Table Of ContentDIALECTAL TRACES IN BEILU YIYU 1
ÁKOS BERTALAN APATÓCZKY
DIALECTAL TRACES IN BEILU YIYU
Dr. Ákos Bertalan Apatóczky
Freelance Lecturer
78/C Villányi út
H-1118 Budapest
HUNGARY
[email protected]
2 ÁKOS BERTALAN APATÓCZKY
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DIALECTAL TRACES IN BEILU YIYU 3
The Sino-Mongol glossary Beilu yiyu (北虜譯語)1 contains a significant
body of Middle Mongol lexicon providing us with many interesting
linguistic and philological problems to deal with. Its taxonomic status
fundamentally classifies it as an (Eastern) Middle Mongol source along
with many other Sino-Mongolian works left to us in Chinese script such as
the Secret History of Mongols and the bilingual glossaries of the Yuan and
Ming dynasties. Although there seems to exist a generally accepted view
in academic circles concerning the essentially homogenous dialectal
nature of Middle Mongol2 with marked but sometimes controversial
differences between its Western and Eastern manifestations, however, in
particular cases one finds extraordinary occurrences of forms or even
regularities uncommon in other sources or being divergent from Middle
Mongol «proper».
Problems start right with the reconstruction of the original Middle Mongol
data encrypted in Chinese script. It is a difficult task to distinguish
dialectal or substandard forms from those improperly transcribed or not
following the well established transcription practice of the more consistent
and precise Sino-Mongol sources3. Yet, after ruling out the possible
transcription errors and inconsistencies still a large number of unusual
forms remain in which cases one might come to a conclusion that a certain
source is most likely differing from what we are used to, simply because it
represents a different dialectal entity. This seems to be the situation with
the BLYY as well. In this paper I will review the linguistic position of the
BLYY compared to other sources of Middle Mongol and to some modern
peripheral Mongolic languages that show analogous developments.
1 Also known as Yiyu (譯語), Menggu yiyu (蒙古譯語) etc. Abbreviated as BLYY. The
earliest version of this glossary that is still extant is from the Dengtan Bijiu 登壇必究
encyclopedia (1599). The data incorporated in BLYY however is likely to be dated
earlier. See more about the history, titles and versions of the BLYY and other Sino-
Middle Mongol sources in: LEWICKI 1949 pp. 5-15, RACHEWILTZ- SCHÖNBAUM (ed.)
MOSTAERT 1977, pp. vii-xix, RACHEWILTZ 2006, RYBATZKI 2003, pp. 57-61,
FRANKE 1968, p. 204, APATÓCZKY 2008, Chapter 1. and APATÓCZKY 2005, pp.
13.1-13-2
2 RYBATZKI 2003, p. 62.
3 On the usage of diacritical Chinese characters see LEWICKI 1949, pp. 49-50,
HAENISCH 1952, pp. 31-32, RACHEWILTZ 1977, pp. xxi-xxii, MANDUQU 1998, pp. 37-
38, and APATÓCZKY 2008 2.3-2.5
4 ÁKOS BERTALAN APATÓCZKY
Preservation and change of initial h-
Describing Middle Mongol phonology one of the first and most
remarkable phenomenon scholarly works usually start with is the initial h-
that was still extant in Middle Mongol, and which has – with the
prominent exception of some peripheral modern Mongolic languages –
gradually disappeared. As it was to be expected in most cases the initial h-
is attested in Beilu yiyu (e.g. harban ‘ten’, hodun ‘star’, heki ‘head’ etc.).
The more interesting parts are where it is not, or where it has already
undergone a change:
617 ildü (yi-er-du4 亦兒度 Chin. yao-dao 腰刀) ‘sword’ SH üldü,
Hy üldü, Zyyy üldü, VdI hüldü.
Here the BLYY item similarly to other Eastern Middle Mongol sources
has no initial h-, while the Western Middle Mongol material of the
Vocabulary of Istanbul has it.
The most exceptional occurrences in the whole material of BLYY are the
entries in which initial h- in front of a labial vowel has turned into f (hU-
>fU-):
502 fula’an (fu-la-an 伏剌案 Chin. hong 紅) ‘red’ SH hula’an, Hy
hula’an, Zyyy hulā, RY fulian, Mgr. fulān/xulaŋ, Baoan fulaŋ,
Santa fulaŋ/xulaŋ (cf. also 389 fula’ana)
369 füni (fu-ni 伏你 Chin. yan 煙) ‘smoke’ SH hüni, MA huni(n)
‘smoke’, Dag. xoᶇ, Mgr. fune, Baoan fənε, Santa funi
284 fünege (fu-nie-ge 伏捏革 Chin. ling-gou 狑狗) ‘fox’ SH
Hünegen (daba’a) (toponym), KdG hünken/hüngen, Hy hünege,
MA hünegen, RH hüngen, Mgr. funəgə/funəgŒ, Santa funiəγə.
In these entries BLYY material shows similarity with the contemporary
(seventeenth century) Jurchen and with present day Monguor, Baoan and
Santa data, on the other hand in none of the other Middle Mongol sources
can this phenomenon be observed.
4 Note that the pinyin transcription given for Chinese characters are in no way
representative in terms of their quondam pronunciation and are only given here to make
the identification of the characters more convenient.
DIALECTAL TRACES IN BEILU YIYU 5
Palatal prebreaking
Palatal prebreaking that is, the assimilation of the sound i to the vowel of
the subsequent syllable just like actual palatal breaking (i>yV) is
universally not attested in Middle Mongol5. The dialect represented in the
BLYY – in accord with other Middle Mongol sources – does not show this
assimilation in general. There are, however, some exceptions: qumusu
‘finger nail’, ¤ürken ‘heart’, šoroqai ‘soil, earth’, nudur[γ]a ‘fist’, ¤ē
(<*¤ege<*¤ige) ‘son-in-law’. Out of these only ¤ürken and nudur[γ]a have
their prebroken counterparts in other Middle Mongol works, moreover,
even some present day peripheral Mongolic languages have these words in
unbroken forms.
44 šoroqai (shuo-luo-hai 勺羅害 Chin. tu 土) ‘earth, soil’ SH
širo’ai, Hy šira’u, Zyyy širuwai, MA šira’ū, široi, širū, AT sirui,
Dag. Sirō ‘pebbles, coarse sand’, Yogor šçrū/šorū, Mgr. ˛irū,
Baoan çiru, Santa ßəura, Mong. siruγai, siroi
216 ¤ē köwü/köwǖ (zhe kou-wu 折扣兀 Chin. wai-sheng 外甥)
‘sister’s son; son-in-law’ AT ¤ige, Dag. dZə#, Yogor dZī. Mgr. d¸ē,
Santa dΩə, Mong. ¤ige
562 qumusu (qu-mu-su 取目速 Chin. zhi-jia 帚甲) ‘finger nail’ AL
kimusun, MA kimusu(n), RH qimsūn, Dag. kimtS, Yogor χəməsən,
Mgr. t˛imusə, Baoan ɢөmsөŋ, Santa ɢµmusun, Mong. kimusu(n)
563 nudur[γ]a (nu-du-er-a 奴堵兒阿 Chin. quan-tou 拳頭) ‘fist’
SH nudurqa, Hy nudurqa, Zyyy nudurwan, MA nudurqa, AT
nuduraγ, Dag. ᶇodruγw, Yogor nudurɢa, Mgr. nudurɢa, Baoan
nədɢa, Santa nudərax, Mong. nidurγa
576 ¤ürken (zhu-er-ken 主兒掯 Chin. xin 心) ‘heart’ SH ¤ürüge(n),
AL ¤ürke, ¤irüge(n), Zyyy ¤irkōn, Hy ¤ürüken, AT £ürken, £ürüken
(prop.), AL/Poppe, Introd., p. 146., RH jirüke, Dag. dZurγw, Yogor
dZyrgen, Mgr. d¸irgŒ, Baoan d¸irge, Santa dΩuγə, Mong. ¤irüken
The word ¤ürken along with words like emgen ‘old woman’ qulγuna
‘mouse, rat’ turqa ‘thin’ also represents another key change, the reduction
of a short vowel in an open position of a non-initial syllable that is so
typical in many modern Mongolic languages. In this respect the BLYY is
close to the Western Middle Mongol MA data (qulγuna, turqan/turγan)
and the Jurchen RY has similar items, too, e.g. turha.
5 RYBATZKI 2003, p. 61
6 ÁKOS BERTALAN APATÓCZKY
Transformation of diphthong sequences
Middle Mongol by and large preserved the diphthong sequences that
formed mostly following the loss of a medial6. In BLYY words like
büdü’ün, daba’a, deliü, kira’u, šibau, šiliüsü, taulai etc. are representative
examples, but then again many of the words have already had their
diphthongs replaced by long vowels. Without striving for completeness I
give a short list of this kind of entries with their Middle Mongol and
present day Mongolic counterparts:
23, 29, 124 dolō (duo-luo) ‘seven’ SH dolo’an, Hy dolo’an, Zyyy
dolōn, VdI dolān, MA dolān, AT doloγan, RH dolān, Dag. dolō
(vs. dolōn =seventh), Yogor dolōn, Mgr. dolōn, Baoan dөlөŋ,
Santa dolon, Mong. doloγa(n)
216 ¤ē köwü/köwǖ (zhe kou-wu 折扣兀 Chin. wai-sheng 外甥)
‘sister’s son; son-in-law’ AT ¤ige, Dag. dZə#, Yogor dZī. Mgr. d¸ē,
Santa dΩə, Mong. ¤ige
219 bb (bei Chin. duan-gong) ‘shaman’ SH bö’e, Hy bö’e, Zyyy
bb, Mgr. bō, Mong. böge
262 al<a> sǖl (su-lu) ‘tail’ SH se’ül, Hy se’ül, MA se’ü#l/sü#l/sü’ü#l,
AT segül, RH seül, Dag. səuᶅ,Yogor sy#l, Mgr. sūl, Mong. segül
402. tǖküi noγō (tu-kui) ‘raw’ MA tǖküi, Dag. tuiγun, Mgr. tūgu,
Baoan tugu, Mong. tügükei
412 budā (bu-da Chin. fan) ‘rice’ SH buda’an ‘porridge’, AL
budaan ‘noodle’, Hy buda’an ‘porridge’, MA budān ‘rice,
porridge, noodle, food’, RY buda, RH budān ‘food, meal’, Dag.
budā, Yogor budān, Mgr. budā ‘thick gruel, dense porridge’, Santa
budan, Mong. budaγa
419 darasu ū- (ou) ‘to drink’ SH u’u-, AL au-, MA u’ū-/ū-, AT uu-,
Dag. ō-, Yogor ū-, Mgr. ū-, Baoan ū-, Mong. uuγu-/uγu-/aγu-
467 qunāsu (hu-na-su Chin. zhe-er) ‘lined coat’ Dag. xonēs, Mgr.
xUnādzə, Mong. quniyasu
516 tōdu[γ] (tuo-du Chin. jiu ‘pigeon’) ‘bustard’ MA toγdai, Mong.
toγodaγ
580 bǖr (bu-er Chin. yao-zi) ‘kidneys’ SH bö’ere/bökörey, AL
bbre, Hy bö’ere, Zyyy bǖr, AT bögere, RH böire, Yogor py#re/by#re,
Mgr. bōro, Baoan bө#rə, Santa boro, Mong. bögere
6 On the loss and preservation of medial see RYBATZKI 2003, pp. 61-62; APATÓCZKY
2008, 2.4
DIALECTAL TRACES IN BEILU YIYU 7
591 dürē (du-le Chin. deng) ‘stirrup’ Hy dörö’e, Zyyy dür<r>ē,
VdI dörie, MA dörē, AT döröge, RH dörē, Dag. durə#nᶃ, Yogor
durē, Mong. döröge
610 mǖr (mu-er Chin. wang-zi) ‘the outer rim of a cart wheel’ SH
mö’eren, Hy mö’er, Dag. mwə#r, Mong. möger
In some cases both the diphthongoid and the long vowel variants of a word
remained extant:
212 köbe’ün (ke-bo/bai-wen 可伯文 Chin. hai-er 孩兒) and 208
köwü/köwǖ (kou-wu 扣兀 Chin. er-zi 兒子) ‘son, child’ SH kö’ün
and kö’üt (plur.), Hy kö’ün and kö’üt, Zyyy keü, VdI keün, MA
kü’ǖn/kǖn and kü’ǖt (plur.), AT köbegün and köbegüd (plur.), RH
köün, keüket (plur.), Dag. kəkW, Yogor ky#n/ky#ken, Mgr. kəū/kō,
Baoan kuŋ, Santa kəwaŋ (plur. kəwas), Mong. köbegün, keü- (in
keüken, keüked)
334 bowurul morin (bao-wu-lun mo-lin 保兀倫莫林 Chin. hong-
sha ma 紅沙馬 ‘red roan’) ‘grey, grey haired horse’ and 319 būrul
morin (bei/bo-luo-er mo-lin 孛羅兒莫林 Chin. qing ma 青馬 ‘grey
horse’) ‘partly grey, roan, greyish (horse)’ SH (¤osoto) boro, MA
būrul, AT buγurul, RH būrul (saqaltu) ‘a grey bearded man’, Dag.
bōrul, Yogor būral, Mgr. bōrol, Mong. boγurul
ö>ü merger
In terms of the amalgamation of ö into ü that is considered to be a
distinctive feature of a postulatory Eastern Middle Mongol dialect versus
the ö>e change in Western Middle Mongol BLYY data show typical
Eastern characteristics (Written Mongol equivalents are given in
parentheses)7: bürbügü/bümbügü ‘round’ (bömbüger, bömbür), ¤ǖlgen
‘soft, weak’ (¤ögelen), kümüldü[r]ge ‘breast strap of the harness’
(kömüldürge), küngen ‘light (not heavy)’ (könggen), kün¤ile ‘coverlet,
quilt, scarf’ (kön¤ile), mündür ‘hail, hailstone’ (möndür), münggü ‘silver’
(mönggü(n)), mür ‘way, road’ (mör), mǖr ‘the outer rim of a cart wheel’
(möger), bǖr ‘kidney’ (bögere), mürün ‘river’ (mören), meis(ü)/müsü ‘ice’
(mö(l)sü(n)), hüčiken[ü]dür ‘yesterday’ (öčige(l)dür, öčökedür), üčüken
‘small’ (öčügüken/üčügüken, öčüken/üčüken), ülüs- ‘to starve’ (ölüs-),
ürbi ‘stork, heron’ (örüb/örbi), süsü ‘gall’ (sösün, čösün), dürē ‘stirrup’
(döröge).
7 RYBATZKI 2003, p. 62
8 ÁKOS BERTALAN APATÓCZKY
Some of the words, however, preserve ö, e.g. bödene/bödöne ‘quail, lark’
(bödöne), örmü[g] ‘coarse of fabric made of hair of camel or sheep’s
wool’ (örmüge(n), ermüge(n)), ötüge ‘bear’ (ötege, ötöge), ötügü (ötegü).
Labial harmony
Another important phonologic attribute, the lack of labial harmony in
words with o-a arrangement, which (mostly Western) Middle Mongol is
pregnant with, noticeably gives the impression of an in-between position
in BLYY8. There are a bunch of words lacking (e.g. olan ‘many, much’,
olam/olang ‘girth’, ¤o’a[s] ‘coin’, oraitu- ‘to get late’, dürē ‘stirrup’) and
there are some having labial harmony (e.g. qōlo[i] ‘throat’, qolo ‘far’,
qoyor ‘two’, torqo ‘badger’).
Vocabulary
One of the most apparent attribute of a dialect is its differing lexicon from
other dialects. BLYY is rich in lexical items unknown or uncommon in
modern Mongolic or in other Middle Mongol sources. There are archaic
words in BLYY that have completely disappeared in modern Mongolic
languages, e.g.166 or[γ]an (wo-er-wan 我兒完 Chin. min 民) ‘people’ SH
orqa, Hy orqon; and 312 taunan (tao-nan 討難 Chin. wu-sui 五嵗) ‘five
years old stallion’9. Larger is the number of items that later became
obsolete in modern Mongolic languages but in some form or other have
equivalents either in some of the modern peripheral Mongolic languages or
in Middle Mongol. Many of them are loanwords:
63 ba¤ar (ba-zha-er 把扎兒 Chin. jie-shi 街市) ‘market’ Hy baZar
‘city’, Uighur of Ming bazar, Chag. bāzār, Dag. badZir, Mgr.
badzar <Uighur, Mog./Weiers bɔz’ɔr, Baoan badzar; (<Pers. bāzār)
68 dem (de-mu 得目 Chin. bao 堡) ‘walled village, a settlement’,
Uighur of Ming tam ‘wall’, Baoan dam ‘wall’, Dag. ᶁam (店, 旅店)
(or read dam cf. Mong. dam ‘barrier, hindrance’) (<Chin. dian 店)
95 dangna<u>su (dang-nao-su 黨惱速 Chin. tu-dui-zi 土堆子)
‘dust-heap, mound of earth’ SH danglasun ‘fistful of soil’, RH
tanglasun ‘brick’
8 RYBATZKI 2003, p. 62
9 See the analogous words in written Mongol: γunan ‘three years old stallion’, dönen
‘four years old stallion’.
DIALECTAL TRACES IN BEILU YIYU 9
115 na¤ir (na-zhi-er 納只兒 Chin. xia 夏) ‘summer’ Dag. nad¸ir,
Bur. nažar
158 dudu (du-du 堵督 Chin. du-du 都督) ‘governor of capital,
viceroy, military governor’ Turk totoq, Tib. todog (cf. ECSEDY
1993, pp. 69-75.), Mong. düdü (<Chin. du-du 都督)
160 čerbin (che-li-bin 扯力賔 Chin. ba-zong 把總) ‘sergeant,
Darkhan in charge, military commander, chancellor’ SH čerbi, AT
čerbi, Zyyy čerbi, TMEN № 176
170 ötügü (wo-tu-gu 我土故 Chin. lao-le 老了 ’old, grown old’)
‘old’ AL ötegü, Hy ötögü (gü’ün), MA ötegü, Mong. ötegü
174 šanšeng/šanšing (shang-sheng 賞生 Chin. dao-shi 道士)
‘(Taoist) priest’ Dag. SenSing ‘physician’ (<Chin. xian-sheng 先生)
180 tesman (te-si-man 忒四蠻 Chin. man-la 滿剌) ‘Muslim priest’
cf. ЗОГРАФ 1984, p. 39. dašman ‘Muslim clergyman’, Poppe
1955, p. 39 dašmad ‘Muhammadan clergy’ (<Turk <Pers.
danišmand)
194 ebin (a/e-bin 阿賔 Chin. da-ye 大爺 ‘uncle’) ‘uncle’ SH ebin,
Hy ebin
217 otuči (wo-du-chi 我堵赤 Chin. tai-yi 太醫) ‘doctor, physician’
Zyyy otoči, Hy otoči, MA otači, Dag. otuS ‘female shaman’, Bur.
otošo (rare), Mong. otači
239 vayiduri (fa-yi-du-li 法一堵力 Chin. liu-li 琉璃 ‘opaque’)
‘beryl’ Khal. vinder’yaa, Mong. binderiya/vaiduri/viduri, Uighur
vaiduri; (<Tib.<Sanskrit vaidurya ‘beryl’)
256 sai¤a10 (sai-zha 賽扎 Chin. zan-zi 簪子) ‘hairpin’ Khal. cais,
Mong. čaisa/čayisa (<Chin. chai-zi 釵子)
345 haul- (hao-la 好剌 Chin. pao 跑) ‘to run, to overrun’ SH
ha’ul-, Dag. xaul, Mgr. xaulə-, Baoan xөl-
352 dörgene (duo-er-han-nie 朶兒汗捏 Chin. sang 桑) ‘mulberry’
SH Döregene (prop.)
383 ¤aγaq (yi-ha-ha 義哈哈 read cha 叉 instead of yi 義 (义) Chin.
he-tao 核 character variant for tao normally written as 桃)
‘walnuts’ Hy ¤i’aq, RH jaġaq, Baoan d¸anɢax
391 čom güilesü (shuo-mu gui-le-su 勺木鬼勒速 Chin. zhen-ren
榛梕, read ren 仁 instead of ren 梕) ‘hazelnut’ Ramstedt/KalmWb
tsöm ‘cornel’, Karachai-Balkar čum, Hung. som ‘cornel’ TESz,
10 Although this loanword has a corresponding modern Mongol pair, the Chinese dialect
it was borrowed from had dissimilar phonologic setup to the one that Khalkha was
borrowing from.
10 ÁKOS BERTALAN APATÓCZKY
Ligeti 1986, pp. 292-293, Manduqu šomur güilesü=šid ‘hazelnut’
(incorrect)
405 qabaq (ha-ba-ha 哈把哈 Chin. hu-lu 葫蘆 ‘bottle-gourd’)
‘gourd’ Hy qabaq, TMEN № 1419 (<Turk)
410 ütmü[g] (wu-tu-mu 五禿木 Chin. mo-mo 饝饝 ‘steamed loaf’)
‘dumpling, steamed loaf’ Zyyy üdmek, Hy ütmek, VdI ötüme
‘bread’, RH ötmek, Uighur of Ming ötmäk, Dag. utum ‘snack,
biscuit’, Mgr. ßdəma
424 širke (shi-er-ke 失兒克 Chin. cu 醋) ‘vinegar’ ‘Phags-pa širge,
Hy širke, Uighur of Ming sirkä, Poppe ‘Turkic loan words …’ p.
41 širge, TMEN № 1237, precl. Mong. sirkä (<Turk)
449 kün¤i[r] (kun-zhi 困直 Chin. zhi-ma 芝麻 ‘sesame’) ‘hemp,
Cannabis sativa’ MA kün¤id, Witsen kentschir, Uighur of Ming
kändir ‘hemp’ and künčit ‘sesame’, TMEN № 1647, Yogor
kendZer, Baoan kənt˛ir, Santa kəntßµ, Mong. kendir
473 čaru[q] (yi-lu 義魯 read cha 叉 instead of yi 義 (义) Chin. xie
鞋) ‘shoes, slippers’ Zyyy čaru[q], Hy čaruq, RH čaruq, Mgr.
t˛arçɢ, Mog./Weiers ʧɔr’ɔ, TMEN № 1044 (<Turk)
519 čibčiġ(ai) (chi-bu-chi-ge 赤補赤革 Chin. shan-he 山錠)
‘sparrow, lark’ AL čipčiqai ‘sparrow’ (<Turk), Chag. ćimćik,
Manduqu čibčig=qatan-u bol¤omor ‘lark’
523 bildu’ur11 (bin-du-er 賔堵兒 Chin. jiao-tian-er 呌天兒 ‘a
small bird [that cries to the sky]’) ‘a small bird like a sparrow or a
lark’ SH bil¤i’ur, cf. RACHEWILTZ 2006, pp. 365-366, RH
bildür/bildǖr ‘nightingale’
In some instances Jurchen influence can also be assumed, e.g.
425 ¤üši’ün.(zhu-shi-wen 主失文 Chin. suan 酸) ‘sour’ RY ¤usu (cf.
Kara 1991, p. 156. „read ¤ušu”), Dag. dZusū ‘vinegar’, Manchu
jušuhun
404 qalgi noγō (ha-er-ji nu-wu 哈兒吉奴惡 Chin. jie-cai 芥菜
„mustard) ‘nettle’ RY harhi, Dag. xalān kur, Manchu hargi, Mong.
qalaγai;
11 Along with many other suggestions on difficult cases in BLYY it was Prof. Igor de
Rachewiltz who offered this reconstructed form in our personal correspondence.
