Chanyu
Emperor title of the Xiongnu
Chanyu (simplified Chinese: 单于; traditional Chinese: 單于; pinyin: Chányú) or Shanyu (Chinese: 善于), short for Chengli Gutu Chanyu (Chinese: 撐犁孤塗單于; pinyin: Chēnglí Gūtu Chányú), was the title used by the supreme rulers of Inner Asian nomads for eight centuries until superseded by the title "Khagan" in 402 AD. The title was most famously used by the ruling Luandi clan of the Xiongnu during the Qin dynasty (221–206 BC) and Han dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD). It was later also used infrequently by the Chinese as a reference to Tujue leaders.
Etymology
According to the Book of Han, 匈奴謂天為「撐犁」，謂子為「孤塗」，單于者，廣大之貌也
the Xiongnu called the Heaven (天) Chēnglí (撐犁) and they called a child (子) gūtú (孤塗). As for Chányú (單于), it is a "vast [and] great appearance" (廣大之貌).
L. Rogers and Edwin G. Pulleyblank argue that the title chanyu may be equivalent to the later attested title tarkhan, suggesting that the Chinese pronunciation was originally dān-ĥwāĥ, an approximation for *darxan. Linguist Alexander Vovin tentatively proposes a Yeniseian etymology for 撐犁孤塗單于, in Old Chinese pronunciation *treng-ri kwa-la dar-ɢwā, from four roots: *tɨŋgɨr- "heaven", *kwala- "son, child", *dar "lower reaches of the Yenisei" or "north", and *qʌ̄j ~ *χʌ̄j "prince"; as a whole "Son of Heaven, Ruler of the North".
Bailey derives from Proto-Iranian *tark- "to speak, command", from Proto-Indo-European *telkʷ-. He also compares a Saka title with the same semantic shift. Compare also Khotanese ttarkana and Ossetian tærxon.
Dybo derives from a Turkic root meaning "vast as the sky", and compares Old Uyghur *tarḳan- and tarḳar-.
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