| Khitan | |
|---|---|
| Spoken in | China |
| Region | northern |
| Extinct | c. 1243 (Yelü Chucai, last person known who could speak and write Khitan) |
| Language family | |
| Writing system | Khitan large script and Khitan small script |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | zkt |
The Khitan language (also known as Liao, Kitan [ISO 639-3]; Chinese: 契丹語 Qìdān Yǔ) is a now-extinct language once spoken by the Khitan people (388–1243AD). Khitan is generally deemed to be genetically linked to the Mongolic languages.[2] It was written using two mutually exclusive writing systems known as the Khitan large script and the Khitan small script. The language was the official language of the Liao Dynasty (907–1125) and Kara-Khitan Khanate (1124–1218). Janhunen states "A better term for Khitan than Mongolic would be Para-Mongolic, implying that it was probably a language collateral to the ancestor of all the Mongolic languages."[3] Presently the theory of the Mongolic, rather than Tungusic, affiliation of Khitan is more and more commonly accepted by both eastern and western scholars.[4] See List of the Khitan rulers.
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There are several closed systems of Khitan lexical items for which systematic information is available.[5] 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: heu.ur (spring=havar), ju.un (summer=zun), n.am.ur (autumn=namar), u.ul (winter=uvul).
Numerals: dz.ur.er (second=jir means two in Middle Mongolian), hu.ur.er (third=gurav means three in Mongolian), durer/duren (fourth=durvun), tau (five=tav), t.ad.o.ho (fifth=tavdahi), da.lo.er (seventh=dolo), is (nine=yesu), jau (hundred=jagun), ming (thousand=mingan). The Tungusic numerals of the Jurchen language differ significantly: three=ilan, five=shunja, seven=nadan, nine=uyun, hundred=tangu.
Animals: te.qo.a (chicken=taqia), ni.qo (dog=noqai), s.au.a (falcon=showoo in Daur, shuwuu means bird in Mongolian), em.a (goat=imaa), tau.li.a (rabbit=taulai; in Tungusic rabbit=gulmahun), mo.ri (horse=mori), uni (cow=uniye), mu.ho.o (snake=mogoi)
Directions: ud.ur (east=dorno), dzi.ge.n (left=jegun), bo.ra.ian (right=ba.ra.un), dau.ur.un (middle=dumda), xe.du.un (horizontal=kondelen), ja.cen.i (border=jaqa)
Time: suni (night=suni), n.on/n.on.de (for generations=onod, also "urug-in urugt"), ai (year=ai, uye), un.n/un.e (now, present=onoo)
Personal relations: c.i.is (blood=cisu), mo ku (female=em kun), deu (younger brother=de'u), n.ai.ci (friend=naiz), na.ha.an (uncle=nagacha), s.ia/s.en (good=sain), g.en.un (sadness, regret="genu-" means "to regret" in the letter of Arghun Khan), ku (person, man=kun, kumun)
Tribal administration: cau.ur (war=cagur, as in "tsa'urgalan dairakh"), g.ur (country=guren), nai/nai.d (heads, officials, "-d" is a plural suffix=noyan, noyad for plural), t.em- (to bestow a title=temdeg), qa (khan=qan), k.em (decree=kev refers to the law decreed by the tribal assembly, as in Yeke Kev or Great Law), us.gi (letter=useg), ui (matter=uil), qudug (blessed=qudug), xe.se.ge (part, section, province=keseg), ming.an (military unit of thousand=mingan),
Basic verbs: p.o (to become=bol-okh), p.o.ju (raise=bosgo-kh), on.a.an (fall PAST TENSE=unasan), x.ui.ri.ge.ei (to transfer=kurge-kh), u- (give=ug-ukh), sa- (to reside=sa'u-kh or suukh), ci.er (inscribe PAST TENSE=siileruun), a- (to be=a-kh, for example "savandaa akh aj l" in the Altan Tobchi in which the root "a-" in both "akh" and "aj" "means "to be")
Natural objects: eu.ul (cloud=e'ul or egule), s.eu.ka (dew=siguder), sair (moon=sar; in Tungusic moon="biya"), nair (sun=nar), m.em/m.ng (silver=mongo)
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.
'Tao Saiyier' corresponds to Mongolian 'tawan sar' (fifth moon/month). The Turkic equivalent would be 'besh ay' while the Tungusic equivalent would be 'sunja biya'.