Khatun (Mongolian: хатан; ; or قادین kadın; khātūn; ; ) is a female title of nobility and counterpart to "khan" or "Khagan" prominently used in the Turkic Khaganates and in the subsequent Mongol Empire. 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 Turkish rulers." 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. 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" Earlier, British Orientalist Gerard Clauson (1891–1974) defined xa:tun as "'lady' and the like" and says there is "no reasonable doubt that it is taken from Sogdian xwt'yn (xwatēn), in Sogdian xwt'y ('lord, ruler') and xwt'yn 'lord's or ruler's wife'), "which is precisely the meaning of xa:tun in the early period." Modern usage In Uzbek, the language spoken in modern-day Bukhara, in 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. Notable Khatuns Börte, wife of Genghis Khan Buluqhan Khatun, wife of Abaqa Khan Gurju Khatun, wife of Kaykhusraw II Bulugan, wife of Temur Khan Chabi, wife of Kublai Khan Despina Khatun Doquz Khatun, wife of Hulagu Khan Erketü Qatun, wife of Altan Khan Mandukhai Khatun, wife of Dayan Khan Momine Khatun Oghul Qaimish, wife of Guyuk Khan Po Beg Radnashiri, wife of Ayurbarwada Buyantu Khan Syeda Momena Khatun, daughter of Ghiyasuddin Mahmud Shah Töregene Khatun (d. 1246), wife of Ogedei Khan, regent of the Mongol Empire from 1241 to 1246 Anu Khatun, wife of Sengge and Galdan Boshugtu Khan See also Hatun Khan Begum Baig Begzada List of Mongol khatuns References Citations Sources Works cited Further reading Court titles Royal titles Noble titles Titles in Bangladesh Titles in Afghanistan Titles in Pakistan