The Ming Sino-Foreign Glossary of 1389
A Ming court glossary of spoken Mongolian in Chinese characters, with sample letters, compiled in 1389.
Full title Sino-Foreign Glossary (Sino-Mongolian vocabulary and documents in Chinese transcription), 1389
華夷譯語
Huo Yuanjie and Mashaikh (Hongwu court translators)
The Hongwu court translators Huo Yuanjie and Mashaikh compiled this Sino-Mongol vocabulary in 1389, writing Mongolian words in Chinese characters with Chinese glosses, together with sample Mongol letters addressed to the Ming court. It records the speech of the Mongols after the fall of the Yuan dynasty. The card lists a Peking University Library copy in 6 volumes and Mostaert's 1977 edition. The atlas holds only a small, poor-quality machine reading (OCR) of part of the Chinese scan, and no passages were read for this guide.
- How they knew
- Official record
- Who “Tartar” means here
- Not recorded. The card names the Northern Yuan Mongols. In Ming usage generally the Chinese word Dada (Tatar) meant the eastern Mongols, but whether this glossary uses it is not recorded.
- Why read it
- It is a linguistic anchor for reading Mongol names in Ming sources, showing how Ming officials wrote the language of their northern neighbours.
- Watch out
- Several later Ming glossaries circulate under the same title, so the title page must be checked to confirm that this is the 1389 work. The edition of the Peking copy is unknown.
What it says
No quotes from this one yet. Its text is out of reach for now, or the scan could not be read.
The fine print
How we know
compilation Assembled from earlier sources. The author did not observe it directly.
official Ming translation office compilation of Mongolian vocabulary and sample Mongol letters, transcribed with Chinese characters
Research notes
- Several later 'Huayi yiyu' compilations (Siyi guan vocabularies of the 15th-16th c.) circulate under the same title; confirm on the title page that this is the 1389 Hongwu glossary. Attribution of the Peking copy's edition unknown.
Why it matters
Earliest Ming record of Mongolian as spoken by the post-Yuan Mongols, with documents addressed to the Ming court; a linguistic anchor for reading Mongol names in Ming sources.
Places named
Mongolia; Ming northern frontier
Peoples named
Northern Yuan Mongols; Ming