Classical Mongolian was the literary language of Mongolian that was first introduced shortly after 1600, when
Ligdan Khan set his clergy the task of translating the whole of the
Tibetan Buddhist canon, consisting of the
Kangyur and
Tengyur, into Mongolian. This script then became the established writing system used for all Mongolian literature until the 1930s when the
Mongolian Latin alphabet was introduced, which then in 1941 was replaced by the
Mongolian Cyrillic alphabet.
Classical Mongolian was formerly used in
Mongolia
Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...
,
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
, and
Russia
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
. It is a standardized written language used in the 18th century and 20th centuries.
''Classical Mongolian'' sometimes refers to any language documents in
Mongolian script
The traditional Mongolian script, also known as the Hudum Mongol bichig, was the first Mongolian alphabet, writing system created specifically for the Mongolian language, and was the most widespread until the introduction of Cyrillic script, Cy ...
that are neither Pre-classical (i.e.
Middle Mongol in the
Mongolian script
The traditional Mongolian script, also known as the Hudum Mongol bichig, was the first Mongolian alphabet, writing system created specifically for the Mongolian language, and was the most widespread until the introduction of Cyrillic script, Cy ...
) nor
modern Mongolian.
[e.g]
Linguist List entry for Classical Mongolian
See also
*
Middle Mongolian
References
Sources
*
*
Mongolic languages
Extinct languages of Asia
Mongolian, Classical
Sacred languages
Languages attested from the 17th century
Languages extinct in the 1900s
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