khan

The steppe title qaγan, 'supreme ruler', shrank to qan and reached Europe through Latin and French travellers' accounts of the Mongol court; English had it by the late 1300s. Persian made it an honorific that spread across Afghanistan and India, where Khan is now one of the commonest surnames.

Weakest linkProbable

The road to English

From Old Turkic to Mongolian

From Old Turkic to Ottoman Turkish, Turkish

From Old Turkic to Persian, Urdu

From Persian to Pashto

From Persian to Bengali

From Old Turkic to Russian

From Old Turkic to Kazakh

720 CEOld Turkic

Hops are evenly spaced; labels show the year each form is first attested.

War, law & rule