Khatun
Turkic and Mongol female title of nobility
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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".[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 said there is "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".[4]
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.[5]
Notable Khatuns
- Sara Khatun, mother of Uzun Hasan
- Terken Khatun, chief wife of Malik-Shah I and regent of the Seljuk Empire
- Qutluğ Säbäg Qatun, wife of Bilge Qaghan and regent of the Second Turkic Khaganate
- Melike Mama Hatun, ruler of the Saltukids
- Börte, first wife of Genghis Khan
- Töregene Khatun, wife of Ögedei Khan and regent of the Mongol Empire
- Ebuskun, wife of Mutukan and regent of the Chagatai Khanate
- Boraqchin, chief wife of Batu Khan and regent of the Golden Horde
- Oghul Qaimish, wife 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, wife of Tolui and Hulegu Khan
- Tamar Gurju Khatun, chief wife of Kaykhusraw II
- Buluqhan Khatun, chief wife of Abaqa Khan
- Bulugan, second wife of Temür Khan
- Dagi Khatun, wife of Darmabala and empress dowager of the Yuan dynasty
- Radnashiri, wife of Ayurbarwada Buyantu Khan
- Despina Khatun, wife of Uzun Hasan
- Samur Gunj, daughter of Elbeg Nigülesügchi Khan
- Mandukhai, wife of Dayan Khan
- Erketü Qatun, wife of Altan Khan
- Syeda Momena Khatun, daughter of Ghiyasuddin Mahmud Shah
- Queen Anu, wife of Sengge and Galdan Boshugtu Khan
- Rabia Bala Hatun, wife of Osman I
- Gülçiçek Hatun, concubine of Murad I
- Devlet Hatun, concubine of Bayezid I
- Gülfem Hatun, lady-in-waiting in the harem of Suleiman the Magnificent
- Canfeda Hatun, lady-in-waiting to Nurbanu Sultan
- Nene Hatun, Turkish folk heroine
Valide Hatun
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.[6] Consequently, the valide hatun title turned into valide sultan.
List of Valide Hatun
| Name | Birth name | Origin | Consort of | Became valide | Ceased to be valide | Death | Sultan |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nilüfer Hatun نیلوفر خاتون |
unknown | Byzantine Greek | Orhan I | March 1362
son's ascension |
1363 | Murad I (son) | |
| Gülçiçek Hatun كلچیچك خاتون |
unknown | Byzantine Greek | Murad I | 16 June 1389
son's ascension |
c. 1400 | Bayezid I (son) | |
| Devlet Hatun دولت خاتون |
unknown | unknown | Bayezid I | 5 July 1413
son's ascension |
26 May 1421
son's death |
1422 | Mehmed I (son) |
| Emine Hatun امینہ خاتون |
Emine | Turkish | Mehmed I | 26 May 1421
son's ascension |
August 1444
son's abdication |
Murad II (son) | |
| September 1446
son's reinstatement |
1449 | ||||||
| Hüma Hatun هما خاتون |
unknown | disputed | Murad II | August 1444
son's first ascension |
September 1446 | Mehmed II (son) | |
| Gülbahar Hatun گل بھار مکرمه خاتون |
unknown | Greek, Albanian or Serbian | Mehmed II | 3 May 1481
son's ascension |
1492 | Bayezid II (son) | |
Given name
- Ayşe Hatun Önal, Turkish model
- Hatun Sürücü, German murder victim
- Khatun Sapnara, Bangladeshi-born British judge