It has been traditionally claimed that the name Attila is formed from
Gothicatta meaning "father", through the
diminutivesuffix -ila, the "little father".[2] Related names are not uncommon among
Germanic peoples of the period, i. e.
Ætla, Bishop of Dorchester.[2] The Gothic etymology was proposed by
Jacob Grimm and
Wilhelm Grimm in the early 19th century.[3]Tom Shippey argued that the Gothic etymology is a product of 19th century Germanic
romantic philological revisionism.[4]
Otto Maenchen-Helfen, who considered Gothic etymology, noted that Hunnic names were "not the true names of the Hun princes and lords. What we have are Hunnic names in Germanic dress, modified to fit the Gothic tongue, or popular Gothic etymologies, or both".[2]
Hyun Jin Kim noted Attila has more natural and probable
Turkic etymology.[5]Omeljan Pritsak considered ̕Άττίλα (Attila) a composite title-name which derived from Turkic *es (great, old), and *t il (sea, ocean), and the suffix /a/.[6] The stressed back syllabic til assimilated the front member es, so it became *as.[6] It is a nominative, in form of attíl- (< *etsíl < *es tíl) with the meaning "the oceanic, universal ruler".[6]Peter Golden, citing Pritsak, like
László Rásonyi connected Attila's name with a note by
Menander in which the term Attilan was used as the name of the
Volga River (Turkic Atil/Itil; "great river").[7]J.J. Mikkola connected it with Turkic āt (name, fame).[3] Gerd Althoff considered it was related to Turkish atli (horseman, cavalier), or Turkish at (horse) and dil (tongue).[3]
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