Ruanruan language

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Ruan-ruan (Chinese: 蠕蠕; also called Rouran) is an unclassified extinct language of Mongolia and northern China, spoken in the Rouran Khaganate from the 4th to the 6th centuries CE.

Peter A. Boodberg claimed in 1935 that the Ruan-ruan language was Mongolic by analysing Chinese transcriptions of Ruan-ruan names.[1] Alexander Vovin noted that Old Turkic had borrowed some words from an unknown non-Altaic language that may have been Ruan-ruan,[2] arguing that if so, the language would be non-Altaic language, unrelated to its neighbours and possibly a language isolate, though evidence was scant.[1] He had previously suggested Ruan-ruan could be related to the Yeniseian languages.[3][not in citation given][4] In 2013, Atwood notes that Rourans calqued the Sogdian word pūr "son" into their language as *k’obun (Chinese transliteration: 去汾 MC *kʰɨʌH-bɨun > Mandarin qùfén); which, according to Atwood, is cognate with Middle Mongol kö'ün "son".[5] In 2019, with the emergence of new evidence through the analysis of the Brāhmī Bugut and Khüis Tolgoi, Vovin changed his view, suggesting Ruan-ruan was, in fact a Mongolic language, close but not identical to Middle Mongolian.[6] Pamela Kyle Crossley (2019) wrote that the Rouran language itself has remained a puzzle, and leading linguists consider it a possible isolate.[7]

Phonology

Features of Ruan-ruan included:[1]

  • no mid vowels
  • initial l-
  • final consonantal cluster -nd

Morphology

Ruan-ruan had the feminine gender suffix -tu-.[1]

Lexicon

Ruan-ruan vocabulary included:[1][8]

  • küskü – 'rat'
  • ud – 'ox'
  • luu – 'dragon' < Middle Chinese luŋ – 'dragon'
  • yund – 'horse' < Old Turkic: 𐰖𐰆𐰣𐱃 - 'horse'[9]
  • laγzïn – 'pig'
  • qaγan – 'emperor'
  • qan – 'khan'
  • qaγatun – 'empress'
  • qatun – 'khan's wife'
  • aq – 'dung'
  • and – 'oath' < Old Turkic: 𐰦 'oath'
  • beg – 'elder'
  • bitig – 'inscription'
  • bod – 'people'
  • drö – 'law'
  • küǰü – 'strength'
  • ordu – 'camp'
  • tal- – 'to plunder'
  • törö – 'to be born'
  • türǖg – 'turk'

References

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  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Vajda, Edward J. (2013). Yeniseian Peoples and Languages: A History of Yeniseian Studies with an Annotated Bibliography and a Source Guide. Oxford/New York: Routledge.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Alexander Vovin, (2019), A Sketch of the Earliest Mongolic Language:the Brāhmī Bugut and Khüis Tolgoi Inscriptions, p. 162-197
  9. ↑ Clauson, Gerard (1972), “yunt”, in An Etymological Dictionary of pre-thirteenth-century Turkish, Oxford: Clarendon Press, page 946
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