4th–13th-century Para-Mongolic language of Northeast Asia
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Khitan appears to have been related to the Mongolic languages;[3]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]
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. Even today, Mandarin is referred to in Taiwan as Guoyu.
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 and Daur equivalents are given after the English translation:
Seasons
Khitan
Translation
Mongolian script
modern Mongolian pronunciation
Daur
heu.ur
spring
qabur
havar
haor
ju.un
summer
jun
zun
najir
n.am.ur
autumn
namur
namar
namar
u.ul
winter
ebül
övöl
uwul
Numerals
Khitan
Translation
Mongolian script
modern Mongolian pronunciation
Daur
*omc
one
onca 'unique'
onts (unique)
enqu
j.ur.er
second
jirin 'two'
jirin (two), jiremsen (double/pregnant)
jieeq
hu.ur.er
third
gurba 'three'
gurav, gurvan, guramsan (triple)
guarab
durer/duren
fourth
dörben
döröv, dörvön
durub
tau
five
tabun
tav, tavan
taawu
t.ad.o.ho
fifth
tabu-daki
tav dahi
taawudar
*nil
six
jirgugan
zurgaa (innovation "jir'gur" or 2x3)
jirwoo
da.lo.er
seventh
dologa 'seven'
doloo
doloo
n.ie.em
eight
nayim 'eight'
naim
naim
*is
nine
yesü
yüs, yüsön
is
par (p.ar)
ten
arban
arav
harbin
jau
hundred
jagun
zuu, zuun
jao
ming
thousand
minggan
myanga, myangan
mianga
Compared with Khitan, The Tungusic numerals of the Jurchen language differ significantly: three=ilan, five=shunja, seven=nadan, nine=uyun, hundred=tangu.
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 Kyrgyz equivalent would be 'beshinchi ay' while the Manchu (Tungusic) equivalent would be 'sunja biya'.
^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
Franke, H. (1976). "Two Chinese–Khitan Macaronic Poems". In Heissig, W.; Krueger, J. R.; Oinas, F. J.; Schütz, E. (eds.). Tractata Altaica: Denis Sinor, Sexagenario Optime de Rebus Altaicis Merito Dedicata. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz. pp. 175–180. ISBN3-447-01798-8.
Kane, Daniel (1989). The Sino-Jurchen Vocabulary of the Bureau of Interpreters. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University, Research Institute for Inner Asian Studies. ISBN0-933070-23-3.
Qinge'ertai (Chinggeltei); Yu, Baolin; Chen, Naixiong; Liu, Fengzhu; Xin, Fuli (1985). Qìdān xiǎozì yánjiū [A Study of the Khitan Small Script] (in Chinese). Beijing: Zhongguo shehui kexue chubanshe. OCLC16717597.