{{Short description|Turkic and Mongol female title of nobility}}{{Other uses|Khatun (disambiguation)}}{{For|people associated with the name Khatun|Khatun (name)}} '''Khatun'''{{efn|{{langx|otk|𐰴𐰍𐰣|katun}}, {{langx|ota|خاتون|hatun}}; {{langx|uz|xotun}}; {{langx|fa|خاتون|xâtun}}; {{langx|tg|хотун}}; {{langx|ku|خاتوون|Xatûn}}; {{langx|mn|хатун/{{mongolUnicode|ᠬᠠᠲᠤᠨ}}}}; {{langx|ur|خاتون|xatun}}; {{langx|hi|ख़ातून|khātūn}}; {{langx|bn|খাতুন|khatun}}; Sylheti: {{font|ꠈꠣꠔꠥꠘ|font=Surma|size=18px}}; {{langx|tr|hatun}}; {{langx|az|xatun}}; {{langx|pa|ਖਾਤੂਨ {{small|(Gurmukhi)}}, {{nq|خاتون}} {{small|(Shahmukhi)}}}}}} ({{IPAc-en|x|ə|ˈ|t|uː|n}} {{respell|khə|TOON}}) is a title of the female counterpart to a khan or a khagan.

==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 Turkic rulers".<ref name="FM">{{cite book |author=Mernissi, Fatima |title=The Forgotten Queens of Islam |publisher=University of Minnesota Press |year=1993 |page=21}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite book |last1=De Nicola |first1=Bruno |title=Women in Mongol Iran: The Khatuns, 1206-1335 |date=2017 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |isbn=9781474415477 |page=2}}</ref>

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".<ref>Peter Benjamin Golden (1998), "Turks and Iranians: An historical sketch" ''in'' {{cite book|last1=Johanson|first1=Lars|last2=Csató|first2=Éva Ágnes|title=The Turkic Languages|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rre5CAAAQBAJ|year=2015|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-136-82534-7}}, page 5</ref> Earlier, British orientalist Gerard Clauson (1891–1974) defined ''xa:tun'' as "lady and the like" and said there is "no reasonable doubt that it is taken from Sogdian ''xwt'yn'' (''xwatēn'')", with "Sogdian ''xwt'y'' (lord, ruler) and ''xwt'yn'' (lord's or ruler's wife)" being "precisely the meaning of ''xa:tun'' in the early period".<ref>{{cite book |author=Clauson, Gerard |title=An Etymological Dictionary of Pre-Thirteenth-Century Turkish |url=https://archive.org/details/etymologicaldict0000clau |url-access=registration |place=Oxford |publisher=Clarendon Press |year=1972 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/etymologicaldict0000clau/page/602 602–603]|isbn=978-0-19-864112-4}}</ref>

===Modern usage=== In Uzbek, the language spoken in modern-day Bukhara, 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.<ref>Clauson, p. 602.</ref>

==Notable Khatuns== * Sara Khatun, mother of Uzun Hasan * Tekina Khatun * Terken Khatun, chief wife of Malik-Shah I and regent of the Seljuk Empire * Qutluğ Säbäg Qatun, wife of Bilge Qaghan and regent of the Second Turkic Khaganate * Melike Mama Hatun, ruler of the Saltukids * Börte, first wife of Genghis Khan * Töregene Khatun, wife of Ögedei Khan and regent of the Mongol Empire * Ebuskun, wife of Mutukan and regent of the Chagatai Khanate * Boraqchin, chief wife of Batu Khan and regent of the Golden Horde * Oghul Qaimish, wife of Güyük Khan and regent of the Mongol Empire * Chabi, second wife of Kublai Khan * Dayfa Khatun, Ayyubid princess and regent of Aleppo * Doquz Khatun, wife of Tolui and Hulegu Khan * Tamar Gurju Khatun, chief wife of Kaykhusraw II * Buluqhan Khatun, chief wife of Abaqa Khan * Bulugan, second wife of Temür Khan * Dagi Khatun, wife of Darmabala and empress dowager of the Yuan dynasty * Radnashiri, wife of Ayurbarwada Buyantu Khan * Despina Khatun, wife of Uzun Hasan * Samur Gunj, daughter of Elbeg Nigülesügchi Khan * Mandukhai, wife of Dayan Khan * Erketü Qatun, wife of Altan Khan * Syeda Momena Khatun, daughter of Ghiyasuddin Mahmud Shah * Queen Anu, wife of Sengge and Galdan Boshugtu Khan * Rabia Bala Hatun, wife of Osman I * Gülçiçek Hatun, concubine of Murad I * Devlet Hatun, concubine of Bayezid I * Gülfem Hatun, lady-in-waiting in the harem of Suleiman the Magnificent * Canfeda Hatun, lady-in-waiting to Nurbanu Sultan * Nene Hatun, Turkish folk heroine * Sulafa Khatun * Narjis Khatun

== Valide Hatun == ''Valide Hatun'' was the title held by the mother of an Ottoman sultan before the 16th century.

By the beginning of the 16th century, the ''hatun'' title for imperial princesses, the sultan's mother and the sultan's chief consort was replaced by ''sultan''. This usage underlines the Ottoman conception of sovereign power as family prerogative.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Peirce |first=Leslie P. |title=The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire |publisher=Oxford University Press, Inc |year=1993 |isbn=0-19-507673-7 |location=New York}}</ref> Consequently, the ''valide hatun'' title turned into ''valide sultan''.

=== List of Valide Hatun === {{Category see also |Valide hatuns}} {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" !Name ! Birth name ! Origin ! Consort of ! Became {{Lang|tr|valide}} ! Ceased to be {{Lang|tr|valide}} ! Death ! Sultan |- | align="center" | Nilüfer Hatun<br>{{Lang|ota|نیلوفر خاتون}} | align="center" | ''unknown'' | align="center" | Byzantine Greek | Orhan I | align="center" | March 1362 ''son's ascension'' | colspan="2" align="center" | 1363 | align="center" | Murad I<br>(son) |- | align="center" | Gülçiçek Hatun<br>{{Lang|ota|كلچیچك خاتون}} | align="center" | ''unknown'' | align="center" | Byzantine Greek | Murad I | align="center" | 16 June 1389 ''son's ascension'' | colspan="2" align="center" | {{circa|1400}} | align="center" | Bayezid I<br>(son) |- | align="center" | Devlet Hatun<br>{{Lang|ota|دولت خاتون}} | align="center" | ''unknown'' | align="center" | ''unknown'' | Bayezid I | align="center" | 5 July 1413 ''son's ascension'' | align="center" | 26 May 1421 ''son's death'' | 1422 | align="center" | Mehmed I<br>(son) |- | rowspan="2" align="center" | Emine Hatun<br>{{Lang|ota|امینہ خاتون}} | rowspan="2" align="center" | Emine | rowspan="2" align="center" | Turkish | rowspan="2" | Mehmed I | align="center" | 26 May 1421 ''son's ascension'' | align="center" | August 1444 ''son's abdication'' | | rowspan="2" | Murad II<br>(son) |- | September 1446 ''son's reinstatement'' | colspan="2" | 1449 |- | align="center" | Hüma Hatun<br>{{Lang|ota|هما خاتون}} | align="center" | ''unknown'' | ''disputed'' | Murad II | align="center" | August 1444 ''son's first ascension'' | colspan="2" align="center" | September 1446 | align="center" | Mehmed II<br>(son) |- | align="center" | Gülbahar Hatun<br>{{Lang|ota|گل بھار مکرمه خاتون}} | ''unknown'' | Greek, Albanian or Serbian | Mehmed II | align="center" | 3 May 1481 ''son's ascension'' | colspan="2" align="center" | 1492 | Bayezid II<br>(son) |}

== Given name == * Ayşe Hatun Önal, Turkish model * Hatun Sürücü, German murder victim * Khatun Sapnara, Bangladeshi-born British judge

==See also== * Khanum * Begum * Baig * Begzada * List of Mongol khatuns

== References == === Notes === {{notelist}}

=== Citations === {{Reflist}}

=== Sources === ; Works cited {{refbegin}} * {{cite book |last1 = Clauson |first1 = Gerard |author1-link = Gerard Clauson |last2 = Róna-Tas |first2 = András |author2-link = András Róna-Tas |title = An Etymological Dictionary of Pre-thirteenth-century Turkish. Index |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=FjBkAAAAMAAJ |year = 1981 |publisher = Universitas Szegediensis de Attila Jószef Nominata }} {{refend}}

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== Further reading== * {{EI2|last=Boyle|first=J.A.|title=K̲h̲ātūn|url=https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-2/khatun-SIM_4242?s.num=2&s.f.s2_parent=s.f.book.encyclopaedia-of-islam-2&s.q=timurid|volume=4}}

{{Mongol Empire}} {{Post-imperial Mongolia}}

Category:Court titles Category:Royal titles Category:Noble titles Category:Titles in Bangladesh Category:Titles in Afghanistan Category:Titles in Pakistan Category:Ottoman titles Category:Sogdian words and phrases Category:History of the Turkic peoples Category:Mongolian nobility Category:Turkish words and phrases Category:Bengali words and phrases Category:Bengali Muslim surnames Category:Women's social titles Category:Terms for women Category:Women from the Mongol Empire