 The Hungarians were mentioned under various ethnic names in Arabic , Byzantine , Slavic , and Western European sources in the 9th and 10th centuries . Arabic scholars referred to them as Magyars , Bashkirs , or Turks ; Byzantine authors mentioned them as Huns , Ungrs , Turks , or Savards ; Slavic sources used the ethnonyms Ugr or Peon , and Western European authors wrote of Hungrs , Pannons , Avars , Huns , Turks , and Agaren . According to the linguist Gyula Németh , the multiple ethnonyms – especially Ungr , Savard , and Turk – reflect that the Magyars had been integrated in various empires of the Eurasian steppes – the tribal confederations of the Onogurs and of the Sabirs , and the Turkic Khaganate – before gaining their independence . 
