Tungus

See also: tungus

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Russian тунгус (tungus),

  • supposedly deriving from donki, a self-designation of certain Siberian groups, or alternatively from a Yakut name for the Evenki. [1]
  • Or, of East Turkic origin, from tunguz (“wild boar, pig”), from Old Turkic [script needed] (tonguz), from Proto-Turkic *toŋuz.[2]
  • A controversial theory further connects the word with Chinese 東胡 / 东胡 (Dōnghú, “Donghu”, literally “Eastern barbarians”), an ancient people of North China.

More at Tungusic.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈtʊŋɡʊs/, /ˈtʊŋɡuːs/

Noun

Tungus (plural Tunguses)

  1. A member of any Tungusic people.

Proper noun

Tungus

  1. (dated, possibly obsolete) The Evenki language.

References

  1. ^ New Light on the Origins of the Manchus, Pei Huang, 1990
  2. ^ “Tungus”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.

Anagrams

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