Two Occurrences of Chìqín in ‘Sòng Yún Xíngjì’ and Related Issues
Two Occurrences of Chìqín in ‘Sòng Yún Xíngjì’ and Related Issues

Summary/Abstract: Chìqín 敕勤 cannot be the Chinese phonetic transcription of the ancient Turkic word Tigin, but can only be the Chinese transcription of *Terigin, meaning ‘high carts’, which was the ethnonym given by the Xiānbēi people to the Dīnglíng-Gāochē people. The Chìqín in ‘Sòng Yún Xíngjì’ was not a Tigin (prince or royal clan member) of the Hephthalites, but refers to the Dīnglíng-Gāochē people, with the Alkhans serving as its core. The Alkhans may have once been nominally subordinate to the Hephthalites; however, the two peoples did not belong to the same race.

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