Khitan or Kitan (
in
large script or
in
small, ''Khitai''; , ''Qìdānyǔ''), also known as Liao, is a now-extinct language once spoken in
Northeast Asia by the
Khitan people (4th to 13th century). It was the official language of the
Liao Empire (907–1125) and the
Qara Khitai (1124–1218).
Classification
Khitan appears to have been related to the
Mongolic languages;
Juha Janhunen states, 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."
Alexander Vovin (2017) argues that Khitan has several
Koreanic
Koreanic is a small language family consisting of the Korean and Jeju languages. The latter is often described as a dialect of Korean, but is distinct enough to be considered a separate language. Alexander Vovin suggests that the Yukjin dialec ...
loanwords. Since both of the Korean
Goryeo
Goryeo (; ) was a Korean kingdom founded in 918, during a time of national division called the Later Three Kingdoms period, that unified and ruled the Korean Peninsula until 1392. Goryeo achieved what has been called a "true national unificat ...
dynasty and Khitan
Liao dynasty
The Liao dynasty (; Khitan: ''Mos Jælud''; ), also known as the Khitan Empire (Khitan: ''Mos diau-d kitai huldʒi gur''), officially the Great Liao (), was an imperial dynasty of China that existed between 916 and 1125, ruled by the Yelü ...
claimed to be successors of
Goguryeo
Goguryeo (37 BC–668 AD) ( ) also called Goryeo (), was a Korean kingdom located in the northern and central parts of the Korean Peninsula and the southern and central parts of Northeast China. At its peak of power, Goguryeo controlled mos ...
, it is possible that the Koreanic words in Khitan were borrowed from the
language of Goguryeo.
Script
Khitan was written using two mutually exclusive
writing system
A writing system is a method of visually representing verbal communication, based on a script and a set of rules regulating its use. While both writing and speech are useful in conveying messages, writing differs in also being a reliable fo ...
s known as the
Khitan large script and the
Khitan small script
The Khitan small script () was one of two writing systems used for the now-extinct Khitan language (the other was the Khitan large script). It was used during the 10th–12th century by the Khitan people, who had created the Liao Empire in present ...
. The small script, which was a
syllabary
In the linguistic study of written languages, a syllabary is a set of written symbols that represent the syllables or (more frequently) moras which make up words.
A symbol in a syllabary, called a syllabogram, typically represents an (option ...
, was used until the
Jurchen Jurchen may refer to:
* Jurchen people, Tungusic people who inhabited the region of Manchuria until the 17th century
** Haixi Jurchens, a grouping of the Jurchens as identified by the Chinese of the Ming Dynasty
** Jianzhou Jurchens, a grouping of ...
-speaking
Jin dynasty (1115–1234)
The Jin dynasty (,
; ) or Jin State (; Jurchen: Anchun Gurun), officially known as the Great Jin (), was an imperial dynasty of China that existed between 1115 and 1234. Its name is sometimes written as Kin, Jurchen Jin, Jinn, or Chin
in ...
replaced it in 1191. The large script was
logographic
In a written language, a logogram, logograph, or lexigraph is a written character that represents a word or morpheme. Chinese characters (pronounced '' hanzi'' in Mandarin, '' kanji'' in Japanese, '' hanja'' in Korean) are generally logograms ...
like Chinese.
Records
The ''
History of Liao'' contains a volume of Khitan words transcribed in
Chinese characters
Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are known as ''kanji ...
titled "Glossary of National Language" (國語解). It is found in Chapter 116.
The
Qianlong Emperor
The Qianlong Emperor (25 September 17117 February 1799), also known by his temple name Emperor Gaozong of Qing, born Hongli, was the fifth Emperor of the Qing dynasty and the fourth Qing emperor to rule over China proper, reigning from 1735 ...
of the
Qing dynasty
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...
erroneously identified the Khitan people and their language with the
Solons The Solon people () are a subgroup of the Ewenki (Evenk) people of northeastern Asia. They live in China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Heilongjiang Province, and constitute the majority of China's Ewenki.
Terminology and classification
...
, 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
The Han Chinese () or Han people (), are an East Asian ethnic group native to China. They constitute the world's largest ethnic group, making up about 18% of the global population and consisting of various subgroups speaking distinctive v ...
dynasties in China to refer to their languages like
Manchu of the Qing,
Classical Mongolian
Classical Mongolian was the literary language of Mongolian which was first introduced shortly after 1600, when Ligdan Khan set his clergy the task of translating the whole of the Tibetan Buddhist canon, consisting of the Kanjur and Tanjur, int ...
during the
Yuan dynasty
The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fif ...
, Jurchen during the Jin, and
Xianbei during the
Northern Wei. Even today,
Mandarin is referred to in
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the no ...
as Guoyu.
Vocabulary
There are several closed systems of Khitan lexical items for which systematic information is available.
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
Numerals
Compared with Khitan, The
Tungusic numerals of the
Jurchen language differ significantly: three=ilan, five=shunja, seven=nadan, nine=uyun, hundred=tangu.
Animals
Directions
Time
Personal relations
Tribal administration
Basic verbs
Natural objects
The
Liaoshi
The ''History of Liao'', or ''Liao Shi'' (''Liáo Shǐ''), is a Chinese historical book compiled officially by the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty (1271–1368), under the direction of the historian Toqto'a (Tuotuo), and finalized in 1344.Xu Elina-Qian, ...
records in Chapter 53:
'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'.
References
Bibliography
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Further reading
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External links
New Developments of the Studies on Khitai Language and Khitai Scripts
{{DEFAULTSORT:Khitan Language
Languages attested from the 10th century
Agglutinative languages
Mongolic–Khitan languages
Languages of China
Medieval languages
Extinct languages of Asia
Khitans