George N. Roerich’s contribution to the history of Mongolian studies

The study is the first to analyze the works of Tibetologist and historian of the East Yu.N. Roerich (1902-1960), dedicated to the history of the development of the Mongolian Studies. The results of his research into Tibetan and Mongolian chronicles dedicated to the activities of the Buddhist scholar Choydzhi-odser are updated. Roerich established the year of birth of Choydzhi-odser (1214) and confirmed the previously expressed opinion of the Russian Mongolian scholar B.Ya. Vladimirtsov and the French orientalist P. Pelliot that Choydzhi-odser did not create a new Mongolian script. However, Choydzhi-odser did a great deal of grammatical and philological work in translating Buddhist texts into Mongolian. Roerich considered his work innovative, and the contribution of this scholar to the development of the Mongolian language and Mongolian-Tibetan cultural ties was significant. He attached great importance to Choiji-odser’s work as an author and translator. In the study analyzes Roerich’s works devoted to the development of the Tibetan-Mongolian and Mongolian-Tibetan interlingual connections. It has been established that Roerich traced the stages of formation of the Mongolian literary language, its close connection with the translation work of Tibetan Buddhist texts, and also traced how the composition of borrowed Tibetan words in the Mongolian language changed. For the development of Mongolian studies, the works of Yu.N. Roerich are relevant and significant. Modern Mongolian scientists not only study them, but also use them in their scientific work. Roerich’s Tibetan-Russian-English dictionary was highly appreciated in Mongolia for his work on compiling Tibetan-Mongolian dictionaries

Asian studies · Buddhism · Central asia · Orientalism · Philology · Eurasian Exchange Networks · Linguistics and Cultural Studies · Rangeland Management and Livestock Ecology