by Mark
The Mongolian language has a fascinating history. It is part of the Altaic language group, other languages in this family are Japanese, Korean and Turkish, I have also heard that Finnish has some relation but not clear exactly how it fits.
The alphabet as is used now in Mongolia is Cyrillic or commonly known as Russian (see the title above). It was an alphabet created by monks working to translate the Bible into Slavic languages sometime in the first Millennium. There are some letters that correspond to Greek, such as X chi- more of an aspirated back palatal (for those of you who are into those things) As in the Spanish pronunciation of Mexico, the X is the same sound. The Cyrillic alphabet was applied to Mongolia in 1924 when Mongolia became the first Soviet Satellite. The Soviet method of contextualization was pretty straight forward- Be Russian. (about 80% of Mongolians speak Russian, Darhan was built by the Russians. In fact it may help you to think of Russia and Mongolia in similar relationship of the US and Mexico. Many Russians shop here because its cheaper and many Mongolians work in Russia in order to make more money than the can in Mongolia)
Classical Mongolian from a Mongolian language grammar- the first word (top) is Mongol or Mongolian
On the one hand Mongolia is a literate society with literacy rate in the 90% (I can’t remember exactly- check Wikipedia if it bothers you). There are beautiful Mongolian poems and songs and literature available in Mongolian. On the other hand Mongolia is still a very oral driven society- meaning it is not a book based society. People read, but not to the extent that I have seen in Europe or the US. In some ways to counter this I see music and song, ballad type songs playing much more important role here than the West. A man who has a beautiful voice and can sing well has great honor here. (I need to find another way to be honorable) The nomadic lifestyle did not necessitate books and it was only after Chinggis Khan started conquering that he saw the great need to record the conquests in written form. This brings us to Hochin Beetchik or the Old Writing. Which I will say straight out I am fascinated in a Lord of the Rings, elven writing- how cool is that way. (Warning Rabbit Trail: Many Scandinavian countries noticed similarities between Mongolian writing and Nordic ruins- what Tolkien used. They organized many expeditions through Mongolia to see if there were links that could be established, there were not) The calligraphy of Classic Mongolian is a thing of beauty and quite unlike any other alphabet I have seen.
Our Names in Classic Mongolian
Chinggis needed a writing system and so two Syriac monks came up with the alphabet, you can see the examples below. It looks much like Arabic to me and seeing the influence of the monks background it is no coincidence. (I have heard conflicting stories as to the origin of the alphabet and reserve the right to be wrong) The earliest writing in this style dates back to 1227, it is classed as the Sogdo-Uighur alphabet. I have heard that each word reflects the image of a horse, with its ears at the start of the word and tail flowing at the back. Its interesting that it is written vertically (like Chinese)but also read horizontally.
The difficulty is that Cyrillic was not an exact match to the sounds. There are Russian sounds that there is no equivalent in Mongolian. (the whole evolution of this language would be fascinating- we learn just as many Russian words in vocabulary as Mongolian. The word that is used is usually whatever is shorter- good Doctoral thesis right there)
The old writing is used in Inner Mongolia- part of China, but I have heard different comments on who can actually read it. Schools are teaching the old writing now to students and in time I think it will become more promanint in Mongolia. There was supposed to be an “official” return to old writing at the 800th Anniversary of Mongolia but it was pushed back. Our teachers know the classic writing and I would like to study it a bit but that is far into the future (I need to learn first how to say something more than- “my name is Postage Stamp [that’s what Mark means in Mongolian but its ok I met a guy the other day named Mahlgai, or Hat]” Its surprising but your computer has the ability to write in Classic Mongolian and Cyrillic, you can change it under the control panel section.
For more information or to see what the alphabet looks like check out these two Wiki articles
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14 comments
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November 15, 2008 at 12:07 pm
E. Heredia
Absolutely fascinating! I love how Tolkien fit in there so seamlessly!
So, when you are in language lessons now, are you using both alphabets?
January 14, 2010 at 11:46 pm
wayne
heyyy i need to now how to write wayne my name in mongolian becouse is fantastic!!….if it is possible can some one write it for me and post it as an attachmen photo please
January 15, 2010 at 12:52 pm
mongoliawoods
Sorry- we are not able to write names in Mongolian writing. Wayne is especially difficult because there is no “W.” Maybe in a year or two we can- check back.
November 15, 2008 at 9:06 pm
Donald K Wood
Not bad for a kid who had trouble with Spanish, but come to think of it, you are a linguistic genius….English, Spanish when you want to talk to some one in it, Greek and Hebrew, and now some Russian via Mongolian and then the Classic stuff. Couldn’t be prouder. dad
November 16, 2008 at 6:15 pm
Cinda
Beth,
We don’t use the classic writing, its sometimes used on TV but for the most part Cyrillic is more practical for everyday use. At the end of language study we may spend some time studying it. Knowing it helps to explain several grammar rules that we just have to accept now without understanding why.
Dad- I’d have to say that without divine intervention on a regular basis the language doesn’t happen!
July 2, 2009 at 5:29 pm
dolugen
Hi, Mark,
An interesting view on Mongolia and Mongolian classic script. Although “the “official” return was pushed back”, minority of Mongolians are still trying to revive the use of the script in many ways.
July 2, 2009 at 5:31 pm
dolugen
And by the way, it would be better to call the script “Mongolian Classic Script” rather than “the old script” 🙂
July 2, 2009 at 8:52 pm
mongoliawoods
Dolugen, good points, we have learned more since writing this post. Many refer to it simply as “Mongolian” writing vs. “Cyrillic” writing- nothing old about it. Looking forward to learning a bit more about it. We have been able to purchase a few books that have the same story in both scripts which will help in study, thanks for the comments!
July 3, 2009 at 10:45 am
dolugen
It would be interesting if you write more about your progress on learning Mongolian Script, thanks 😉
October 31, 2010 at 10:13 am
khumbaa
how would you write зориг in old mongolian?
im having a bit trouble with it.
November 1, 2010 at 1:11 pm
mongoliawoods
Although my wife is studying the writing now, however I can’t give you any guidance on it, sorry.
December 28, 2011 at 12:03 pm
Nk
Hi, I was wondering if you can write these names in huuchin mongol please,: Enhsaihan, Mendsaihan Bayrmaa, Bold… Thanks!
January 5, 2012 at 2:09 pm
PuppyKhan
The handwriting on those names looks awfully familiar. Did you get them done at a festival at Rutgers last year?
We offer professional calligraphy services, but here’s some help if you want to learn yourself: http://silverhorde.viahistoria.com/research/UighurScript.html
BTW – The similarity with Arabic is due to both being derived from a common origin. I’ve also read that some scholars hypothesize that European Runic scripts could have an origin in Orkhon (Turkic Runes) via the Huns, but no substantiating proof exists.
I’ve met Mongolians in China who knew the Classical Mongol Script, but not Cyrillic, and so my knowledge of the script came into practical use at one point when my pronunciation failed badly.
January 5, 2012 at 2:28 pm
mongoliawoods
The script was written by our teacher here in Mongolia back in 2008. Interesting thought on the common origins, thanks for reading.
Nk- Sorry writing in the Mongolian script is a skill I don’t have. I was hoping to study it and perhaps some day with more time I will.