20:
166:, and so Zaytsev suggests that the book probably came from a Western Liao site. Furthermore, as the Khitan script was still used by the Kara-Khitans the book may have been written during the Western Liao (1124–1218) period rather than being a relic of the Liao dynasty brought west with the fleeing Khitans. Zaytsev notes the possibility that the book may have been discovered during excavations of the
181:, and the general consensus of those few scholars who were able to examine it was that it was probably written in the Jurchen script. Despite the probable importance of this manuscript, no research on it was published until 2010, when Zaytsev presented his initial findings on the language and script of the manuscript to the annual scientific session of the IOM.
208:
characters meaning "Great
Central Khitan State" are exactly the same as the first seven characters on the Memorial for the Princess of Yongning Commandery (Chinese 永寧郡公主), dated 1087. The era name Chongxi is attested on various Khitan large script memorial stones, and the 14th year of the Chongxi era is the 15th year of the reign of
260:
Not only is this the only complete Khitan manuscript text to have been discovered, but it is by far the longest example of any text written in the Khitan large script; indeed, its estimated length of approximately 15,000 characters (20 characters × 6 columns × 127 pages) is equivalent to that of the
248:
are known, but there are no surviving printed books in either Khitan script, and no
Chinese glossaries of the Khitan language. Until recently, the only known examples of Khitan text not inscribed on stone or portable artefacts were five Khitan large script characters recorded by Wang Yi 王易, who was
207:
in the Khitan large script have been identified and read. Zaytsev identified eight characters at the end of the 5th column of leaf 9 as meaning the date "Chongxi 14th year 2nd month", and seven characters at the start of the 6th column of the same leaf as meaning "Great
Central Khitan State". The
202:
Reading the manuscript is a great challenge, as not only is the Khitan large script largely undeciphered, but the manuscript text is written in a previously unattested cursive style of writing which makes it difficult to match the characters as written in the manuscript with the forms of characters
193:
of the Great
Central *hulʤi Khitan State.” He identifies this with a lost Liao text mentioned in Chinese records. At present the manuscript is mostly undeciphered and the content of the other texts is unknown. There are significant differences in vocabulary between the manuscript and known memorial
298:
With a few exceptions, the back of each folio in the manuscript is blank. Each quire consists of six folios, arranged into three pairs with the blank sides of adjacent folios facing each other. The leaves of the codex have been numbered sequentially by the IOM, but only the front page of most
86:
sewn together, one loose quire, and seven loose folios, in total 63½ folios (127 leaves), together with a piece of cloth cover with Khitan characters on it. The codex is enclosed in a brown leather binding of an
Islamic type, which may or may not be the original binding.
249:
sent as an envoy to the
Khitans in 1058, and which are reproduced in a mid 14th century book on calligraphy written by Tao Zongyi 陶宗儀. In 2002 a small fragment of a Khitan manuscript with seven Khitan large characters and interlinear glosses in
641:
Wang, Ding (2004). "Ch 3586 — ein khitanisches
Fragment mit uigurischen Glossen in der Berliner Turfansammlung". In Durkin-Meisterernst, Desmond; Raschmann, Simone-Christiane; Wilkens, Jens; Yaldiz, Marianne; Zieme, Peter (eds.).
150:
for identification and decipherment, and in
November 1954, it was sent from Moscow to the Department of Oriental Manuscripts of the IOS (later the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts) in Leningrad, where it has remained ever since.
125:
Each page of the manuscript has six ruled columns of text, each column comprising between 17 and 26 characters written in ink in cursive handwriting. Most of the manuscript appears to be written in a single hand.
772:
257:. Nova N 176 is therefore the only known example of a full-length manuscript text written in the Khitan language (in either of the two Khitan scripts) to have survived to the present day.
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35:
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as written on monumental inscriptions. To date, only some individual Khitan characters (e.g. "state" and "emperor") and two short stretches of text that correspond to text found on
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370:
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50:. The manuscript, of uncertain provenance, entered the collection of the IOM in 1954, and for more than fifty years nobody was able to identify with certainty what language or
328:"black", "hus" "strong", or be the unknown Khitan word for Liao. He transcribes the Khitan small script equivalent of this text as <GREAT t.iau.dû xu.rả qid.i gúr>.
782:
54:
the text of the manuscript was written in. It was only in 2010 that IOM researcher
Viacheslav Zaytsev was able to demonstrate that the manuscript is written in the
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In 2015 Zaytsev proposed that the manuscript comprises eight texts by multiple scribes, the largest of which is an historical text calling itself a “record of
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717:[Identification of a Khitan historical work as part of the Nova N 176 manuscript codex from the collection of the IOM RAS and related problems].
690:[A Manuscript Codex in the Khitan Large Script from the Collection of the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts, Russian Academy of Sciences].
714:Идентификация киданьского исторического сочинения в составе рукописной книги-кодекса Nova Н 176 из коллекции ИВР РАН и сопутствующие проблемы
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entire corpus of known monumental inscriptions written in the Khitan large script (given as 15,000 characters by Wu & Janhunen).
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The exact meaning and pronunciation of the Khitan word corresponding to the 4th and 5th characters are unknown.
212:, corresponding to the year 1045, indicating the manuscript cannot have been written any earlier than 1045.
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The earliest known location for the manuscript was the
Institute of Language, Literature and History of the
142:. At some unknown date (1954 or earlier) the manuscript was sent from the institute in Kyrgyzstan to the
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162:(also known as the Western Liao), founded by Khitans after the overthrow of the Liao Empire by the
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of Chinese manuscripts in the IOM (call number N 176, inventory number 1055), and comprises nine
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687:Рукописная книга большого киданьского письма из коллекции Института восточных рукописей РАН
667:
New Materials on the Khitan Small Script: A Critical Edition of Xiao Dilu and Yelü Xiangwen
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Turfan Revisited: The First Century of Research into the Arts and Cultures of the Silk Road
8:
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summarises the theories of various scholars that the corresponding two characters in the
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492:"The First Session of the Far Eastern Studies Seminar — Presentation by V.Zaytsev"
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Loose quire: 4½ folios (leaves 105–113). Missing one leaf between leaves 112 and 113.
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The manuscript was catalogued in the IOM collection as a manuscript written in the
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369:[Report on the annual scientific session of the IOM – 2010] (in Russian).
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58:, one of two largely undeciphered writing systems used for the now-extinct
391:"ILCAA Joint Research Project: New Trends in the Studies on Qidan Scripts"
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Undeciphered manuscript codex written in the Mongolian Khitan large script
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Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences
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Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences
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Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences
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Top line: Khitan text meaning "Great Central Khitan State"
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Top line: Khitan text meaning "Chongxi 14th year 2nd month"
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It is unknown where exactly the manuscript was found, but
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Bottom line: Corresponding Chinese translation (大中央□□契丹國)
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Bottom line: Corresponding Chinese translation (重熙十四年二月)
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174:(modern day Ak-Beshim in Kyrgyzstan) during 1953–1954.
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Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities
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Manuscripts written in undeciphered writing systems
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244:written in both the Khitan large script and the
121:7 loose folios (14 leaves, separately numbered).
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366:Отчет о ежегодной научной сессии ИВР РАН – 2010
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748:Article on the manuscript by V. P. Zaytsev
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490:Zaytsev, Viacheslav P. (28 October 2011).
669:. Corpus Scriptorum Chitanorum I. Brill.
253:was identified in the collection of the
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332:suggests that the Khitan word here is *
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62:during the 10th–12th centuries by the
23:Folio 9 of manuscript codex Nova N 176
78:The manuscript is stored in the Nova
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289:In Russian, фонд «Nova», шифр Н 176.
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115:Quire 9: 6 folios (leaves 93–104).
109:Quire 7: 5 folios (leaves 71–80).
100:Quire 4: 5 folios (leaves 37–46).
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112:Quire 8: 6 folios (leaves 81–92).
106:Quire 6: 6 folios (leaves 59–70).
103:Quire 5: 6 folios (leaves 47–58).
97:Quire 3: 6 folios (leaves 25–36).
94:Quire 2: 6 folios (leaves 13–24).
36:Institute of Oriental Manuscripts
725:(3): 167–208, 821–822, 850–851.
91:Quire 1: 6 folios (leaves 1–12).
711:Zaytsev, Viacheslav P. (2015).
684:Zaytsev, Viacheslav P. (2011).
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719:Acta Linguistica Petropolitana
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363:Vodneva, O. A. (2 June 2011).
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30:is an undeciphered manuscript
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692:Письменные памятники Востока
623:The Kitan Language and Script
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240:A relatively large number of
144:Institute of Oriental Studies
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778:Khitan language manuscripts
271:List of Khitan inscriptions
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40:Russian Academy of Sciences
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646:. Dietrich Reimer Verlag.
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158:is within the area of the
140:Soviet Academy of Sciences
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768:Central Asian manuscripts
763:Archaeology of Kyrgyzstan
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210:Emperor Xingzong of Liao
70:in north-eastern China.
205:monumental inscriptions
602:Wu & Janhunen 2010
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242:memorial inscriptions
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299:leaves has any text.
330:Aisin-Gioro Ulhicun
314:Khitan small script
246:Khitan small script
160:Kara-Khitan Khanate
56:Khitan large script
604:, pp. 136–137
580:, pp. 169–170
556:, pp. 143–146
529:, pp. 162–165
466:, pp. 130–131
454:, pp. 147–148
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66:, who founded the
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676:978-1-906876-50-0
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340:"state, people".
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179:Jurchen language
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739:External links
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721:(in Russian).
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499:. Retrieved
476:Zaytsev 2015
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464:Zaytsev 2011
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374:. Retrieved
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316:could mean *
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236:Significance
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198:Decipherment
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34:held at the
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310:Daniel Kane
74:Description
68:Liao Empire
757:Categories
611:References
501:2012-02-04
376:2012-02-04
320:"state", *
251:Old Uyghur
156:Kyrgyzstan
28:Nova N 176
731:2306-5737
704:1811-8062
626:. Brill.
590:Wang 2004
578:Kane 2009
566:Kane 2009
527:Kane 2009
348:Footnotes
338:Mongolian
168:Silk Road
146:(IOS) in
665:(2010).
620:(2009).
265:See also
170:city of
164:Jurchens
191:Khagans
185:Content
138:of the
130:History
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148:Moscow
84:quires
52:script
48:Russia
334:hulʤi
318:hulus
277:Notes
172:Suyab
80:fonds
32:codex
727:ISSN
700:ISSN
671:ISBN
648:ISBN
628:ISBN
326:kara
322:hala
324:~ *
42:in
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723:XI
546:^
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482:^
355:^
46:,
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
