt'y ('lord, ruler') and xwt'yn 'lord's or ruler's wife'), "which is precisely the meaning of xa:tun in the early period."
Modern usage
In Uzbek, the language spoken in modern-day Bukhara, in Uzbekistan, the word is spelled xotin and has come to simply refer to any woman. In Turkish, it is written hatun. The general Turkish word for 'woman', kadın, is a doublet derived from the same origin.
Notable Khatuns
Po Beg
Börte, wife of Genghis Khan
Töregene Khatun (d. 1246), wife of Ogedei Khan, regent of the Mongol Empire from 1241 to 1246
Ebuskun, wife of Mutukan
Boraqchin, wife of Batu khan
Oghul Qaimish, wife of Guyuk Khan
Chabi, wife of Kublai Khan
Doquz Khatun, wife of Hulagu Khan
Gurju Khatun, wife of Kaykhusraw II
Buluqhan Khatun, wife of Abaqa Khan
Kokejin/Bairam egchi, wife of Zhenjin
Bulugan, wife of Temur Khan
Dagi khatun, wife of Darmabala
Radnashiri, wife of Ayurbarwada khan
Despina Khatun
Samur khatun, daughter of Elbeg khan
Mandukhai Khatun, wife of Dayan Khan
Erketü Qatun, wife of Altan Khan
Syeda Momena Khatun, daughter of Ghiyasuddin Mahmud Shah
Anu Khatun, wife of Sengge and Galdan Boshugtu Khan
Momine Khatun
Sapnara Khatun, judge elected to the British Family Law Bar Association Committee. In 2006, she was appointed as a Recorder of the British Crown.
Melike Mama Hatun Saltukid female ruler (reigned between 1191 and 1200)
Rabia Bala Hatun (died 1324), wife of Sultan Osman I
Gülçiçek Hatun (fl. 14th century), wife of Sultan Murad I
Devlet Hatun (died 1411), wife of Sultan Bayezid I
Gülfem Hatun (died 1561/1562), consort of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent
Canfeda Hatun (died 1600) was a lady-in-waiting to Nurbanu Sultan
Şemsiruhsar Hatun (died 1613), consort of Sultan Murad III
Nene Hatun (1857–1955), Turkish folk heroine
Halime Qatun (1205–1280) The wife of Ertugrul Ghazi
Valide Hatun
Valide Hatun was the title held by the "legal mother" of a ruling Sultan of the Ottoman Empire before the 16th century.
By the beginning of the 16th century, the title hatun for sultan's mother, princesses, and sultan's main consort was replaced by "sultan" and they started to carry it after their given names. This usage underlines the Ottoman conception of sovereign power as family prerogative. Consequently, the title valide hatun also turned into valide sultan.
List of valide hatuns
Given name
Ayşe Hatun Önal, Turkish model
Hatun Sürücü, German murder victim
See also
Khanum
Begum
Baig
Begzada
List of Mongol khatuns
References
Notes
Citations
Sources
Works cited
Further reading
Court titles
Royal titles
Noble titles
Titles in Bangladesh
Titles in Afghanistan
Titles in Pakistan
Ottoman titles
Sogdian words and phrases
History of the Turkic peoples
Mongolian nobility
Turkish words and phrases
Bengali words and phrases
Bengali Muslim surnames
Women's social titles
Women from the Mongol Empire