When we discuss language families, we often start with a cool-looking diagram in the form of a tree, which looks neat & tidy—Indo-European here, Sino-Tibetan there. Real linguistic history is far messier, however, full of migrations, borrowings & surprises.
A new study by Bonmann & Fries (2025) suggests that the Xiōng-nú of Inner Asia (3rd century BCE–2nd century CE) & their descendants, the European Huns, spoke Old Arin, a Yeniseian (Paleo-Siberian) language. This overturns long-standing claims that they spoke Turkic, Mongolic or Iranian.
The evidence comes from four angles:
- Loanwords: everyday words like ‘water’ & ‘birch’ appear in Proto-Turkic & Proto-Mongolic, but can only be explained as borrowings from Arin.
- Glosses: short snippets of Xiōng-nú recorded in Chinese chronicles—just a couple of verb forms & a title—reveal Yeniseian features hidden in the characters.
- Personal names: rulers’ names, including Attila, show linguistic patterns that fit Yeniseian better than Germanic or Turkic (as was previously thought).
- Toponyms: river & place names along the Huns’ migration route carry traces of Arin, mapping their westward spread across Eurasia.
Taken together, the researchers present powerful evidence that a now-extinct language once had prestige across Inner Asia. It also reminds us that languages can rise, spread & dominate—only to disappear. The story of Arin is a case study in how languages evolve, shift & leave echoes in others.
For English teachers, I guess this resonates with the way English has absorbed influences over centuries: sky from Old Norse, street from Latin, government from French. Just as Arin words filtered into Turkic & Mongolic, English today carries traces of multiple encounters & shifts.
Studies like this show that language change isn’t abstract—it’s lived history. For teachers, it’s a reminder that every English word students learn has a story, and those stories are powerful tools for sparking curiosity.
Teacher Takeaways?
- Try a “loanword detective” task: students trace one English word back to its roots & map its journey across languages.
- Compare place names & personal names in English with their hidden histories (e.g. Oxford = oxen crossing).
- Encourage students to reflect on how English functions as a global lingua franca now—while remembering that no language holds that role forever.
Do you ever bring the history of words into your classroom?
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