none of the sources say anything about a saka origin for the ashina clan, since when do word documents in broken english count as legitimate sources on wikipedia? this article has become a joke
Findley assumes that the name "Ashina" comes from one of the [[Saka languages]] of central Asia and means "blue" (''gök'' in [[Turkic languages|Turkic]]). The color is identified with the east, so that Göktürk, another name for the Turkic empire, meant the "Turks of the East".<ref name="Findley 39"/> This idea is seconded by the Hungarian researcher András Róna-Tas, who finds it plausible "that we are dealing with a royal family and clan of [[Saka]] origin".<ref name="Róna-Tas 280"/> "The term ''bori'', used to identify the ruler's retinue as 'wolves', probably also derived from one of the [[Iranian languages]]", Carter Vaughin Findley has observed.<ref>Findley 39.</ref>
H.W. Haussig<ref name="Haussig Н 1979"/> and S.G. Kljyashtorny<ref name="ReferenceA"/> suggest an association between the name and the compound "kindred of Ashin" ''ahşaẽna'' - Old Persian, which can get quite satisfactory etymological development. This is so even in East Turkestan; then the desired form would be in the Sogdian '''xs' yn' k'' (-әhšēnē) "blue, dark"; Khotan-Saka (Brahmi) ''āşşeiņa'' (-āşşena) "blue", where a long -ā- emerged as development ahş-> āşş-; in Tocharian A āśna- "blue, dark" (from Khotan-Saka and Sogdian). The Saka etymology ''ashina'' (<āşşeiņa ~ āşşena) with the value "blue" (the color of the sky) is phonetically and semantically flawless. There is a textual support for this version in the ancient runic inscriptions of the Turks.{{citation needed|date=May 2017}}
In the large [[Orkhon inscriptions]], in the story of the first Kagan, people living in the newly created empire are named "''kök türk''" (translated as "Celestial Turks"). Without touching the numerous interpretations "''kök''" may have in this combination, note its perfect semantic match with the reconstructed value of the name "Ashina". An explicit semantic calque suggests knowledge of its original meaning and foreign origin, which is compatible with the multi-ethnic, multi-cultural nature of the First Turkic khanate, which entailed the loss, however, of the popularity of "national character", in the words of L. Bazin, as was the political and cultural environment of the Otyuken regime of the era of [[Bilge Kagan]].
The name "Ashina" was recorded in Ancient Arab chronicles in the form, "''Sha-ne''".<ref>Гумилёв Л.Н. Древние тюрки. М.-Л., Наука, 1967.</ref>
