Redeeming the orphaned souls
Fragments of a Mongolian translation from Khara-khoto
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2768616 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Imre Galambos (0000-0002-2855-2275, Ningxia University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 87 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 519-532 |
| Publication date | 2024-10-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0041-977X • E-ISSN: 1474-0699 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0041977x24000387 |
| OpenAlex | W4403483006 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 10 |
In 1983 and 1984, archaeologists excavated at the ruins of Khara-khoto, Inner Mongolia, about 3,000 fragments of handwritten and printed texts from the Yuan period (1271-1368). The texts were chiefly written in Chinese and Tangut but also included a handful of other languages. Among a small group of texts in Mongolian were fragments of a woodblock-printed book with illustrations, using the Uyghur script. The content of the text, as well as the presence of a few interlinear Chinese characters, made it clear that this was a translation of a Chinese work, probably of Daoist content. Because the folios were incomplete, the narrative framework of the text could only be reconstructed partially, which is also why the source text has not been identified so far. This article locates Chinese versions of the story and identifies one of them as the closest to that used by the translator. This, in turn, helps to improve our interpretation of the Mongolian fragments and provide background information for understanding the context of the text's circulation in the Khara-khoto region. My primary aim here is to engage with the original Chinese story, rather than the translation and its place in Mongolian literature
Biology · Translation (biology) · Genetics · Linguistics and Cultural Studies · Linguistics and language evolution
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |