The Jurchen script (Jurchen:
![Jurchen script in Jurchen script](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fc/Jurchen_script_in_Jurchen_script.svg)
) was the writing system used to write the
Jurchen language, the language of the
Jurchen people
Jurchen (Manchu: ''Jušen'', ; zh, 女真, ''Nǚzhēn'', ) is a term used to collectively describe a number of East Asian Tungusic-speaking peoples, descended from the Donghu people. They lived in the northeast of China, later known as Manchu ...
who created the
Jin Empire in northeastern China in the 12th–13th centuries. It was derived from the
Khitan script, which in turn was derived from
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...
(
Han characters
Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are known as ''kanji' ...
). The script has only been decoded to a small extent.
The Jurchen script is part of the
Chinese family of scripts
The Chinese family of scripts are writing systems descended from the Chinese oracle bone script and used for a variety of languages in East Asia. They include logosyllabic systems such as the Chinese script itself (or ''hanzi'', now in two forms, t ...
.
History
![Bushell Juchen 21](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/df/Bushell_Juchen_21.jpg)
After the Jurchen rebelled against the
Khitan Liao dynasty
The Liao dynasty (; Khitan: ''Mos Jælud''; ), also known as the Khitan Empire (Khitan: ''Mos diau-d kitai huldʒi gur''), officially the Great Liao (), was an imperial dynasty of China that existed between 916 and 1125, ruled by the Yelü ...
and established the new
Jin dynasty in 1115, they were using the
Khitan script.
[Kane (1989), p. 3.] In 1119 or 1120,
Wanyan Xiyin
The Wanyan (; Manchu: ''Wanggiyan''; Jurchen script: ) clan was among the clans of the Heishui Mohe tribe living in the drainage region of the Heilong River during the time of the Khitan-led Liao dynasty. Of the Heishui Mohe, the clan was count ...
, the "chancellor" of the early
Jin Empire, acting on the orders of the first emperor,
Wanyan Aguda
Emperor Taizu of Jin (August 1, 1068 – September 19, 1123), personal name Aguda, sinicised name Min (), was the founder and first emperor of the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty of China. He was originally the chieftain of the Wanyan tribe, the most ...
, invented the first Jurchen script, known as "the large script".
[Franke (1994), pp. 31–34.]
The second version, the so-called "small script", was promulgated in 1138 by the Xizong Emperor,[ and said to have been created by the emperor himself.][ According to the ''Jin Shi'', in 1145 the small script characters were used officially the first time.][
There is no historical information about any original books that were written in Jurchen,][Jing-shen Tao, "The Jurchen in Twelfth-Century China". University of Washington Press, 1976, . Chapter 6. "The Jurchen Movement for Revival", Page 81.] but during the reign of Emperor Shizong of Jin (1161–1189) a large number of Chinese books were translated into Jurchen.[Tao (1976), pp 76–77.] The translation program started in 1164;[ among the translations were Confucian and Taoist classics, histories, and ]exam
An examination (exam or evaluation) or test is an educational assessment intended to measure a test-taker's knowledge, skill, aptitude, physical fitness, or classification in many other topics (e.g., beliefs). A test may be administered verba ...
study guides. However, not even a single fragment of any of the books survived.[
Most of the samples of the Jurchen writing available to modern researchers are epigraphic ones (those on monuments etc.), as well as a few short inscriptions on seals, mirrors, ceramics, graffiti, etc.][ A total of nine epigraphic inscriptions are known so far. The best known (and traditionally thought to be earliest of them) is the Jurchen inscription on the back of "the Jin Victory Memorial Stele" (, ''Dà Jīn déshèngtuó sòngbēi''), which was erected in 1185, during the reign of Emperor Shizong, in memory of ]Wanyan Aguda
Emperor Taizu of Jin (August 1, 1068 – September 19, 1123), personal name Aguda, sinicised name Min (), was the founder and first emperor of the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty of China. He was originally the chieftain of the Wanyan tribe, the most ...
's victory over the Liao. It is apparently an abbreviated translation of the Chinese text on the front of the stele.[Hoyt Cleveland Tillman, Stephen H. West,
''China Under Jurchen Rule: Essays on Chin Intellectual and Cultural History''. Published by SUNY Press, 1995. ]
Partial text
on Google Books. Pp 228–229 However, the undated inscription from Qingyuan (Kyŏngwŏn) in northern Korea is now thought to be older, surmised to have been created between 1138 and 1153. The only inscription dating from after the end of the Jin dynasty is the one on the stele erected in 1413 by the Ming
The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last orthodox dynasty of China ruled by the Han peop ...
eunuch admiral Yishiha
Yishiha (; also Išiqa or Isiha; Jurchen: ) (fl. 1409–1451) was a Jurchen eunuch of the Ming dynasty of China. He served the Ming emperors who commissioned several expeditions down the Songhua and Amur Rivers during the period of Ming rule of ...
on the Tyr Cliff, on the lower Amur River.
No paper or silk manuscripts in Jurchen were known[Kane (1989), p. 75–76.] until 1968, when a Jurchen manuscript was discovered by E.I. Kychanov among the Tangut papers in the Leningrad
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
branch of the Institute of Oriental Studies (now the ). It is written on two sheets of paper and dates to 1217. Writing in 1990, Herbert Franke (perhaps, not aware of ''Nüzhen zishu'', below) describes the Leningrad document as "unique" and not yet deciphered.[
Even more importantly, in 1979 Chinese scholars Liu Zuichang and Zhu Jieyuan reported the ground-breaking discovery of an eleven-page document in the Jurchen script in the base of a stele in ]Xi'an
Xi'an ( , ; ; Chinese: ), frequently spelled as Xian and also known by #Name, other names, is the list of capitals in China, capital of Shaanxi, Shaanxi Province. A Sub-provincial division#Sub-provincial municipalities, sub-provincial city o ...
's Stele Forest
The Stele Forest or Beilin Museum is a museum for steles and stone sculptures in Beilin District in Xi'an, Northwest China. The museum, which is housed in a former Confucian Temple, has housed a growing collection of Steles since 1087. By 194 ...
museum. This manuscript, containing 237 lines of Jurchen script (around 2300 characters), is thought to be a copy of ''Nüzhen zishu'' (, "Jurchen Character Book"), written by Wanyan Xiyin
The Wanyan (; Manchu: ''Wanggiyan''; Jurchen script: ) clan was among the clans of the Heishui Mohe tribe living in the drainage region of the Heilong River during the time of the Khitan-led Liao dynasty. Of the Heishui Mohe, the clan was count ...
himself soon after his invention of the large-character script. According to its discoverers, this manuscript was a type of textbook, a list of large-script characters, each one usually representing a complete word. This is different from the epigraphic inscriptions, which also contain phonetic symbols.[Kane (1989), pp. 8–9.]
The Jurchen script was apparently fairly widely known among Jurchens, which is attested by numerous graffiti (unfortunately, mostly illegible) left by Jurchen visitors in Bai Ta Pagoda in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia
Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. Its border includes most of the length of China's border with the country of Mongolia. Inner Mongolia also accounts for a ...
.
The Jurchen script must have become much less known after the destruction of the Jin dynasty by the Mongols, but it was not completely forgotten, because it is attested at least twice during the Ming dynasty
The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...
: on Yishiha
Yishiha (; also Išiqa or Isiha; Jurchen: ) (fl. 1409–1451) was a Jurchen eunuch of the Ming dynasty of China. He served the Ming emperors who commissioned several expeditions down the Songhua and Amur Rivers during the period of Ming rule of ...
's Tyr stele of 1413 and in a Chinese–Jurchen dictionary included in the multilingual "Chinese–Barbarian Dictionary" () compiled by the Ming Bureau of Translators ().
During the Yuan and Ming dynasty the Jurchen language continued to be spoken in Manchuria, where it later developed into the Manchu language
Manchu (Manchu:, ) is a critically endangered East Asian Tungusic language native to the historical region of Manchuria in Northeast China.
As the traditional native language of the Manchus, it was one of the official languages of the Qing dyn ...
. The latter, however, was written first in Mongolian script
The classical or traditional Mongolian script, also known as the , was the first writing system created specifically for the Mongolian language, and was the most widespread until the introduction of Cyrillic in 1946. It is traditionally writte ...
(1601),[Kane (1989), p. 99.] and later in a new Manchu script
The Manchu alphabet ( mnc, m=, v=manju hergen, a=manju hergen) is the alphabet used to write the now nearly-extinct Manchu language. A similar script is used today by the Xibe people, who speak a language considered either as a dialect of Ma ...
derived from the Mongolian script (1632),[ neither of which has any relation to the Jurchen script.
The last Jurchen inscription is dated to 1526.
]
Structure of the script
Jurchen script was based on the Khitan script, inspired in turn by Chinese character
Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the Written Chinese, writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are k ...
s. Apparently, both semantic and phonetic borrowing took place. Many Jurchen characters can be described as copies, or distorted copies, of Chinese and/or large-script Khitan characters with similar meaning; others apparently were derived from Chinese characters whose sound was similar to that of Jurchen words, without semantic connection.[Kane (1989) pp. 21–24] There seem to be few Jurchen characters whose shapes can be related to the Khitan small-character script; however, the idea of using phonetic symbols for grammatical endings
End, END, Ending, or variation, may refer to:
End
*In mathematics:
**End (category theory)
**End (topology)
**End (graph theory)
** End (group theory) (a subcase of the previous)
**End (endomorphism)
*In sports and games
** End (gridiron football ...
, for phonetics transcription of Chinese loanwords, or for writing words for which there were no special ideograms, may have been inspired by the Khitan small-character script.[
The Jurchen characters can be divided into two classes, according to their role:
* Ideographic characters, used to record either:
** a whole word (one to three, but usually two, syllables long), or
** the first one or two syllables of a word, to be followed by one or several phonetic symbols.
* Phonetic characters, usually recording a CV syllable, a Vn ending, or single vowel.][Kane (1989) pp. 25–28]
However, the boundary between the classes was not precise, as some ideographic characters were also used for their phonetic value as parts of other words.[
Comparing ]Wanyan Xiyin
The Wanyan (; Manchu: ''Wanggiyan''; Jurchen script: ) clan was among the clans of the Heishui Mohe tribe living in the drainage region of the Heilong River during the time of the Khitan-led Liao dynasty. Of the Heishui Mohe, the clan was count ...
's ''Nüzhen zishu'' with later inscriptions and Ming dynasty dictionaries, one can detect the direction of the writing system's development from ideographic to combined ideographic-phonetic. Many words originally written with a single character were later written with two or even three, the character originally designating the entire word being later used only for its beginning, and a phonetic character (or two) being used for the last one or two syllable(s),[Kane (1989) pp. 28–30]
Study of the script
Due to the scarcity of the surviving samples of Jurchen writing, it was often difficult to determine for the 19th-century (or sometimes even 20th-century) scholars, whether a given inscription was in the "large" or "small" Jurchen script, or whether it was in the Jurchen script at all. Thus, it was commonly thought in the 19th century by the Chinese and Western researchers that the ''Da Jin huang di doutong jinglüe langjun xingji'' () inscription represented the Jurchen large script until, in 1922, the Belgian missionary L. Ker discovered the Liao Imperial Tombs in Qingling, where this very script was used, in parallel with Chinese text, for the epitaph of Emperor Xingzong of Liao
Emperor Xingzong of Liao (3 April 1016 – 28 August 1055), personal name Zhigu, sinicised name Yelü Zongzhen, was the seventh emperor of the Khitan-led Liao dynasty of China.
Life
Yelü Zongzhen was the eldest son of Emperor Shengzong. He was ...
and Empress Renyi
An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother ( e ...
. Thus the Khitan script was discovered, and the Jin dynasty's ''Da Jin huangdi dotong jinglüe langjun xingji'' inscription, long thought to be written in the Jurchen script, turned out to be written in the (still undeciphered) Khitan script and, most likely, Khitan language
Khitan or Kitan ( in large script or in small, ''Khitai''; , ''Qìdānyǔ''), also known as Liao, is a now-extinct language once spoken in Northeast Asia by the Khitan people (4th to 13th century). It was the official language of the Liao Empir ...
, after all.[Kane (1989), pp. 4–6][Kane (1989) refers to the Khitan stele that originally was thought to be in Jurchen both as ''Da Jin huangdi dotong jinglüe langjun xingji'' (pp. 2, 13, 14) as ''Da Jin huangdi jinglüe langjun xingji'' (pp. 4, 5, 6, 10); apparently, he is talking about the same monument, and the latter name is simply a shorter form of the former]
The pioneering work on studies of the Jurchen script was done by Wilhelm Grube
Wilhelm Grube () (17 August 1855 – 2 July 1908) was a German sinologist and ethnographer. He is particularly known for his work on Tungusic languages and the Jurchen language.
Biography
Grube was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia in 1855. He ...
in the end of the 19th century.[ Herbert Franke, "The forest people of Manchuria: Khitans and Jurchens". A chapter in: ]Denis Sinor
Denis Sinor (born Dénes Zsinór, April 17, 1916 in Kolozsvár (Austria-Hungary, now Cluj-Napoca, Romania) – January 12, 2011 in Bloomington, Indiana) was a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Central Asian Studies at the Department of Ce ...
, "The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia". Published by Cambridge University Press, 1990.
Partial text
on Google Books. Page 422.
Jurchen small script
According to the ''History of the Jin Dynasty'' there were two different Jurchen scripts: a "large script" that was devised in 1120 by command of Wanyan Aguda
Emperor Taizu of Jin (August 1, 1068 – September 19, 1123), personal name Aguda, sinicised name Min (), was the founder and first emperor of the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty of China. He was originally the chieftain of the Wanyan tribe, the most ...
, the first emperor of the Jin dynasty; and a "small script" that was created in 1138 by the Emperor Xizong (r. 1135–1150), but which was first officially used in 1145.[Kiyose (1977), p. 22] However, all the extant examples of Jurchen writing, including the ''Sino-Jurchen Vocabulary of the Bureau of Interpreters'' (''Nǚzhēn Yìyǔ'', ) and various monumental inscriptions, are written in basically the same script, which is similar in form to the Khitan large script
The Khitan large script () was one of two writing systems used for the now-extinct Khitan language (the other was the Khitan small script). It was used during the 10th–12th centuries by the Khitan people, who had created the Liao Empire in nor ...
. Various theories have been suggested to account for the apparent lack of a Jurchen small script in the extant corpus of monumental inscriptions and manuscript texts.
Daniel Kane has suggested that the large and small Jurchen scripts are points on a single script continuum: the large script was the earliest form of the Jurchen script, as represented in the manuscript ''Jurchen Character Book'' (''Nǚzhēn Zìshū'', ) that was discovered in Xi'an
Xi'an ( , ; ; Chinese: ), frequently spelled as Xian and also known by #Name, other names, is the list of capitals in China, capital of Shaanxi, Shaanxi Province. A Sub-provincial division#Sub-provincial municipalities, sub-provincial city o ...
in 1979; and the small script was the later form of the Jurchen script, as represented on the ''Monument recording the names of successful candidates for the degree of jinshi'' (''Nüzhen jinshi timing bei'', ) and in the ''Sino-Jurchen Vocabulary''. The earlier and later forms of the script use basically the same set of characters, but whereas the characters in the ''Jurchen Character Book'' are largely logographic in nature, many of the characters in the ''Sino-Jurchen Vocabulary'' and monumental inscriptions have developed a phonetic function, and can thus be used to express grammatical endings. Kane considers the "large script" to refer to characters used as logograms, and the "small script" to refer to character used as phonograms.[Kane (1989), p. 10]
On the other hand, Aisin-Gioro Ulhicun
Aisin-Gioro Ulhicun (born 1958) is a Chinese linguistics, linguist of Manchu ethnicity who is known for her studies of the Manchu language, Manchu, Jurchen language, Jurchen and Khitan language, Khitan languages and scripts. She is also known a ...
believes that there were actually two separate Jurchen scripts, a "large" logographic script modelled on the Khitan large script, and a "small" phonographic script modelled on the Khitan small script
The Khitan small script () was one of two writing systems used for the now-extinct Khitan language (the other was the Khitan large script). It was used during the 10th–12th century by the Khitan people, who had created the Liao Empire in presen ...
. During the 1970s a number of gold and silver ''paiza
A paiza or paizi or gerege ( xng, Гэрэгэ, mn, Пайз, fa, پایزه ''pāiza'', ''páizi'') was a tablet carried by Mongol officials and envoys to signify certain privileges and authority. They enabled Mongol nobles and officials to dem ...
'' with the same inscription, apparently in the small Khitan script, were unearthed in northern China. Aisin-Gioro has analysed the inscription on these ''paiza'', and although the structure of the characters is identical to the Khitan small script she concludes that the script is not actually the Khitan small script but is in fact the otherwise unattested Jurchen small script. She argues that this small script was only used briefly during the last five years of the reign of its creator, Emperor Xizong, and when he was murdered in a coup d'état the small script fell out of use as it was less convenient to use than the earlier large script.
See also
* List of Jurchen inscriptions
The list of Jurchen inscriptions comprises a list of the corpus of known inscriptions written in the Jurchen language using the Jurchen script. There are ten monumental inscriptions, mostly dating to the Jin dynasty (1115–1234), but the late ...
*Sinicization of the Manchus
The Sinicization of the Manchus is the process in which the Manchu people became assimilated into the Han-dominated Chinese society. It had occurred most prominently during the Qing dynasty when attempts were made by the new Manchu rulers of Chi ...
References
Literature
* Herbert Franke, Denis Twitchett
Denis Crispin Twitchett (23 September 192524 February 2006) was a British Sinologist and scholar who specialized in Chinese history, and is well known as one of the co-editors of ''The Cambridge History of China''.
Biography
Denis Twitchett was b ...
, ''Alien Regimes and Border States, 907–1368''. ''The Cambridge History of China
''The Cambridge History of China'' is a series of books published by the Cambridge University Press (CUP) covering the history of China from the founding of the Qin dynasty in 221 BC to 1982 AD. The series was conceived by British historian Den ...
'', vol 6. Cambridge University Press, 1994. .
* Wilhelm Grube
Wilhelm Grube () (17 August 1855 – 2 July 1908) was a German sinologist and ethnographer. He is particularly known for his work on Tungusic languages and the Jurchen language.
Biography
Grube was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia in 1855. He ...
,
Die Sprache und Schrift der Jučen
'. Leipzig: Otto Harrassowitz, 1896
* Daniel Kane, ''The Sino-Jurchen Vocabulary of the Bureau of Interpreters''. (Uralic and Altaic Series, Vol. 153). Indiana University, Research Institute for Inner Asian Studies. Bloomington, Indiana, 1989. .
External links
Khitais and Jurchens as Seen from the Korean Peninsula
in the Ming Era: From the Nüzhenyiyu to the Yongningsibei
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jurchen Script
Jurchen script,
Obsolete writing systems