lue kwanten
the lexicography of the hsi hsia (tangut) language ( )
Formed around the year 982 on the northwestern border of the Sung state (960-1272), the state of Hsi Hsia lasted for nearly 300 years and developed its own unique cultural tradition ; a tradition that remains a puzzle still today. On the basis of its occurrence in the Secret History of the Mongols (1) , the language and the people of the state are most frequently referred to as Tang%ud. This name is usually explained as being a Mongol plural of the first part of the Chinese name of the main ethnic group within that state, the Tang-hsiang. Although the etymology of the name has not yet been established, the Mongol explanation cannot be accepted. The name Tang\ud first occurs in the Turkic Orkhon inscriptions of the eight century and, in the eleventh century in Mahmud al-Kasjfari's Diwan Luvat at-Turk. In fact, al-Kasgari refers to the Tang^ud as "a tribe of Turks, they live near China"(2).
(*) Revised version of a paper presented at the 15th International Conference on Sino-Tibetan Languages and Linguistics, Beijing, People's Republic of China, August 1982. I wish to thank Prof. K.J. Weintraub, Dean of the Humanities, The University of Chicago, for assistance in attending this conference. (1) E. Haenisch, Die Geheime Geschichte der Mongolen, Leipzig, 1948, para. 265 ff. (2) Mahmud al-Kastfari, Compendium of Turkic Dialects (Diwan luyat at-Тйгк) , Vol. 2, ed. and transi., R. Dankoff, Sources of Oriental Languages and Literatures 7, (forthcoming). Talat Tekin, A Grammar of Orkhon Turkic, Bloomington, IN, 1968, p. 277 ff.
Cahiers de Linguistique Asie Orientale Vol. XIN°2Décembre 1982, pp. 55-57
