Attempts to associate the Xiongnu with the nearby Sakas and Sarmatians were once controversial. However, archaeogenetics has confirmed their interaction with the Xiongnu, and also possibly their relation to the Huns. The identity of the ethnic core of Xiongnu has been a subject of varied hypotheses, because only a few words, mainly titles and personal names, were preserved in the Chinese sources. The name Xiongnu may be cognate with that of the Huns and/or the Huna,[16][17][18] although this is disputed.[19][20] Other linguistic links—all of them also controversial—proposed by scholars include Turkic,[21][22][23][24][25][26]Iranian,[27][28][29]Mongolic,[30]Uralic,[31]Yeniseian,[19][32][33][34] or multi-ethnic.[35]
^Yü, Ying-shih (1986). "Han Foreign Relations". The Cambridge History of China, Volume 1: The Ch'in and Han Empires, 221 BC – AD 220. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 384. ISBN978-0-521-24327-8.
^Zheng Zhang (Chinese: 鄭張), Shang-fang (Chinese: 尚芳). 匈 – 上古音系第一三千八百九十字 [匈 - The 13890th word of the Ancient Phonological System]. ytenx.org [韻典網] (in Chinese). Rearranged by BYVoid.
^Zheng Zhang (Chinese: 鄭張), Shang-fang (Chinese: 尚芳). 奴 – 上古音系第九千六百字 [奴 – The 9600th word of the Ancient Phonological System]. ytenx.org [韻典網] (in Chinese). Rearranged by BYVoid.
^Chase-Dunn, C.; Anderson, E. (18 February 2005). The Historical Evolution of World-Systems. Springer. p. 36-37. ISBN978-1-4039-8052-6. "The primary focus of the new threat became the Xiongnu who emerged rather abruptly in the late 4th century B.C. initially subordinated to the Yuezhi, the Xiongnu overthrew the nomadic hierarchy while also escalating its attacks on Chinese areas."
^Sims-Williams 2004.Pritsak 1959.Hucker 1975, p. 136.Jinshu vol. 97 Four Barbarians - Xiongnu".Weishu, "vol. 102 Wusun, Shule, & Yueban" quote: "悅般國,…… 其先,匈奴北單于之部落也。…… 其風俗言語與高車同".Yuanhe Maps and Records of Prefectures and Counties vol. 4 quote: "北人呼駮馬為賀蘭.Kim, Hyun Jin (18 April 2013). The Huns, Rome and the Birth of Europe. Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/cbo9780511920493. ISBN978-0-511-92049-3.Du You. Tongdian. Vol. 200. "突厥謂駮馬為曷剌,亦名曷剌國。".Wink 2002, pp. 60–61.
^Harmatta 1994, p. 488: "Their royal tribes and kings (shan-yü) bore Iranian names and all the Hsiung-nu words noted by the Chinese can be explained from an Iranian language of Saka type. It is therefore clear that the majority of Hsiung-nu tribes spoke an Eastern Iranian language."
^Vovin, Alexander (2000). "Did the Xiongnu speak a Yeniseian language?". Central Asiatic Journal. 44 (1): 87–104. JSTOR41928223.
^高晶一, Jingyi Gao (2017). "Quèdìng xià guó jí kǎitè rén de yǔyán wéi shǔyú hànyǔ zú hé yè ní sāi yǔxì gòngtóng cí yuán" 確定夏國及凱特人的語言為屬於漢語族和葉尼塞語系共同詞源 [Xia and Ket Identified by Sinitic and Yeniseian Shared Etymologies]. Central Asiatic Journal. 60 (1–2): 51–58. doi:10.13173/centasiaj.60.1-2.0051. JSTOR10.13173/centasiaj.60.1-2.0051. S2CID165893686.