Tungus

Meanings

Noun

• A member of any Tungusic people.

Proper Noun

• The Evenki language.

Origin

• From Russian тунгус, supposedly deriving from donki, a self-designation of certain Siberian groups, or alternatively from a Yakut name for the Evenki. Or, of East Turkic origin, from tunguz, from Old Turkic, from Proto-Turkic *toŋuz. More at Tungusic.
• A controversial theory further connects the word with Chinese 東胡, an ancient people of North China.