The great unification of the Yuan Dynasty, the total area of the territory surpassed that of the Han and Tang Dynasties, and another major feature is that there are many ethnic groups in the territory, and the languages and scripts are different. During the first four khans before Kublai Khan, the official use of the Mongolian characters in the Vulture script, Chinese characters, and the "Huihui character" (Persian).
Kublai Khan ordered Pas-pa to create the "Mongolian New Character" (later known as Mongolian characters, commonly known as Bas-pa characters), which is actually a set of phonetic alphabets, mainly used to spell Mongolian, but also Chinese. Important edicts were written in the Phags-pa script, followed by Chinese characters.
In addition, the scripts commonly used in the Yuan Dynasty also included Mongolian script, Tibetan, Wuwu script (writing the Wuwu language with the Wuwu alphabet), Huihui script (Persian) and so on.
1. The Chinese and Mongolian languages are mixed
In the Yuan Dynasty, the Mongols entered the Central Plains and Jiangnan, and lived together with the Han people. When there is a wide range of interactions, languages must penetrate each other. The people of the Yuan Dynasty were divided into four classes, the Mongolian nationality was in a superior position, the Mongolian language was officially promoted, and mastering the Mongolian language and writing was "a shortcut to entering the office", so many Han people were proud of being able to speak and write the Mongolian language.
Phags-pa script
"Zongtang retro" has become the atmosphere of the literary world, and the representative figures of poetry and prose have the "four masters" (Yu Ji, Jiejiesi, Yang Zai, Fan Ji), and Yang Weizhen, Zhang Zhu, Wang Mian, Zhang Kejiu, Sui Jingchen, etc. Famous prose writers include Yu Ji, Ouyang Xuan, Liu Guan, Xu Youren, etc., and southerners account for the majority. However, with the settlement of a large number of Mongols and Semu people in the Central Plains and the influence of Han culture, a number of accomplished literati with Chinese writing emerged among them, among which the famous ones were Matsuchang (Semu people), Sadura (people from the Western Regions, descendants of Arabia), Guan Yunshi (born in Gaochang Uighur Uighur nobles, grandfather Ali Hague was the founding general of the Yuan Dynasty), Yuxian (from the Qarlu tribe) and so on.
Six scripts compare the inscriptions
The popularity of multiple languages and the use of multiple languages led to the flourishing of translators and translated works, which was corresponded by the mutual influence of multiple languages and cultures.
This influence is two-way, not only did the Chinese language leave a large number of Chinese words that are still used today, but the Mongolian language also influenced the development of Chinese characters, such as:
(1) There are a considerable number of Mongolian words in Chinese, and some Mongolian words are also used in people's conversations;
(2) A peculiar style of translation has emerged, that is, the Mongolian hard translation of the Gong Mu style - the grammatical structure of the Mongolian language expresses the meaning in Chinese characters.
It has become quite popular to mix Mongolian words in conversation. In the miscellaneous dramas and loose songs of the Yuan Dynasty, Mongolian words often appeared, which is a reflection of this atmosphere.
Guan Hanqing's "Mrs. Deng Cries Bitterly and Remains Filial Piety", at the beginning Li Cunxin reads:
"Mihan swallows the whole pound, and the neighbor can't ride. Crossbow door and speed gate, how to shoot the bow and arrow. Saintarason, when he saw it, rushed to eat. Drinking Shata Eight, falling is sleeping. If you say my name, my family will not be able to remember. A pair of Kura children, both raised by dogs. ”
There is a dialogue between two generals in the anonymous miscellaneous drama "Valve Parade Dance Shooting Willow Hammer Pill":
"I can't ride Sain's neighbor, and I can't ride a crossbow gate. Hao Miha ate a few pieces, and Da Rasun drank five pots. Shata is not going to fight, and he is not going to kill the future. ”
At first glance, everyone will be confused, what is it talking about?
"Mihan" and "Miha" are transliterations of the Mongolian word migan (meat).
"抹邻"是morin(马)的音译
"弩门"是蒙语的弓(numun)
"Sain" is good (sain)
“答剌孙”“打剌孙”是酒（darasun）
“忽剌孩”是贼（hulagai）
"Soqtaba"(Soqtaba)喝醉了的 意 思
Yabu is a transliteration of the Mongolian word for "walk".
So, we know:
The poem in the previous paragraph says: "I can only drink wine and eat meat, I can't ride a horse and shoot arrows, and when I get drunk, I lie down, and we brothers are a pair of thieves." ”
The meaning of the latter verse is: "I can't ride a good horse, I can't shoot arrows, I eat a few pieces of good meat, I drink five pots of wine, and if I get drunk, I don't fight, and when the enemy kills me, I will run." ”
We know that the main audience of the Yuan Dynasty miscellaneous dramas were ordinary people mainly Han and Nanren, and these Mongolian words increased the comedy color of the drama. At the same time, it also shows that many Mongolian words have been familiar to the Han and Nanren audiences at that time.
2. Mongolian and Chinese have left traces of each other
According to the research of scholars, there are twenty or thirty Mongolian words that often appear in miscellaneous dramas and loose songs in the Yuan Dynasty, including the aforementioned words. Other Chinese texts of the Yuan Dynasty (inscriptions, legal documents, poems, etc.) also contain many Mongolian words. There should be more than 100 Mongolian words in various Chinese documents of the Yuan Dynasty, including the mood particle "Yemo Ge", which is common in Yuan Qu, which is also possible, which is rare in the history of Chinese development.
Some Mongolian words have been handed down and have actually become part of the Chinese language, such as "站", "Hutong" and "機shi".
"Station" is a transliteration of the Mongolian word jam, which has the same meaning as the ancient Chinese word for "驿", and some believe that jam comes from the Turkic word yam, which in turn is derived from the Chinese word "驿". The post station of the Ming Dynasty is the vocabulary of the combination of Han and Mongolia.
"Shoshi" is a transliteration of the Mongolian word baqshi, also known as "Baha" and "Baheshi", and baqshi comes from the Chinese "doctor". That is to say, this modern Chinese interpretation of the word "martial arts frame", which was borrowed from the Chinese language by the Mongolian language and then borrowed by the Chinese language.
The above two examples are borrowed back and forth between the two languages.
"Hutong" is the transliteration of the Mongolian language quduq, the original meaning is well, the Mongols used quduq to call the streets and alleys in the capital after entering the capital, and later generations continued to use it.
The Chinese language also has an influence on the Mongolian language, and the words "station" and "situation" can be traced back to "yi" and "doctor", which are typical examples. For example, the early Mongolian word "wosin" is a transliteration of the Chinese word for "lady". Many food-related words in Mongolian also come from Chinese: steamed buns, half soup, cakes, etc., as well as "window" and "carpenter", which are also borrowed from Chinese.
3. Multiple influences
To meet the needs of learning Xi and Mongolian languages, a Chinese-Mongolian character book also appeared during this period, called "Zhiyuan Translation" (also known as "Mongolian Translation"). It classifies common Mongolian words into 22 categories (such as "astronomy", "geography", "personnel", etc.), covering many aspects of social life. A number of basic words are listed under each gate, and each word is phonetized in Chinese characters, such as: "He: Mulian", "Cheng: Ba Rahesun", "Guanren: Nayan", etc. A total of 541 words were collected.
This "Zhiyuan Translation" is included in the "Shilin Guangji". "Shilin Guangji" is a kind of daily encyclopedia type of book, edited by Chen Yuanliang of the Southern Song Dynasty, and constantly revised and reprinted in the Yuan Dynasty, and has been widely circulated.
In addition to Mongolian, other ethnic languages have also entered Chinese. In an official document in July of the second year of Yuanzhen (1296), it was stated that there were people selling counterfeit medicines at the "Baza'er and Other People's Gathering Point" in Dadu (present-day Beijing). (Yuan Dynasty "General System Tiaoge", Volume 21, "Medicine")
"Bazar" is a transliteration of the Turkic word bazar, which originally meant bazaar, and is still used in modern Turkic languages. When we travel to Xinjiang, the must-go Internet celebrity check-in point is "Big Bazaar", and the actual origin of the word bazaar is this. Moreover, this word is found in official documents, which shows that it was very popular among the people in most cities at that time. The "Bazar" is believed to have been brought in by Turkic-speaking peoples who lived in the capital, although it is also possible that they were introduced through the Mongols.
4. Strange translation style
There is a peculiar phenomenon in the language and writing of the Yuan Dynasty, that is, the emergence of Mongolian hard translation style.
In the literature of the Yuan Dynasty, there are a large number of strange words and syntactic gongs, which can neither be explained by the written language of ancient Chinese, but also different from the pure spoken Chinese of the Yuan Dynasty. This is a group of official documents that have been mechanically translated from the original Mongolian language in disregard of the inherent grammatical rules and terminological Xi of the Chinese language. This style of writing was originally used specifically for translating official official scripts, so it was called the hard translation of official scripts.
The Holy Decree of the Phagspa
"The vocabulary of the hard translation style is taken from the colloquial Chinese of the Yuan Dynasty, but the grammar is Mongolian. A typical hard translation is equivalent to a record text in Chinese that rigidly follows the lexical and syntactic of Mongolian. ”
(Yi Linzhen: "Yuan Dynasty Hard Translation of Gong Mu Style", "Yuan History Essays" Series 1, Zhonghua Book Company, 1982 edition)
The emperors of the Yuan Dynasty all issued edicts of enthronement when they ascended the throne, and there were two versions of Mongolian and Han, and the existing Chinese versions of the emperors' enthronement edicts were all in elegant language, with the exception of this one, which was obviously translated directly from the Mongolian edict. This is the edict of Emperor Taiding's enthronement, a strange text that combines Mongolian grammar and Chinese characters:
Emperor Xue Chan took pity on his grandson, the eldest son of Emperor Yuzong, and my benevolent grandfather Gan Mala, and conferred the title of King Jin, and commanded Emperor Genghis to cut off his four ears, as well as military horses and Dada land. According to the holy decree of Emperor Xue Chan, be cautious, but if the army and horses do not choose any business, abide by the righteous path, and within a few years, the people will be in peace. Later, Emperor Wan Ze Du taught me to inherit the position, and I was entrusted with it. The big camp that has been entrusted to guard it, and set up two elder brothers, Emperor Qulu and Emperor Puyandu, and his nephew Emperor Shuode Bara. I am tired of the emperor's foundation, I don't seek dissent, I don't want to be ranked, and I work hard with the country according to my duty. Every brother and brother of the kings, and every brother of the people, also pay attention to them. Now my nephew emperor was born in the sky, what is the way, the ministers of the kings of the south, the kings and ministers of the army, and the people of Dada, everyone discussed, the big position should not be empty for a long time, but I am the descendant of Emperor Xue Chan, the eldest grandson of Emperor Yuzong, and there is a style of sitting together in the big rank, and there are no other brothers and brothers who are fighting. In this way, Yan drove in the meantime, compared with the rectification, the people's hearts are unpredictable, it is advisable to appease the people, so that the people of the world are at peace, long ago here to mention the top, from the hearts of everyone, on the fourth day of the first month of September, in the ears of Emperor Genghis, the big position also sat down. Whoever is at peace with the people, there is a book of forgiveness.
("History of the Yuan", Volume 29, "Taiding Emperor Ji I")
This edict was mechanically translated from the Mongolian edict, a typical hard-translated official document.
The "...... in the text The first sentence of the edict means: "The grandson of Emperor Xue Chan (Kublai Khan), the eldest son of Emperor Yuzong (the son of Kublai Khan), and my father Gan Mala was named King of Jin." ”
"I am tired of the emperor's foundation, do not seek dissent, do not seek rank" means that I did not think about anything wrong when I was the emperor of the dynasties, and I did not pursue status. The repeated occurrence of "...... in the text Shangtou" is also a translation of a postposition in Mongolian, meaning "because" and "due to".
At the end of the edict, it said: "The edict is available to everyone who is at peace with the people." It means to give the people peace of mind and issue an edict. “...... "Mo Dao" is a kind of antiphon of a special verb in Mongolian, which is placed after the quotation or the expression of a certain content. "Now my nephew emperor is born", that is, now my nephew emperor (referring to Yingzong) has passed away.
In fact, this kind of colloquial expression is relatively easy for us modern people to understand.
In addition to the above common Mongolian postpositions and verb translations, other words such as "goudang", "qili" and "rank" are also common words in the Mongolian hard translation official style.
This style of hard translation was originally limited to government documents and imperial edicts, but it was used more, and its influence gradually expanded, and many other types of written styles in the Yuan Dynasty also adopted this style.
For example, the "Straight Interpretation of the Book of Filial Piety" by Guan Yunshi, who is afraid of the vultures, used the hard translation of the Confucian classics to translate the Confucian classics and make them popular:
Example sentences: not arrogant, high but not dangerous, modest, full but not overflowing. High but not dangerous, so keep it for a long time. Full but not overflowing, so keep rich for a long time.
Hard translation style: Walking on people's heads, often walking the way of the heart. In this way, his own reputation is not far behind. The ambassador's money is not done, and he is careful to follow the law. In this way, it is like a bowl full of water, and I care about holding it in my hand, and I am not ashamed. These two things are often rich.
Similarly, the physicist Wu Cheng's "Lectures on the Feast: Emperor Fan Junde" can also clearly see the influence of the hard translation of the Gongzhu style:
Original text: The husband and the people are the foundation of the country, the country is the body of the king, and the body of the lord is like a mountain, high and immovable, like the sun and the moon, round and bright. Where Zhaoshu is supported, the world is admired...... Feng Xian thinks of filial piety, thinks of Gong in his position, and has been diligent in order to practice virtue and righteousness, which is the body of the king.
Hard translation of spoken language: Tang Taizong is the emperor of the Tang family, and he wrote this document by himself in order to teach the prince, saying that he is decent to be the emperor. For the leader, he said that he would be the emperor, which was the most important thing to cherish the people. The land is the foundation of the emperor, and the emperor is in charge of the world, which should be as tall as the mountains, like the sun and the moon. As the emperor, the people of the world look at it and follow it. If you do a good job, the people of the world are happy in their hearts. The deeds of the line do not stop, and the people of the world are disappointed...... Enshrine the ancestors of the top, so that the filial piety is born. Sitting in the big position, he is humble and reasonable, and he is not lazy. Pick the bottom and do your best, is this the decent way to be an emperor?
Guan Yunshi used a hard translation of the Gongzhu style to interpret the Chinese classic "The Book of Filial Piety", and Wu Cheng used it to interpret Tang Taizong's "Emperor Fan".
Guan Yunshi's "direct explanation" is a word-for-word translation, while Wu Cheng's "lecture notes" are similar to explanations, but the two are different, but the style used is the same. Guan Yunshi was a famous literati, and Wu Cheng was a famous scholar at that time, which shows that the ideological and cultural circles at that time did not reject this style of writing.
Guan Yunshi said that "direct interpretation" is to "take the words of the world" to explain the classics, "both husband and wife can know it...... At first, I didn't dare to set up for students." It shows that the hard translation of the official style has become very popular and accepted by the general public. This means that the use of this style has changed, and it was originally used exclusively for translating Mongolian edicts, and has since been widely used on many occasions.
5. Ending
In the mid-14th century, two Chinese textbooks appeared in Goryeo, one was "Pu Tongshi" and the other was "Lao Qida". In this kind of textbook for Korean people to learn Xi Chinese, there are also common words in Mongolian hard translation styles such as "Shangtou", "Gen Low (Di)", and "You". And not isolated examples, but everywhere.
It can be seen that the Mongolian Gongmu hard translation style not only had an impact on the written Chinese language at that time, but also had a great influence on the spoken language of the Han people at that time, so much so that it influenced the Chinese language Xi of the Korean people.
The edicts issued by Zhu Yuanzhang to the northern ethnic groups are sometimes still written in this style, such as the "Edict of Yuxi Fanhan Dongbili and Other Edicts" issued in June of the 11th year of Hongwu (1378). Since then, the genre has disappeared entirely.