Ruanruan language

Ruanruan (Chinese: 蠕蠕), also called Rouran (Chinese: 柔然), is an unclassified extinct language of Mongolia and northern China, spoken in the Rouran Khaganate from the 4th to the 6th centuries AD, considered a likely early precursor to Mongolic.[1]

Ruan-ruan
Native toRouran Khaganate
RegionMongolia and northern China
Era4th century AD – 6th century AD
Language codes
ISO 639-3None (mis)
GlottologNone

Peter A. Boodberg claimed in 1935 that the Ruanruan language was Mongolic by analysing Chinese transcriptions of Ruan-ruan names.[2] Atwood (2013) 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".[3] Alexander Vovin noted that Old Turkic had borrowed some words from an unknown non-Altaic language that might have been Ruan-ruan,[4] arguing that if so, the language would be non-Altaic, unrelated to its neighbours and possibly a language isolate, though evidence was scant.[2] 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.[1] Pamela Kyle Crossley (2019) wrote that the Rouran language itself has remained a puzzle, and leading linguists consider it a possible isolate.[5]

Phonology

Features of Ruan-ruan included:[2]

  • no mid vowels
  • presence of initial l-
  • final consonantal cluster -nd unusual for any "Altaic" languages

Morphology

Ruan-ruan had the feminine gender suffix -tu-.[2]

Lexicon

Ruan-ruan vocabulary included:[2][1]

  • küskü – 'rat'
  • ud – 'ox'
  • luu – 'dragon' < Middle Chinese luŋ – 'dragon'
  • yund – 'horse' < Old Turkic: 𐰖𐰆𐰣𐱃, romanized: yunt - 'horse'[6]
  • laγzïn – 'pig'
  • qaγan – 'emperor'
  • qan – 'khan'
  • qaγatun – 'empress'
  • qatun – 'khan's wife'
  • aq – 'dung'
  • and – 'oath' < Old Turkic: 𐰦, romanized: ant 'oath'
  • beg – 'elder'
  • bitig – 'inscription'
  • bod – 'people'
  • drö – 'law'
  • küǰü – 'strength' < Old Turkic: 𐰚𐰇𐰲, romanized: küč 'strength, power'
  • ordu – 'camp'
  • tal- – 'to plunder'
  • törö – 'to be born'
  • türǖg – 'Turk'

References
  1. Vovin, Alexander (2019). "A Sketch of the Earliest Mongolic Language: the Brāhmī Bugut and Khüis Tolgoi Inscriptions". International Journal of Eurasian Linguistics. 1 (1): 162–197. doi:10.1163/25898833-12340008. ISSN 2589-8825. S2CID 198833565.
  2. Vovin, Alexander (3–5 December 2010). "Once Again on the Ruanruan Language". Ötüken'den İstanbul'a Türkçenin 1290 Yılı (720–2010) Sempozyumu From Ötüken to Istanbul, 1290 Years of Turkish (720–2010).
  3. Christopher P., Atwood (2013). "Some Early Inner Asian Terms Related to the Imperial Family and the Comitatus". Central Asiatic Journal. Harrassowitz Verlag. 56: 49–86.
  4. Vovin, Alexander (2004). "Some thoughts on the origins of the old Turkic 12-year animal cycle". Central Asiatic Journal. 48 (1): 118–132. ISSN 0008-9192.
  5. Crossley, Pamela Kyle (2019). Hammer and Anvil: Nomad Rulers at the Forge of the Modern World. p. 49.
  6. Clauson, Gerard (1972). "yunt". An Etymological Dictionary of pre-thirteenth-century Turkish. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 946.
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