Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 16.djvu/778

Rh 750 MONGOLS The signification of the name Oetid, in the East Mongolian Oegclcd, now the most widely spread among the tribes living in China, is likewise very doubtful. Some assert that &quot; Oelod &quot; is nothing but the Chinese transcription of Oirad, as the ordinary Chinese language does not possess the sound r. We have, however, to bear in mind that we have a Mongolian root iigelckii, with the sense &quot;to be in imical,&quot; &quot;to bear hatred, ill-will,&quot; &c. The main population of the Kalmuks live, or rather drag out, their existence after the usual fashion of nomad tribes in Sungaria, in the eastern part of the Thian- shan, on the south border of the Gobi, on Koko-nor, and in the province of Kan-suh. All these are under the Chinese Government. In consequence, however, of the extension of the Russian empire in Thian-shan and Alatau, many hordes have come under the Rus sian sway. According to an approximate account we may reckon in the territory Semiryetshensk (Kuldja) and Semipalatinsk 34,000 Kalmuks, while in the southern part of the government Tomsk, on the Altai, the Kalmuk population amounted formerly to 19,000. Besides these we rind a section of Kalmuk population far in the west, on the banks of the Volga (near Astrakhan). From their original seats in Sungaria they turned in their migrations to the north, crossed the steppe of the Kirghiz, and thus gradually reached the Emba and the Or. Between these two rivers and the Ural the Torgod settled in 1616 ; thence they crossed the Volga in 1650, and took possession of the now so-called steppe of the Kalmuks, being followed in 1673 by the Db rbod, and in 1675 by the Khoshod. In 1771 a considerable number returned to the Chinese empire. At the present time there is a not unimportant population in the so-called steppe of the Kalmuks, which extends between the Caspian and the Volga in the east and the Don in the west, and from the town of Sarepta in the north to the Kuma and the Manytch in the south. According to modern statistical accounts, this popula tion amounts to 75,630. To these we have to add 24,603 more on the borders of the Cossacks of the Don, and lastly 7298 in the bordering provinces of Orenburg and Saratoff. The sum total of the so-called Volga Kalmuks is therefore 107,531. (3) In the southern part of the Russian province of Irkutsk, in a wide circle round the Baikal Lake, lies the heirdom proper of the Buriats, which they also call the &quot;Holy Sea;&quot; the country east of the lake is commonly called Transbaikalia. Their country practically extends from the Chinese frontier on the south within almost parallel lines to the north, to the town Kirensk on the Lena, and from the Onon in the east to the Oka, a tributary of the Angara, in the west, and still farther west towards Nijni - Udinsk. They are most numerous beyond the Baikal Lake, in the valleys along the Uda, the Onon, and the Selenga, and in Nertchinsk. These Trans- Baikalian Buriats came to these parts only towards the end of the 17th century from the Khalkhas. While Mongols and Kal muks generally continue to live after the usual fashion of nomads, we find here agricultural pursuits, most likely, however, due mainly to Russian influence. Christianity is also making its way. The sum total of the Buriats amounts at present to about 250,000. Another tribe separated from the rest of the Mongols is the so- called Hazara (the thousand), and the four Aimak (i.e., tribes), who wander about as herdsmen in Afghanistan, between Herat and Kabul. In external characteristics they are Mongols, and in all probability they are the remains of a tribe from the time of the Mongol dynasty. Their language, which shows, of course, Persian influence, is strictly Mongolian, more particularly West Mongolian or Kalmuk, as has been proved by H. C. von der Gabelentz. 1 Agreeably with this threefold division of the Mongols we have also a threefold division of their respective languages : (1) East Mongolian or Mongolian proper, (2) West Mongolian or Kalmuk, (3) Buriatic. The dialects just mentioned are found to be in close relation to each other when we examine their roots, inflexions, and grammatical structure. The difference between them is indeed so slight that whoever understands one of them understands all. Phonetically a characteristic of them all is the &quot;harmony of vowels,&quot; which are divided into two chief classes : the hard a, o, u and the soft e, o, U ; between which i is in the middle. All vowels of the same word must necessarily belong to the same class, so that the nature of the first or root-vowel determines the nature of the other or inflexion- vowels ; now and then a sort of retrogressive harmony takes place, so that a later vowel determines the nature of the former. The consonants preceding the vowels are equally under their influence. The Mongolian characters, which in a slightly altered form are also in use among the Manchus, are written perpendicularly from above downward, and the lines follow from left to right, the alpha bet having signs for seven vowels a, c, i, o, u, o, u, and diphthongs derived from them ao, ai, ei, ii, oi, ui, oi, iii, and for seventeen con sonants n, b, kh, gh, k, g, m, I, r (never initial), t, d, y, s (*&amp;gt;)&amp;gt; is, ss, sh, w. All these are modified in shape according to their position, in the beginning, middle, or end of a word, and also by certain orthographic rules. In Mongolian and Manchu writing the syllable (i.e., the consonant together with the vowel) is considered as a unit, 1 See liis essay, &quot; Ueber die Sprache der Hazaras und Aimaks,&quot; in the Zeit- schrifl der deutschen monjenldndlschen (Jesellschaft, vol. xx. ]&amp;gt;p. 32(5-335. in other words, a syllabarium rather than an alphabet. The exist ing characters are lineal descendants of the original Uigurian forms, which were themselves derived from the Syriac, having been brought to the Uigurs by Nestorian missionaries. An Indian and Tibetan influence may also be noticed, while the arrangement of the char acters in perpendicular lines is common to the Chinese. The writ ing was brought into its present shape by the learned Lamas Sa- skya Pandita, Phags-pa Lama, and Tshoitshi Odser in the 13th century, 1 but is exceedingly imperfect. To express the frequently- occurring letters borrowed from Sanskrit and Tibetan, which are wanting in the Mongol alphabet, a special alphabet called Galik is employed. Every one who has tried to read Mongolian knows how many difficulties have to be overcome, arising from the ambi guity of certain letters, or from the fact that the same sign is to be pronounced differently according to its position in the word. Thus, there are no means for distinguishing the o and u, 6 and it, the consonants g and k, t and d, y and s (da). A and c, o (u) and o (ii), a (e) and n, g and kh, t (d) and on, are liable to be mistaken for each other. Other changes will be noticed and avoided by advanced students. It is a great defect that such common words as ada (a fury) and ende (here), ende (here) and nada (me), aldan (fathom) and altan (gold), ordu (court-residence) and urtu (long), onokhu (to seize) and unukhu (to ride), tere (this) and dcrc (pillow), gebe (said) and kcbe (made), gem (evil) and kern (measure), gcr (house) and kcr (how), naran (sun) and ncre (name), yagon (what) and dsagon (hundred), should be written exactly alike. This list might be largely increased. These defects apply equally to the Mongolian and Buriatic alphabets. In 1648 the Saya Pandita composed a new alphabet (the Kalmuk), in which these ambiguities are avoided, though the graphic differences between the two alphabets are only slight. The Kalmuk alphabet avoids the angular and clumsy shapes of the Mongolian, and has, on the contrary, a rounded and pleasing shape. The Kalmuk alphabet has also this great advantage, that every sound has its distinct graphic character ; a mistake between two .characters can scarcely occur. The Kalmuk M ords once mastered, they can be easily recognized in their Mongolian shape. The dialectical differ ences are also very slight. The Kalmuk, therefore, is the key of the Mongolian, and should form the groundwork of Mongolian studies. The Kalmuk and East Mongolian dialects do not differ much, at least in the spoken language ; but the Kalmuks write according to their pronunciation, while the Mongols do not. For example, son (dson), hundred, &quot; is pronounced alike by the Kalmuks and the East Mongolians ; but according to Mongolian orthography the word appears in the form dsagon. The dialectic difference between the two dialects very frequently lies only in a different pronunciation of some letters. Thus East Mon golian ds is in Kalmuk soft s, &c. The chief difference between the two dialects lies in the fact that in Kalmuk the soft guttural g be tween two vowels is omitted, while, through the joining of the two vowels, a long vowel is produced. In the pronunciation of common East Mongolian the g is likewise omitted, but it is written, while in Kalmuk, as just now mentioned, the guttural can only be traced through the lengthening of the syllable. Thus we find : Mongol khagan, &quot;prince,&quot; Kalmuk khan; M. dagon, &quot;voice, sound,&quot; K. don, dun ; M. dologan, &quot;seven,&quot; K. dolon; M. agola, &quot;mountain,&quot; K. din, ula ; M. nagor, &quot;lake,&quot; K. nor, niir ; M. ulagan, &quot;red,&quot; K. ulan ; M. yagon, &quot;what,&quot; K. yon (yun) ; M. dabagan, &quot;mountain- ridge,&quot; K. dabdn ; M. ssanagan, &quot;thought,&quot; K. ssandn ; M. baragon, &quot;on the right,&quot; K. baron, barun ; M. shibagon, &quot; bird,&quot; K. showon ; M. chilagon, &quot;stone,&quot; K. chilon (chulun] ; M. jirgogan, &quot;six,&quot; K. surgdn; M. dcgcre, &quot;high, above,&quot; K. dere; M. ugiikhu, &quot; to drink,&quot; K. ukhu ; M. togodshi, &quot;history,&quot; K. todshi, tudshi; M. egiidcii, &quot;door,&quot; K. odcn ; M. dscgun, &quot;left,&quot; K. son ; M. iigcde, &quot;in the height,&quot; K. ddii ; M. ogcled, &quot;the Kalmuks,&quot; K. olod ; M. uileged, &quot;if one has done,&quot; K. iiiled; M. kiibegun, &quot;son,&quot; K. koicon ; M. gcgun, &quot;mare,&quot; K. gun; M. kcgur, &quot;corpse,&quot; K. kur; M. kharigad, &quot;returned,&quot; K. khared, &c. The Buriatic, in these peculiarities, is almost always found with East Mongolian, with which it is in every respect closely allied. In the pronunciation of some letters the transition of East Mongolian tsa, tse into Buriatic ss is noticeable ; for instance : Mong. tsctsek, &quot;flower,&quot; Buriatic sscssek ; M. tsak, &quot;time,&quot; B. ssak ; M. tsagan, &quot;white,&quot; B. ssagan ; M. tsctscn, &quot; prudent,&quot; B. sscsscn. Ss is some times pronounced like (the German) ch: East M. ssain, &quot;good,&quot; B. chain ; M. ssedkil, &quot;heart,&quot; B. chedkil. K in the beginning or middle of a word is always aspirated. The noun is declined by the help of appended particles, some of which are independent post-positions, viz., Gen. yin, it, un; Dat. dur, a ; Ace. yi, i ; Ablat. ctsc ; lustrum, bcr, ycr ; Associative, luga, luge. The dative and accusative have also special forms which have at the same time a possessive sense, viz. , Dat. dagan, dcgen ; Accus. ben, yen. The plural is expressed by affixes (nar, ner, od, ss, d), or frequently by words of plurality, &quot;all,&quot; &quot;many,&quot; e.g., kiimun nogod (man, many = men). The oblique cases have the 1 Cf. H. C. von der Gabelentz, in the Zeitschrift f. d. Kunde d. Morgenlandes Gottingen, 1838, vol. ii. i&amp;gt;i&amp;gt;. --, &quot; Versuch Uber einealte inongnlische Inschrift.&quot;