Classical Mongolian was the literary language of Mongolian which was first introduced shortly after 1600, when

Ligdan Khan Khutugtu Khan ( mn, Хутагт Хаан; ), born Ligdan ( mn, Лигдэн; ), (1588–1634) was a khagan of the Northern Yuan dynasty, reigning from 1604 to 1634. During his reign, he vigorously attempted to reunify the divided Mongol Empire, a ...

set his clergy the task of translating the whole of the

Tibetan Buddhist canon The Tibetan Buddhist canon is a loosely defined list of sacred texts recognized by various sects of Tibetan Buddhism. In addition to sutrayana texts from Early Buddhist schools (mostly Sarvastivada) and Mahayana sources, the Tibetan canon incl ...

, consisting of the Kanjur and Tanjur, into Mongolian. This script then became the established literary language used for all Mongolian literature since its introduction, until the 1930s when the Mongolian Latin script was established, which then in 1941 was replaced by the

Mongolian Cyrillic script The Mongolian Cyrillic alphabet ( Mongolian: , or , ) is the writing system used for the standard dialect of the Mongolian language in the modern state of Mongolia. It has a largely phonemic orthography, meaning that there is a fair degree of ...

. Classical Mongolian was formerly used in

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; literal translation, lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia Mongolia–Russia border, to the north and China China–Mongolia border, to the s ...

, China, and

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eight ...

. It is a standardized written language used in the 18th century and 20th centuries. Notable texts include the translation of the Kanjur and Tanjur and several chronicles roughly between 1700 and 1900. ''Classical Mongolian'' sometimes refers to any language documents in

Mongolian script The classical or traditional Mongolian script, also known as the , was the first writing system created specifically for the Mongolian language, and was the most widespread until the introduction of Cyrillic in 1946. It is traditionally writte ...

that are neither Pre-classical (i.e.

Middle Mongol Middle Mongol or Middle Mongolian, was a Mongolic koiné language spoken in the Mongol Empire. Originating from Genghis Khan's home region of Northeastern Mongolia, it diversified into several Mongolic languages after the collapse of the empire ...

in Mongolian script) nor modern Mongolian.e.g
Linguist List entry for Classical Mongolian
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