 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 , <unk> , or Turks ; Byzantine authors mentioned them as Huns , <unk> , Turks , or <unk> ; Slavic sources used the ethnonyms <unk> or <unk> , and Western European authors wrote of <unk> , <unk> , Avars , Huns , Turks , and <unk> . According to the linguist Gyula Németh , the multiple ethnonyms – especially <unk> , 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 . 
