Daluobian

Daluobian, 大羅便, was a Göktürk title for a heavy man. The Tongdian says that the fat and stout were called daluobian.^[1] Daluobian, it explains, was a wine vessel.^[1] It resembled a horn, 角, but was thicker and shorter. The bearer’s build resembled the vessel, and this gave the title.^[1] One translation takes 角 here not for a horn but for a three-legged wine cup.^[2]

The Tongdian adds that this office was especially noble and that only the sons and younger brothers held it.^[1] The same words, sons and younger brothers, name the princes of the ruling house, the tegins, at the head of the passage.^[1] One translation reads them here, too, as the sons and brothers of the khan.^[2]

As a name

The Chinese histories give the same sounds as the personal name of a prince. When Mukan Khan died, the Sui Shu says, his son Daluobian, written 大邏便, was passed over for the throne.^[3] After his cousin Ishbara had become khan, Daluobian told him that both of them were sons of khans. He asked why he alone had no rank.^[3] Ishbara made him Apa Khan.^[3] He is Töremen Apa, and the Tongdian itself writes his name 大邏便 in its chapter on the west.^[4]

The Tongdian reserves the office to sons and younger brothers, and Daluobian was a khan’s son by his own words. No source says whether his name was the title.^[5]