An ethnonym is rightly considered an external manifestation of ethnic identity. The latter, being the most important feature of an ethnic group, expresses a sense of belonging to a certain ethnic community and is a reflection in the minds of people of real ethnic ties. Therefore, the correct identification of the origin and semantics of a self-name means the most effective identification and study of ethnic ties that developed within an ethnic group and led to its formation. This fully applies to the ethnonym Mongol. When studying the problem of education of the Mongolian people, it is extremely important to find out the etymology of its self-name, which, like any other, contains rare information about the history of its carriers in a concentrated form. Keywords: Ergune-kun, early Mongols, Shiwei, Tang era. The study of the ethnic name Mongol is closely connected with the problem of Ergune-kun, which is one of the key problems in world Mongolian studies. In the" Collection of Chronicles " of Rashid al-Din, it is reported that in ancient times the Mongol tribe had a quarrel "with other Turkic tribes"1, which ended in its crushing defeat. The remaining families fled to an inaccessible area called Ergune-kun, surrounded by mountains and forests. When their descendants "multiplied" and they became "crowded" there, they went out into the "expanse of the steppe" [Rashid al-din, 1952, vol. 1, book 1, pp. 153-154; book 2, p. 9]. The work was carried out with the financial support of RGNF, project N 09 - 01 - 00569 a/G. 1 There is an opinion that in Rashid al-Din the word Turki is not so much an ethnic word as a generalized social and everyday character. Used in the meaning of "nomads", it cannot serve as a basis for establishing the origin of certain tribes [Rashid al-din, 1952, vol. 1, book 1, pp. 92-93, note 1]. Unfortunately, this stereotype is quite firmly established in the scientific literature, although in fact Rashid al-Din initially conceived his work as a history ... Читать далее