I was rereading some stuff in Morrowind and I noticed that in Realizations of Acrobacy Master Gothren, Telvanni Councilor, gets called "Ashkhan" by the narrator three times.
I thought it was a term only used by ashlanders? I guess in this particular case it could be an archaism or maybe just a figure of speech by the narrator since they're magelords and they sort of remind me of feudal lords...

What's the deal?

I suppose it's some archaic Dunmer title.

Yeah, I guess it makes sense.
He's the archmagister so it fits I guess.

I always wondered if their was an in-universe etymological connection between the Ashlander Khans and Lorkhan.

Looks like a typo.

"-khan", in the latter case, meaning "drum" (or maybe "doom", but I'm going with drum here) in Aldmeri, the parent language to Dunmeri. Perhaps the Ashkhans beat drums to call their people to meetings, or warn them of ash storms (thus the "ash"?) or otherwise had the responsibility of doing something important with them? Which leaves the questions of what the gulakhans do with them...

It's intentional. "Khan" means "leader" in the ancient Chimer language (or Dunmer, whatever). I'm not sure what the Ash-prefix means, but it might be "supreme" or something like that. Witness how most Ashkhans have a second-in-command known as the Gulakhan. I also remember one of the Ashkhans calling Bolvyn Venim, the Redoran Archmaster, "ashkhan". Since Gothren is the leader of his House, it's quite fitting. After all, the Great Houses originate from Velothi tribes, the same way the Ashlander clans do.

The bit about Lorkhan got me thinking. Dunmeri is very similar to Aldmeri, and most Daedric and Aedric names are in Aldmeri. "Lorkhan" could well mean leader of something.

It means http://www.imperial-library.info/content/morrowind-monomyth (go down to the section titled "Lorkhan").

Perhaps Khan means doom in the original sense of the English word, i.e. reckoning (Doomsday being the day of reckoning), thus Ashkhans are "[Something]-Reckoner" .

ah, I thought ash just meant ash. Like volcano. Lords of the ashlands. That's a bit on the simple-boring buzzkill side, though.

It's probably a title that most Telvanni magisters hold as a remnant of the early days of the Great House system. When people still needed to be convinced of the validity of the new system, they probably phrased things in terms of the old system, so the Wizard in his tower was Ashkhan to the people in the lesser mushrooms.

This definitely makes sense to me.

Man, this is why I love the lore of this game.
And the lore forum of course.