Khatun

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 Turkic 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 said there was "no reasonable doubt that it is taken from Sogdian xwt'yn (xwatēn)", with "Sogdian xwt'y (lord, ruler) and xwt'yn (lord's or ruler's wife)" being "precisely the meaning of xa:tun in the early period".

Valide Hatun was the title held by the mother of an Ottoman sultan before the 16th century. By the beginning of the 16th century, the hatun title for imperial princesses, the sultan's mother and the sultan's chief consort was replaced by sultan. This usage underlines the Ottoman conception of sovereign power as family prerogative. Consequently, the valide hatun title turned into valide sultan.

Modern usage

In Uzbek, the language spoken in modern-day Bukhara, 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

Qutluğ Säbäg Qatun, consort of Bilge Qaghan and regent of the Second Turkic Khaganate

Narjis Khatun, mother of Muhammad al-Mahdi

Tekina Khatun, mother of Timur

Terken Khatun, chief consort of Malik-Shah I and regent of the Seljuk Empire

Melike Mama Hatun, ruler of the Saltukids

Börte, first wife of Genghis Khan

Sulafa Khatun, only female ruler of Margha

Töregene Khatun, chief consort of Ögedei Khan and regent of the Mongol Empire

Ebuskun, consort of Mutukan and regent of the Chagatai Khanate

Boraqchin, chief consort of Batu Khan and regent of the Golden Horde

Oghul Qaimish, consort of Güyük Khan and regent of the Mongol Empire

Chabi, second wife of Kublai Khan

Dayfa Khatun, Ayyubid princess and regent of Aleppo

Doquz Khatun, consort of Tolui and Hulegu Khan

Tamar Gurju Khatun, chief consort of Kaykhusraw II

Buluqhan Khatun, chief consort of Abaqa Khan

Bulugan, second wife of Temür Khan

Given name

Ayşe Hatun Önal, Turkish model

Hatun Sürücü, German murder victim

Khatun Sapnara, Bangladeshi-born British judge