Octar

The name is recorded in two variants, Greek Ούπταρος (Ouptaros), and Latin Octar.[1] The change from -ct- to -pt- is characteristic of Balkan Latin.[1][2] Otto J. Maenchen-Helfen considered the name to be of unknown origin.[3] Omeljan Pritsak derived the name from Turko-Mongolic word *öktem (strong, brave, imperious; proud, boastful; pride) and verb ökte- / oktä- (to encourage).[1] He argued that the deverbal Turkic-Mongolian suffix m was replaced in Turkic by z while in Mongolian by ri.[1] The reconstructed form is appellative *öktä-r.[1]

Octar ruled along with his brother Rugila as reported by Jordanes in his Getica: "...Mundzucus, whose brothers were Octar and Ruas, who were supposed to have been kings before Attila, although not altogether of the same [territories] as he".[4] Their brother Mundzuk was the father of Attila, but he was not a supreme ruler of the Huns.[4] According to Priscus their fourth brother Oebarsius was still alive in 448 AD.[4] Their ancestors and relation with previous rulers Uldin and Charaton are unknown.[5]

He ruled with his brother in dual kingship, possibly a geographical division where Rugila ruled over Eastern Huns while Octar over Western Huns, possibly like Attila and Bleda.[6]

According to Socrates of Constantinople, Octar, identified with Ouptaros, died in 430 near the Rhine, "[f]or the king of the Huns, Uptaros by name, having burst asunder in the night from surfeit, the Burgundians attacked that [the Huns of Uptaros] people then without a leader; and although few in numbers and their opponents many, they obtained victory".[7]

• Maenchen-Helfen, Otto J. (1973). The World of the Huns: Studies in Their History and Culture. University of California Press. ISBN 9780520015968.
• Pritsak, Omeljan (1982). The Hunnic Language of the Attila Clan (PDF). Vol. IV. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute. ISSN 0363-5570.