the exact source and to reconstruct the primal form of the Turkic word it is derived from. According to mainstream theory it is generally explained as a derivation from the personal name of the Pannonian Avars ruler, Bayan, which is a derivation of the Proto-Turkic root *bāj- "rich, richness, wealth; prince; husband". The Proto-Turkic root *bāj- is sometimes explained as a native Turkic word,; however, it could also be a borrowing from the Iranian bay (from Proto-Iranian "god; lord"). Within the Altaic theory, the Turkic word is inherited from the Proto-Altaic "numerous, great". The title word ban was also derived from the name Bojan, and there were additionally proposed Iranian, and Germanic, language origin. The Avar nameword bajan, which some scholars trying to explain the title's origin interpreted with alleged meaning of "ruler of the horde", itself is attested as the 6th century personal name of Avar khagan Bayan I which led the raids on provinces of the Byzantine Empire. Some scholars assume that the personal name was a possible misinterpretation of a title, but Bayan already had a title of khagan, and the name, as well its derivation, are well confirmed. The title ban among the Avars has never been attested to in the historical sources, and as such the Avarian etymological derivation is unconvincing. Research history 20th century The title's etymological and functional origins are unknown. It was used as "evidence" throughout the history of historiography to prove ideological assumptions on Avars, and specific theories on the origin of early medieval Croats. The starting point of the debate was year 1837, and the work of historian and philologist Pavel Jozef Šafárik, whose thesis has influenced generations of scholars. In his work Slovanské starožitnosti (1837), and later Slawische alterthümer (1843) and Geschichte der südslawischen Literatur (1864), was the first to connect the ruler title of ban, obviously not of Slavic lexical stook, which ruled over župas of today Lika region, with the Pannonian Avars. He concluded how Avars lived in that same territory, basing his thesis on a literal reading of the statement from Constantine VII's 30th chapter, "there are still descendants of the Avars in Croatia, and are recognized as Avars". However, modern historians and archaeologists until now proved the opposite, that Avars never lived in Dalmatia proper (including Lika), and that statement occurred somewhere in Pannonia. Šafárik assumed that the Avars by the name word bayan called