国立情報学研究所 - ディジタル・シルクロード・プロジェクト
『東洋文庫所蔵』貴重書デジタルアーカイブ

253. HORIAT

boriat R horiath P oriach VA
buat o oriat TA¹ orati VL oriat (TA¹,) VB
horiad FA, FB oriac(?) LT ouat TA²
horiat F, L

This is the reading of F; RAMUSIO has « Boriat »; no parallel passage in Z. Since PAUTHIER
(Pa, 226) and YULE (Y, I, 308), it has been admitted that « Horiat » means the Oïrat, a Mongol
tribe which appears already in Chinghiz-khan's history and which, much later, and in much altered
conditions, gave its name to the Oïrat, or Kalmuk, or Western Mongols. Plan Carpine writes
« Voyrat » (Wy, 56, 88). According to Rašīdu-'d-Dīn, the Oïrat had their seat, when Mongol
history begins, in the region of the Käm River, that is to say the Yenissei. But there are some
difficulties about « Horiat ».

The Mongolian form, from the Secret History of 1240 down to late chronicles, is Oyirat, and,
in § 239 of the Secret History, « Tümän Oyirat », « Ten-thousand Oyirat », which is only one of the
numerous cases when a fixed number became attached to the name of a Turkish or Mongol tribe
(the same chronicle knows the « Ten-Thousand Tübägän », a branch of the Kerait; the « Ten-
Thousand Kirghiz »; etc.). Rašīdu-'d-Dīn writes اویرات Oïrat; the Chinese transcriptions vary
from 猥 剌 Wei-la (YS, I, 6 a; not « Ta-shi Wei-la » as in Br, II, 160) and 斡 亦 剌 Wo-i-la = Oyirat
(YS, I, 6 b) to the ethnic 瓦 剌 歹 Wai-la-tai (YS, 43, 3 b) or 外 剌 歹 Wai-la-tai (Cho-keng lu,
I, 15 b), i. e. Oiradai; in Ming times, the Oïrat are called in Chinese 瓦 剌 Wa-la, not a very accurate
transcription.

From all these forms and transcriptions, it is clear that there has never been, in the pronun-
ciation of the Mongol period, an h- at the beginning of the word. On the other hand, this is the
only proper name beginning with h- in F, and RAMUSIO has a b-.

Apart from the name, Polo says that the Horiat are the only ones, outside of the Imperial
family, to be allowed to drink the milk of the Imperial white mares, which must be the caracosmos
(< = *caracomos, qara-qumiz) of Rubrouck. But nothing, in the texts we know, corroborates
Polo's statement. The tribe hereditarily in charge of the Imperial mares was the Qipčaq, of
Turkish origin (cf. JA, 1920, I, 169-171). As to the privilege of drinking milk otherwise reserved
to the Imperial family, we would expect rather, as PALLADIUS said, the name of the Qonyrat or
Onggirat (see « Ungrac »), to whose tribe most of the first rank Empresses belonged. No victory
of Chinghiz-khan is particularly associated with the Oïrat. One family of Oïrat married princesses,
the Yen-an princesses of YS, 109, 2 b, but so also, apart from the Onggirat, did other tribes, for
instance the Öngüt (see « Unc »).

In spite of these objections, I have no better solution to propose for the present. To read
« Boriat » with RAMUSIO would not help, as the Buriat are practically unknown in Mongol history