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TheLạc Việt orLuoyue (駱越 or雒越;pinyin:Luòyuè ←Middle Chinese: *lɑk̚-ɦʉɐt̚ ←Old Chinese *râk-wat^[1]) were an ancient conglomeration of peoples inhabiting northern Vietnam, particularly the ancientRed River Delta,^[2] from approximately 700 BC to 100 AD, during the last stage of theNeolithic and the beginning of the period of classical antiquity. They spokeKra-Dai andAustroasiatic languages. From archaeological perspectives, they were known as the Dongsonian. TheLạc Việt were known for casting large Heger Type I bronze drums, cultivating paddy rice, and constructing dikes. The Lạc Việt who owned theBronze AgeĐông Sơn culture, which centered at theRed River Delta (inNorthern Vietnam),^[3] are proposed to be the ancestors of the modernKinh Vietnamese;^[4] another population of Luoyue, who inhabited theZuo river's valley (now in modernSouthern China), are proposed to be the ancestors of the modernZhuang people;^[5][6] additionally, the Luoyue population in southern China are proposed to be ancestors of theHlai people.^[7]

The etymology of the ethnonymLạc applied to this people is uncertain.

Based on Chinese observers' remarks that theLạc people'spaddies depended on water-control systems like tidal-irrigation & draining, so that the floody, swampyRed River Delta might be suitable for agriculture,^[8] many scholars opted to find the etymology ofLạc in the semantic field "water":

• Japanese scholar Gotō Kimpei linksLạc to Vietnamese noun(s)lạch ~rạch "ditch, canal, waterway".^[8]
• Vietnamese scholars Nguyễn Kim Thản and Vương Lộc (1974; apud Vũ Thế Ngọc, 1989 and Trần Trí Dõi, 2018) suggest thatLạc simply means "water" and is comparable to phonetically similar elements in such compoundsnướcrặc^[a][b] (lit. "ebbing (tidal) water"),cạnrặc^[b] (lit. "utterly dried up [of water]"),ruộngrặc^[b] (lit. "watery paddy") &ruộngrộc^[c][d] (lit. "watery paddy").^[13][9][14]
• Vũ Thế Ngọc (1989), Wu Zhongding (2012), andHuỳnh Sanh Thông (apudKiernan, 2017) also propose thatLạc means "water" and is related toAustroasiatic words meaning "water" such asVietnamesenước ~nác (Vinh dialectal),Bahnarđák, WesternKatu ດາກ (da:k),Khmer ទឹក (tɨk), etc.).^{[9][15][16][e]}

On the other hand, French linguistMichel Ferlus proposes that 駱/雒 (OC *rak) is monosyllabified from the areal ethnonym*b.rak ~*p.rak by loss of the first element in the iambic cluster. The ethnonym*b.rak ~*p.rak underlies *prɔːk, ethnonym of theWa people, *rɔːk, ethonym of aKhmu subgroup, and possibly the ethnonym ofBai people (白族Báizú). Ferlus also suggests that*b.rak ~*p.rak underlies 百越Bǎiyuè (< OC*prâk-wat)'s first syllable 百Bǎi (< OC *prâk), initially just a phonogram to transcribe the ethnonym*p.rak ~*b.rak yet laterreconstrued as "hundred".^[19] Ferlus etymologises 百bǎi < *p.rak and 白bái < *b.rak, used to name populations south of China, as from etymon *p.ra:k "taro > edibletuber", whichunderliesKra-Dai cognate words meaning "taro" (e.g.Thai เผือกpʰɨak^D1,Lakkiaja:k,Pahapɣaːk, etc.^[f]); and Ferlus additionally proposes that *p.ra:k was used to by rice-growers to designate taro-growing horticulturists.^[21]

According to a legend recorded in theLĩnh Nam chích quái, the Lạc Việt founded a state calledVăn Lang in 2879 BC. They formed a loose circle of power led by Lac lords and princes, the territory is subdivided into fiefs governed by hereditary chiefs. Their leaders were calledLạc kings (Hùng kings) who were served by Lạc marquises and Lạc generals.^[22] According to theRecords of the Grand Historian bySima Qian,Âu Lạc was referred as the "Western Ou" (v. Tây Âu) and "Luo" (v. Lạc) and they were lumped into the category ofBaiyue by theSiniticHan Chinese peoples to the north of them.^[23][24]

TheWarring States period's encyclopediaLüshi Chunqiu mentioned the nameYueluo 越駱 (SV:Việt Lạc), which the Han historian and philosopherGao You asserted to be a country's name (國名).^[25][26] However, neitherLüshi Chunqiu nor Gao You indicated where Yueluo was located. Sinologists Knoblock and Riegel propose thatYueluo 越駱 was probably a mistake forLuoyue 駱越.^[27]

According to a fourth century chronicle,Thục Phán (King An Dương) led the Western Ou (Âu) tribe or theÂu Việt subdued the Luo tribes and formed the kingdom ofÂu Lạc in around 257 BC. The new Âu overlords established their headquarters in Xiwu (Tây Vu), where they built a large citadel, known to history asCổ Loa orCổ Loa Thành, "Ancient Conch Citadel."^[28] WhenZhao Tuo, founder ofNanyue, conquered Âu Lạc and established his rule over the region in 179 BC, these Lac princes became his vassals.^[29] In 111 BC, a militarily powerfulWestern Han dynastyconqueredNanyue andannexed the lands of the Lac Viet into the Han empire, and established theJiaozhi,Jiuzhen andRinan commanderies.

Reacting against a Chinese attempt tocolonialize andcivilize, the Trung sisters revolted against the Sinitic ruling class in 39 AD.^[30] After gaining a brief independence amid theTrung sisters' rebellion, Lac chiefs along with its social elites were massacred, deported, and forced toadopt Han cultures in a reactionary military response led by Chinese generalMa Yuan.^[31]

Later, Chinese historians writing of Ma Yuan's expedition referred to the Lac/Luo as the "Luoyue" or simply as the "Yue."^[32] Furthermore, there is no information and record about the Lac after 44 AD.^[g][34] Some of them were hypothesized to have fled to the southern hinterlands.^[35]

The linguistic origins of the Lạc Việt have continued to remain controversial as they were generally believed to beAustroasiatic speakers.^{[36][37][38][39]} Specifically, they are thought to beKhmer-speaking by SinologistEdward Schafer.^[2] FrenchlinguistMichel Ferlus in 2009 draws his conclusion that they were northernVietic (Viet–Muong) speakers and believes that the Vietnamese are direct descendants of the Dongsonians (i.e. Lac Viet).^[40] Keith Taylor (2014) speculates that, the Lac Viet were eitherProto-Viet-Muong speakers orKhmuic speakers, another Austroasiatic group who inhabit northwest Vietnam and northern Laos.^[41] James Chamberlain (2016), on the other hand, proposes that the Lac Viet were ancestors toCentral Tai speakers andSouthwestern Tai-speakers (includingThai people);^[42] however, based on layers of Chineseloanwords in proto-Southwestern Tai and other historical evidence, Pittayawat Pittayaporn (2014) proposes that the southwestward migration of southwestern Tai-speaking tribes from the modern Guangxi to the mainland of Southeast Asia must have taken place sometimes between the 8th–10th centuries CE at the earliest,^[43] long after 44BCE, when the Luoyue had been last mentioned.^[34]

Archaeological evidence reveals that during the pre-Dongson period, theRed River Delta was prominently Austroasiatic: for instance, genetic samples from theMán Bạc burial site (dated 1,800 BC) have close proximity to modern Austroasiatic speakers,^[44] and then during the Dongson period, genetic examples yield to a significant proportion ofTai stocks (known asAu,Li-Lao) possibly living along withVietic speakers.^[45]

Lạc lords were hereditary aristocrats in something like a feudal system. The status of Lạc lords passed through the family line of one's mother and tribute was obtained from communities of agriculturalists who practiced group responsibility. In Lạc society, access to land was based on communal usage rather than individual ownership and women possessed inheritance rights. While in Chinese society men inherited wealth through their fathers, in Lạc society both men and women inherited wealth through their mothers.^[46]

Ancient Han Chinese had described the people of Âu Lạc as barbaric in need of civilizing, regarding them as lacking morals and modesty.^[47] Chinese chronicles maintain the native people in theHong River Delta were deficient in knowledge of agriculture, metallurgy, politics,^[48] and their civilization was a by-product of Chinese colonization. They deniedin situ cultural evolution or social complexity, attributing any development to Sinicization,^[49][50][51] though they were aware of this "stable, structured, productive, populous, and relatively sophisticated" society they encountered.^[52] A record from the 220s BCE reported "unorthodox customs" of inhabitants in parts of the region:"To crop the hair, decorate the body, rub pigment into arms and fasten garments on the left side is the way of theBaiyue. In the country of Xiwu (Vietnamese: Tây Vu) the habit is to blacken teeth, scar cheeks and wear caps of sheat [catfish] skin stitched crudely with an awl."^[53]Hou Hanshu described the region as thick with dense forests, and full of ponds and lakes, with countless wild animals like elephants, rhinoceros and tigers, while the locals earned their living by hunting and fishing, using bows propelling poisoned arrows, tattooing themselves, and wearing chignon and turbans. They also are said to know how to cast copper implements and pointed arrowheads, chewing betel nuts and blackening their teeth.^[54] However, such descriptions of the kingdom bear little resemblance to what we know: not a place of fertile cultivation or habitation on a large scale. Some of the descriptions may apply rather well to the region of present-dayGuangxi andGuangdong, which remain inhospitable for many years to come, evident in census of the year 2 AD.^[55]

Women enjoyed high status in Lạc society.^[56] Such a society is a matrilocal society, a societal system in which a married couple resides with or near the wife's parents. Thus, the female offspring of a mother remain living in (or near) the mother's house, forming large clan-families couples after marriage would often go to live with the wife's family. It has also been said that Proto-Vietnamese society wasmatrilineal.^[57] The status of Lạc lords transferred through the mother's lineage while women possessed inheritance rights.^[46] In addition, they also practicedlevirate,^[58][59] meaning widows had a right to marry a male relative of her late husband, often his brother, to obtain heirs. This practice provided an heir for the mother, protecting widows' interests and reflecting female authority, although some patriarchal societies used it to keep wealth within the male family bloodline.^[46][58]

The economy was characterized by agriculture with wet rice cultivation,draft animals, metal plowshares, axes and other tools, as well as irrigation complexes.^[52] The cultivation of irrigated rice may have started in the beginning of the second millennium BCE, evidenced by findings from palynological sequences,^[60][52] while metal tools were regularly used before any significant Sino-Vietic interaction.^[52] Chapuis (1995) also suggested the existence of line fishing and some specialization and division of labor.^[61] The region was also a major node or hub of interregional access and exchange, connected to other area through an extensive extraregional trade network, since well before the first millennium BC, thanks to its strategic location, enjoying access to key interaction routes and resources, including proximity to major rivers or the coast^[h] and a high distribution of copper, tin, and lead ores.^[63][64] Kim (2015) believed its economic and commercial value, including its location and access to key waterways and exotic tropical goods, would have been main reasons the Chinese conquered the region, giving them unrestricted access to other parts of Southeast Asia.^[65]

The Lạc Việt's vague identity and heritage are claimed today by from both those in China and Vietnam. Nationalist scholarships from both sides misinterpret the Lạc Việt/Luoyue as a distinct ancient ethnic group with direct unbreakable connections to modernVietnamese people (Kinh people) in Vietnam andZhuang people inSouthern China. Several Vietnamese scholars from the 1950s have argued that the Lạc Việt/Luoyue were exclusively ancestors of the Vietnamese Kinh people. On the Chinese side, the Lạc Việt/Luoyue are remembered as an ancient Zhuang kingdom and ancestors of the Zhuang.Lạc Việt/Luoyue however was a merely xenonym used by ancientHan Empire scribers to refer the tribal confederation in ancientGuangxi andNorthern Vietnam whom they believed to be a variety of theYue.^[66] These Yue and Luoyue likely refer to diverse groups of peoples speaking different languages who perhaps shared certain cultural practices, rather than to a clearly defined ethnic group speaking a single language.^[67][68][69]

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• 3rd-century BC Asian people
• Ancient peoples of China
• Ancient Vietnam
• Baiyue
• History of Guangxi
• Hong River Delta
• Nanyue

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