蒲立本
Sinologist Victor H. Mair compared "Wusun" with Sanskrit "áśva" 'horse', "aśvin" 'mare' and Lithuanian "ašvà" 'mare'. The name would thus mean 'the horse people'. Hence he put forward the hypothesis that the Wusun used a satem-like language within the Indo-European languages. However, the latter hypothesis is not supported by Edwin G. Pulleyblank. Christopher I. Beckwith's analysis is similar to Mair's, reconstructing the Chinese term Wusun as Old Chinese *"âswin", which he compares to Old Indic "aśvin" 'the horsemen', the name of the Rigvedic twin equestrian gods.