Chanyu

Chanyu (Shanyu or Shanuy, simplified Chinese: 单于; traditional Chinese: 單于, Modern Chinese: (Pinyin): chányú, (Wade-Giles): ch'an-yü, Middle Chinese: (Guangyun) or, Xiongnu language: sanok / tsanak, full title: 撐犁孤塗單于/撑犁孤涂单于, chēnglí gūtu chányú, according to Book of Han it means Heaven, Child, Immense appearance) was the title used by the nomadic supreme rulers of Middle and Central Asia for 8 centuries and superseded by the title "Khagan"" in 402 CE. The title was used by the nomadic Xiongnu Luanti clan during the Qin (221-206 BCE) and Han dynasties (206 BCE–220 CE).

The reason 'Chanyu' is preferable to 'Shanyu' is to be found in the Guangyun, a dictionary compiled in 601 CE by Lu Fayan and completed during the Song dynasty from 1007 to 1011. It gives three readings for the first character of this title, : dan, chan, and shan. The form chan is specifically mentioned as being used in the Xiongnu title Chanyu. The reading shan is used as a place or family name; the reading shan means 'immense' or 'sky.' Certain Mongolian scholars think that the title "Chengli Gutu Chanyu" is equivalent to the Mongolian phrase "Tengriin Huhudu Chino" meaning "Heaven's Child Wolf". "Chino", also written "Chono", means wolf in Mongolian and it seems plausible that the Chanyu was seen as embodying the spirit of the tribal wolf totem. Irreverent use of the sacred name "Chino" was and is still seen as taboo by Mongols and substitutes such as "Tengriin Nogai" (Dog of Heaven) and "Kheeriin Bookhoi" (Steppe Bookhoi) are used instead when referring to wolves. There is also an uncanny resemblance between Modu Chanyu and the name of Genghis Khan's first ancestor "Borte Chino" (Grey Wolf). Genghis Khan refers to the time of Modu Chanyu as "the remote times of our Chanyu" in his letter to Daoist Qiu Chuji.

Literally, the full phrase in which Chanyu is used means "son of endless sky", clearly an epithet for a ruler, just as the Chinese have called the emperor the "son of heaven". "Chengli" refers to the Turkic Tengri, the highest deity of the steppe tribes, similar to Dyaus Pita. The Xiongnu lateral succession system seems to have been what the late Joseph Fletcher called blood tanistry, with the closest male relative inheriting the position of Chanyu from his predecessor. There were sixty historical Chanyu.