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| The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.1 |
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Citation Information
| CHAP. XV. MONGOL LANGUAGES | 29 |
| l'Époque Mongole, this latter is, by permission, here reproduced.) The Chinese and Mongol inscriptions have been translated by M. Ed. Chavannes ; the Tibetan by M. Sylvain Lévi (jour. Asiat., Sept.- Oct. 1894, pp. 354-373) ; the Ufghír, by Prof. W. Radloff (Ibid. Nov.-Dec. 1894, pp. 546, 55o) ; the Mongol by Prof. G. Huth. (Ibid. Mars-Avril 1895, pp. 351-360.) The sixth language was supposed by A. Wylie (J. R. A. S. vol. xvii. p. 331, and N.S., vol. v. p. 14) to be Neuchih, Niuché, Niuchen or Jucken. M. Devéria has shown that the inscription is written in Si Hia, or the with a translation of the Chinese text, engraved on the reverse side of the slab. M. The orders of the Great Kaan are stated to have been published habitually in six languages, viz., Mongol, Ufghúr, Arabic, Persian, Tangutan (Si-Hia), and Chinese. H. Y. and H. C. Gházán Khan of Persia is said to have understood Mongol, Arabic, Persian, something of Kashmiri, of Tibetan, of Chinese, and a little of the Frank tongue (probably French). The annals of the Ming Dynasty, which succeeded the Mongols in China, mention the establishment in the I i th moon of the 5th year Yong-lo (1407) of the Sse yi kwan, a linguistic office for diplomatic purposes. The languages to be studied were Niuché, Mongol, Tibetan, Sanskrit, Bokharan (Persian ?) Ufghúr, Burmese, and Siamese. To these were added by the Manchu Dynasty two languages called Papeh and Pehyih, both dialects of the S.W. frontier. (See infra, Bk. II. ch. lvi.-lvii., and notes.) Since 1382, however, official interpreters had to translate Mongol texts ; they were selected among the Academicians, and their service (which was independent of the Sse yi kwan when this was created) was under the control of the Han-lin yuen. There may have been similar institutions under the Yuen, but we have no proof of it. At all events, such an office could not then be called Sse yi kwan (Sse yi, Barbarians from four sides) ; Niuché (Niuchen) was taught in Yong-lo's office, but not Manchu. The Sse yi kwan must not be confounded with the Hui l'ong kwan, the office for the reception of tributary envoys, to which it was annexed in 1748. (Gaubil, p. 148 ; Gold. Horde, 184 ; Ilc han. II. 147 ; Lockhart in./ R. G. S. XXXVI. 152 ; Koeppen, II. 99 ; G. Devéria, Hist. du Collége des Intezprétes de Peking in 11lélançes Charles de Harlez, pp. 94-102 ; MS. Note of Prof. A. Vissière ; The Tangut Script in the Nan-IC ou Pass, by Dr. S. W. Bushell, China Review, xxiv. II. pp. 65-68.)—H. Y. and II. C. Pauthier supposes Mark's four acquisitions to have been Bdshßalz-Mongol, Arabic, Ukhzír, and Chinese. I entirely reject the Chinese. Sir H. Yule adds : " We shall see no reason to believe that he knew either language or character " [Chinese]. The blunders Polo made in saying that the name of the city, Suju, signifies in our tongue " Earth " and Kinsay " Heaven " show he did not know the Chinese char- acters, but we read in Bk. II. ch. lxviii. : " And Messer Marco Polo himself, of whom this Book speaks, did govern this city (Yanju) for three full years, by the order of the Great Kaan." It seems to me [II.C.] hardly possible that Marco could have for three years been governor of so important and so Chinese a city as Yangchau, in the | |
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