ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 3199 http://www.s-gabriel.org/3199 ************************************ 05 Jan 2007 From: Ursula Whitcher Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You said that you were interested in building a complex name for a Mongol man whose given name was and whose father's name was , , , , or . We'll begin by discussing your given name and the choices for your father's name, and then talk about ways to combine your name and your father's name into a more complex description. The most well-known was the fourth Ilkhan (the Ilkhanids were a Mongol dynasty which ruled much of the Middle East); he was the grandson of Hulagu, and great-grandson of Ghengis Khan. [1,15] Another ethnic Mongol, , was governor of Kandahar in the late fifteenth century. [2] Like many Mongol names, may be Turkic in origin. The eleventh century Seljuk ruler Alp Arslan had a son named , and may also have had a brother by the same name. (Here the colon indicates that the vowel is long; this is our standard alternative to writing a macron, or horizontal bar, above the vowel.) [3,4] Forms of the names , , , , and appear in the Secret History of the Mongols, a medieval Mongol work which survives in a version written in Chinese characters. More precise renderings of these names are , , , , and , respectively. (Here we've used the caret <^> to represent a small 'v' over the preceding letter, and the quotes <"> to represent an umlaut or pair of dots over the preceding letter.) [5,6,9] is another etymologically Turkic name; it was popular throughout much of the Middle East in your period. [7,14] We also found in the Latinized form in a thirteenth-century document. [8] In The Secret History, men are occasionally identified as their fathers' sons. In Middle Mongolian, this can be done by giving the father's name followed by a possessive suffix and the word 'son'. [9,10,13] Our knowledge of Middle Mongolian grammar is by no means complete, but we believe the following are the correct descriptions for each father's name you are interested in: [11,12,13] Arslan-u ko"begu"n Arghun Batu-yin ko"begu"n Arghun Qunan-u ko"begu"n Arghun Sac^a-yin ko"begu"n Arghun O"nggu"r-u"n ko"begu"n Arghun We hope this letter has been helpful. If any part of it is unclear, or if you have further questions, please don't hesitate to write to us again. Walraven van Nijmegen, Talan Gwynek, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Maridonna Benvenuti, and Arval Benicoeur assisted in researching and writing this letter. For the Academy, Ursula Georges 5 January 2007 References: [1] Encyclopaedia of Islam, (WWW: Koninklijke Brill NV, 2006), s.v. . http://www.brillonline.nl (requires subscription) [2] Encyclopaedia of Islam s.v. . [3] Lajos Bese, "Some Turkic Personal Names in the Secret History of the Mongols", Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae vol. 32 no. 3, pp. 353-369 (1978). [4] Encyclopaedia of Islam s.v. . [5] Heather Davenport, "Names from the Secret History of the Mongols", (WWW: Lao Hats, 1999-2006.) http://www.laohats.com/Names%20from%20The%20Secret%20History%20of%20the%20Mongols.htm [6] Baras-aghur Naran, "On the Documentation and Construction of Period Mongolian Names", (WWW: Academy of Saint Gabriel.) http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/baras-aghur/mongolian.html [7] Encyclopaedia of Islam s.v. . [8] Mari Elspeth nic Bryan, "Mongol Names in 13th Century Latin", (WWW: Academy of Saint Gabriel, 2000.) http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/mari/tartar/ [9] Igor de Rachewiltz, _The Secret History of the Mongols: A Mongolian Epic Chronicle of the Thirteenth Century_, (Leiden: Koninklijke Brill NV, 2004). [10] "The Secret History of the Mongols: Text, Translation, and Notes," (WWW: Lingua Mongolia, 2005). http://www.linguamongolia.co.uk/The%20Secret%20History%20of%20the%20Mongols.pdf [11] "Vowel Harmony", (WWW: Emyr Pugh, Lingua Mongolia, 2006). http://www.linguamongolia.co.uk/vhar1.html [12] "Case", (WWW: Emyr Pugh, Lingua Mongolia, 2006). http://www.linguamongolia.co.uk/case1.html [13] Luigi Kapaj, "Researching Mongol Names in the SCA", (WWW: The Silver Horde, 2004). http://silverhorde.viahistoria.com/main.html?research/ResearchingMongolNames.html [14] Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 3084. http://www.s-gabriel.org/3084 [15] Mehmet Eti, "Some hints to be learned about Ilkhanid coinage", (WWW: privately published.) http://mehmeteti.150m.com/ilkhanids/hpags-pa.htm