Khitan language

Khitan
Native to	China, Mongolia
Region	northern
Extinct	c. 1243 (Yelü Chucai, last person known who could speak and write Khitan)
Language family	Para-Mongolic?[1] Khitan
Writing system	Khitan large script and Khitan small script
Language codes
ISO 639-3	zkt
Linguist list	zkt
Glottolog	kita1247[2]

Khitan or Kitan ( in large script or in small, Khitai;^[3] Chinese: t 契丹語, Qìdānyǔ), also known as Liao, is a now-extinct language once spoken by the Khitan people (4th to 13th century). It was the official language of the Liao dynasty (907–1125) and the Qara Khitai (1124–1218).

Khitan appears to have been related to the Mongolic languages;^[4] Juha Janhunen states, "[T]he conception is gaining support that Khitan was a language in some respects radically different from the historically known Mongolic languages. If this view proves to be correct, Khitan is, indeed, best classified as a Para-Mongolic language."^[1]

Khitan was written using two mutually exclusive writing systems known as the Khitan large script and the Khitan small script.^[1] The small script, which was a syllabary, was used until the Jurchen-speaking Jin dynasty (1115–1234) replaced it in 1191.^[5] The large script was logographic like Chinese and may have been used by Para-Mongolic groups as far back as the Tuoba.

Records

The History of Liao contains a volume of Khitan words transcribed in Chinese characters titled "Glossary of National Language" (國語解). It is found in Chapter 116.^[6][7][8][9]

The Qianlong Emperor of the Qing dynasty erroneously identified the Khitan people and their language with the Solons, leading him to use the Solon language to "correct" Chinese character transcriptions of Khitan names in the History of Liao in his Imperial Liao-Jin-Yuan Three Histories National Language Explanation (欽定遼金元三史國語解) project.

The Liao dynasty referred to the Khitan language with the term Guoyu 國語 "National language", which was also used by other non-Han Chinese dynasties in China to refer to their languages like Manchu of the Qing, Classical Mongolian during the Yuan dynasty, Jurchen during the Jin, and Xianbei during the Northern Wei.

Vocabulary

There are several closed systems of Khitan lexical items for which systematic information is available.^[10] The following is a list of words in these closed systems that are similar to Mongolic. Mongolian equivalents are given after the English translation:

Seasons

Khitan	Translation	Mongolian script	modern Mongolian pronunciation
heu.ur	spring	qabur	havar
ju.un	summer	jun	zun
n.am.ur	autumn	namur	namar
u.ul	winter	ebül	övöl

Numerals

Khitan	Translation	Mongolian script	modern Mongolian pronunciation
*omc	one	onca 'unique'	onts (unique)
j.ur.er	second	jirin 'two'	jirin (two), jiremsen (double/pregnant)
hu.ur.er	third	gurba 'three'	gurav, gurvan, guramsan (triple)
durer/duren	fourth	dörben	döröv, dörvön
tau	five	tabun	tav, tavan
t.ad.o.ho	fifth	tabu-daki	tav dahi
*nil	six	jirgugan	zurgaa (innovation "jir'gur" or 2x3)
da.lo.er	seventh	dologa 'seven'	doloo
nyo.i	eight	nayim 'eight'	naim
*is, onyo	nine	yesü	yüs, yüsön
jau	hundred	jagun	zuu, zuun
ming	thousand	minggan	myanga, myangan

Compared with Khitan, The Tungusic numerals of the Jurchen language differ significantly: three=ilan, five=shunja, seven=nadan, nine=uyun, hundred=tangu.

Animals

Khitan	Translation	Mongolian script	modern Mongolian pronunciation
te.qo.a	chicken	taqiya	tahia
ni.qo	dog	noqai	nohoi
s.au.a	falcon	sibuga	shuvuu
em.a	goat	imaga	yamaa
tau.li.a	rabbit	taulai	tuulai
mo.ri	horse	mori	mori
uni	cow	üniye	ünee
mu.ho.o	snake	mogoi	mogoi

Directions

Khitan	Translation	Mongolian script	modern Mongolian pronunciation
ud.ur	east	doruna	dorno
dzi.ge.n	left	jegün	züün
bo.ra.ian	right	baragun	baruun
dau.ur.un	middle	dumda	dund
xe.du.un	horizontal	köndelen	höndölön
ja.cen.i	border	jaqa	zasan, zaag

Time

Khitan	Translation	Mongolian script	modern Mongolian pronunciation
suni	night	söni	shönö
un.n/un.e	now,present	önö	önöö

Personal relations

Khitan	Translation	Mongolian script	modern Mongolian pronunciation
c.i.is	blood	cisu	tsus
mo ku	female	eme	em
deu	younger brother	degü	düü
n.ai.ci	friend	nayija	naiz
na.ha.an	uncle	nagaca	nagats
s.ia/s.en	good	sayin	sain
g.en.un	sadness, regret	genü='to regret' in the letter of Arghun Khan)	genen, gem
ku	person	kümün	hün, hümün

Tribal administration

Khitan	Translation	Mongolian script
cau.ur	war	cagur, as in "tsa'urgalan dairakh"
nai/nai.d	heads, officials	"-d" is a plural suffix=noyan, noyad for plural
t.em-	to bestow a title	temdeg 'sign'
k.em	decree	kem kemjiye 'law/norm'
us.gi	letter	üseg
ui	matter	üile
qudug	blessed	qutug
xe.se.ge	part, section, province	keseg
ming.an	military unit of thousand	minggan

Basic verbs

Khitan	Translation	Mongolian script
p.o	become	bol-
p.o.ju	raise(intr.)	bos-
on.a.an	fall	una-
x.ui.ri.ge.ei	transfer	kür-ge-
u-	give	ög-
sa-	to reside	sagu-
a-	be	a- 'live', as in "aj ahui"

Natural objects

Khitan	Translation	Mongolian script	modern Mongolian pronunciation
eu.ul	cloud	egüle	üül
s.eu.ka	dew	sigüderi	shüüder
sair	moon	sara	sar
nair	sun	nara	nar
m.em/m.ng	silver	mönggö	möng

The Liaoshi records in Chapter 53:

國語謂是日為「討賽咿兒」。「討」五；「賽咿兒」，月也。

In the national (Khitan) language this day (5th day of the 5th lunar month) is called 'Tao Saiyier'. 'Tao' means five; 'Saiyier' means moon/month.

'Tao Saiyier' corresponds to Mongolian 'tavan sar' (fifth moon/month). The Turkic equivalent would be 'beshinchi ay' while the Manchu (Tungusic) equivalent would be 'sunja biya'.

See also

References

1. Janhunen 2006, p. 393.
2. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2016). "Kitan". Glottolog 2.7. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
3. "Khitan" at Omniglot.
4. Herbert Franke, John King Fairbank, Denis Crispin Twitchett, Roderick MacFarquhar, Denis Twitchett, Albert Feuerwerker. The Cambridge History of China, Vol. 3: Sui and T'ang China, 589–906. Part 1, p.364
5. Janhunen 2006, p. 395.
6. 遼史/卷116 卷116.
7. pp. 123-125 Howorth, H. H.. 1881. “The Northern Frontagers of China. Part V. The Khitai or Khitans”. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland 13 (2). Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland: 121–82. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25196875.
8. Wilkinson, Endymion Porter (2000). Chinese History: A Manual. Volume 52 of Harvard Yenching Institute Cambridge, Mass: Harvard-Yenching Institute monograph series (illustrated, revised ed.). Harvard Univ Asia Center. p. 864. ISBN 0674002490. ISSN 0073-084X. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
9. Heming Yong; Jing Peng (14 August 2008). Chinese Lexicography : A History from 1046 BC to AD 1911: A History from 1046 BC to AD 1911. OUP Oxford. pp. 382–. ISBN 978-0-19-156167-2.
10. Kane, Daniel The Kitan language and script 2009, Leiden, The Netherlands

Bibliography

Juha Janhunen (2006). The Mongolic Languages. Routledge. p. 393. ISBN 978-1-135-79690-7.

Further reading

• Franks, H. (1976): "Two Chinese-Khitan Macaronic Poems." In: Heissig, W.-Krueger, J. R.-Oinas, F. J.-Schütz, E. (eds): Tradata Altaica. Wiesbaden, Otto Harrassowitz.
• Kane, Daniel (1989). The Sino-Jurchen Vocabulary of the Bureau of Interpreters. Uralic and Altaic Series, Vol. 153. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University, Research Institute for Inner Asian Studies. ISBN 978-0-933070-23-3.
• Qinge'ertai (Chinggeltei); Yu Baolin; Chen Naixiong; Liu Fengzhu; Xin Fuli (1985). Qidan xiao zi yanjiu [A Study of the Khitan Small Script]. Beijing: Zhongguo Shehui Kexue Chubanshe. OCLC 16717597.
• Jacques, Guillaume (2010). "Review of Kane 2009, The Khitan Language and Script". Diachronica. 27 (1): 157–165. doi:10.1075/dia.27.1.05jac.
• Vovin, Alexander (2003). "Once Again on Khitan Words in Chinese-Khitan Mixed Verses". Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae. 56 (2-4): 237–244. doi:10.1556/AOrient.56.2003.2-4.10.

External links

• New Developments of the Studies on Khitai Language and Khitai Scripts