Khatun

A khatun^[a] (/xəˈtuːn/ khə-TOON) – a title of Iranian Sogdian origin – is the female counterpart to a khan or a kagan of the Turkic Khaganates and in the subsequent Mongol Empire.

Etymology and history[edit]

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."^[1]

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.^[2]

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"^[3] 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."^[4]

Modern usage[edit]

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.^[5]

Notable Khatuns[edit]

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[edit]

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.^[6] Consequently, the title valide hatun also turned into valide sultan.

List of valide hatuns[edit]

Name	Maiden name	Origin	Consort	Became valide	Ceased to be valide	Sultan
Nilüfer Hatunنیلوفر خاتون	unknown	Greek	Orhan I	March 1362 son's ascension	1383	Murad I (son)
Devlet Hatunدولت خاتون	unknown	unknown	Bayezid I	5 July 1413 son's ascension	23 January 1414	Mehmed I (son)
Emine Hatunامینہ خاتون	Emine	Dulkadirid	Mehmed I	26 May 1421 son's ascension (first tenure)	August 1444 (first tenure)	Murad II(son)
Emine Hatunامینہ خاتون	Emine	Dulkadirid	Mehmed I	September 1446 son's reinstatement (second tenure)	1449	Murad II(son)
Hüma Hatun هما خاتون	unknown	disputed	Murad II	August 1444 son's first ascension	September 1446	Mehmed II (son)
Mara Despina Hatun	Mara	Serbian	Murad II	1457 Her return to Ottoman's court on Mehmed's invite	3 May 1481 Mehmed's death	Mehmed II (stepson)
Gülbahar Hatun گل بھار مکرمه خاتون	unknown	Pontic Greek origin	Mehmed II	3 May 1481 son's ascension	1492	Bayezid II (son)

Given name[edit]

Ayşe Hatun Önal, Turkish model
Hatun Sürücü, German murder victim

References[edit]

Notes[edit]

^ Old Turkic: 𐰴𐰍𐰣, romanized: katun, Ottoman Turkish: خاتون, romanized: hatun or قادین romanized: Kadın; Uzbek: xotun; Persian: خاتون, romanized: xâtun; Tajik: хотун; Mongolian: хатун/ᠬᠠᠲᠤᠨ; Urdu: خاتون, romanized: xatun; Hindi: ख़ातून, romanized: khātūn; Bengali: খাতুন, romanized: khatun; Sylheti: ꠈꠣꠔꠥꠘ; Turkish: hatun; Azerbaijani: xatun; Punjabi: ਖਾਤੂਨ (Gurmukhi), خاتون (Shahmukhi)

Citations[edit]

^ Mernissi, Fatima (1993). The Forgotten Queens of Islam. University of Minnesota Press. p. 21.
^ De Nicola, Bruno (2017). Women in Mongol Iran: The Khatuns, 1206-1335. Edinburgh University Press. p. 2. ISBN 9781474415477.
^ Peter Benjamin Golden (1998), "Turks and Iranians: An historical sketch" in Johanson, Lars; Csató, Éva Ágnes (2015). The Turkic Languages. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1-136-82534-7., page 5
^ Clauson, Gerard (1972). An Etymological Dictionary of Pre-Thirteenth-Century Turkish. Oxford: Clarendon Press. pp. 602–603. ISBN 978-0-19-864112-4.
^ Clauson, p. 602.
^ Peirce, Leslie P. (1993). The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire. New York: Oxford University Press, Inc. ISBN 0-19-507673-7.

Sources[edit]

Works cited

Clauson, Gerard; Róna-Tas, András (1981). An Etymological Dictionary of Pre-thirteenth-century Turkish. Index. Universitas Szegediensis de Attila Jószef Nominata.