DIALECTAL 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 aab@azsiaport.hu 2 ÁKOS BERTALAN APATÓCZKY Special fonts: Chinese: Pmingliu Times NR Lingua ¤ Doulos SIL (IPA) Mojikyo M111 帚 Mojikyo M114 錠 .gif file 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 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 dürē, 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 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 (

Dialectal traces in Beilu Yiyu

Similar Dialectal traces in Beilu Yiyu