Tarkhan

Tarkhan (Old Turkic Tarqan;Mongolian: Darqan or Darkhan;Persian: ترخان‎‎; Chinese: 達干; Arabic: طرخان‎; alternative spellings Tarkan, Tarkhaan, Tarqan, Tarchan, Turxan, Tarcan or Turgan) is an ancient Central Asian title used by various Indo-Europeans (i.e. Iranian and Tokharian), Turkic peoples, and by the proto-Mongols and Mongols. Its use was common among the successors of the Mongol Empire.

Etymology

The origin of the word is not known. Various historians identify the word as either East Iranian (Sogdian, or Khotanese Saka),Turkic (incl. Hunnic and Xiongnu), or Mongolian.

Although Richard N. Frye reports that the word "was probably foreign to Sogdian", hence considered to be a loanword from Turkic, Gerhard Doerfer points out that even in Turkic languages, its plural is not Turkic (sing. tarxan --> plur. tarxat), suggesting a non-Turkic origin. L. Ligeti comes to the same conclusion, saying that "tarxan and tegin [prince] form the wholly un-Turkish plurals tarxat and tegit" and that the word was unknown to medieval western Turkic languages, such as Bulgar. Taking this into consideration, the word is most likely derived from medieval Mongolian darqat (plural suffix -at), itself perhaps derived from the earlier Sogdian word *tarxant ("free of taxes"). A. Alemany gives the additional elaboration that the related East Iranian Scythian (and Alanic) word *tarxan still survives in Ossetic tærxon ("argument, trial") and tærxon kænyn ("to judge").Harold Walter Bailey also proposes an Iranian (Khotanese Saka) root for the word, L. Rogers bears in mind that the word may have originated among the Xiongnu and Huns where it was associated with a title for nobility. Edwin G. Pulleyblank also suggests that both, Turkic tarqan and Mongolian darxan/daruyu, may preserve an original Hunnic word.

Ed Sheeran

Edward Christopher "Ed" Sheeran (born 17 February 1991) is an English singer-songwriter and musician. He was born in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire and raised in Framlingham, Suffolk. After dropping out of school at 16, he moved to London the following year, in 2008, to pursue a career in music. In early 2011, Sheeran independently released the extended play, No. 5 Collaborations Project, which caught the attention of Elton John and Jamie Foxx. After signing with Asylum Records, his debut album, + (read as "plus"), was released on 9 September 2011 and has since been certified six-times platinum in the UK. The album contains the single "The A Team", which earned him the Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically. In 2012, Sheeran won the Brit Awards for Best British Male Solo Artist and British Breakthrough Act.

Sheeran's popularity abroad began in 2012. In the US, he made a guest appearance on Taylor Swift's fourth studio album, Red. "The A Team" was nominated for Song of the Year at the 2013 Grammy Awards, where he performed the song with Elton John. He spent much of 2013 opening for Swift's The Red Tour in North America dates. In late 2013, he performed three sold-out shows at New York's Madison Square Garden as a headline act. He was nominated for Best New Artist at the 2014 Grammy Awards.