A Sample of a Khitan–English–Chinese Wordlist with Etymological Remarks: Letters A and B

ABSRACT The paper offers a sample of a Khitan–English–Chinese Wordlist in preparation by scholars from the People’s Republic of China and Hungary. After a preface on general questions, it deals with the glyphs beginning with a-and b-in the Khitan Small Script. This is followed by Khitan words beginning with the first two letters of the Latin alphabet. The aim of the paper is to open a discussion on a future Khitan Etymological Dictionary.


PREFACE
To compile a Khitan-English Etymological Dictionary is almost an impossible undertaking, at least in the twenties of the 21th century.On the one hand, the material is drastically increasing, on the other hand, the deciphering is slow.A team of scholars from the People's Republic of China and Hungary decided to begin to compile a Khitan-English-Chinese Wordlist.We are at the very beginning of our work, but thought to publish a draft with a sample of words beginning with the letters A and B. While this work includes common words and titles, another work is running, which will include the Khitan onomastic materials.The Khitan-English Etymological Dictionary Abbreviations: The Khitan inscriptions are cited according to their Sigla (see at the end of this paper).
Glyph is a drawing used by the Khitan Small Script.The KSS is written in so-called boxes, the glyphs pertaining to one morphological unit are written in pairs under each other so that, though the lines run from right to left, within the boxes the paired glyphs follow from left to right each other.For technical reasons the system is changed to a linear one, and the glyphs of the same box are connected by a hyphen.
Written: a b c d e f g h i j k transposed as <a-b-c-d-e-f-g h-i-j-k>.xxxx* one asterisk after the unattested base/stem of the word, xxxx** two asterisks: incorrect data 11 In cases where we considered it to be relevant, we give the frequency of the glyph.The Index of CWJ gives the number of occurrences of the morphological units.Because of homography, it is sometimes difficult to distinguish the number of occurrences of a given word.For example on pp.1788-1790 all 423 occurrences of <ai>  are given; however, ai1 'year' and ai2 'father' are not distinguished.The frequency of alloglyphs offers a help to identify the orthography of KSS.Even in cases in which glyphs occur rarely or occur only as initial of one word and its suffixed forms, frequency can help us in judging orthographical features and has to be separately investigated in the future.

A BASIC ALPHABETIC LIST OF KHED LETTER A
The following glyphs occur in word initial position with a-in the Khitan Small Script: 12 The List, which we call the Höhhot List of the glyphs of the Khitan Small Script, has been many times revised.
We follow the list given by CWJ on pp.92-104 and on 341-353 and dealt with in details on pp.150-338.Further the Index (volume III of CWJ) is ordered according to the List, and is of help in some cases.We remark cases where we differ from the Romanization of CWJ.In technical cases, we tacitly give the new reading: e.g.glyph (189) is written <ɑ> which we changed to <a> without reference.The term Romanization means that the possible pronunciation is rendered on the base of the transcription of Chinese words.We would stress here that it is more a code than a phonetical reality.The glyphs denoting the same or similar sounds are distinguished in the system by diacritic signs and index numerals.The diacritics have no own value, they only denote another glyph with the temporary same Romanization, as e.g.<a> and <á>, or <au>, <aû>, <aú>.Same is the case with the low indexes as <a 2 >, <a 3 >, etc.   1.
The system is basically syllabic, though there exist glyphs representing one consonant or o syllables.In our sample, there are two cases, where the Romanization of the glyph is yllabic: abu and aju.In both cases, the readings bu and ju are also possible.
In most cases where we find two glyphs for the same or seemingly same syllable, one of glyphs is rare, as in the cases of <ai> and <ai2> or <au> and <aû>.This is, however, not case with <au> and <aú>.The glyph <au> (161) is frequent, and occurs in the stem of ferent words.The glyph (210) occurs in the form aú-ui  (210.262)ʻmilady, a term of pect of noble womenʼ, Chin niangzi 娘子.CWJ gives no reading for  (210), but it is rely to be read aú-ui and is frequent, see below.   1.
The system is basically syllabic, though there exist glyphs representing one consonant or o syllables.In our sample, there are two cases, where the Romanization of the glyph is yllabic: abu and aju.In both cases, the readings bu and ju are also possible.
In most cases where we find two glyphs for the same or seemingly same syllable, one of glyphs is rare, as in the cases of <ai> and <ai2> or <au> and <aû>.This is, however, not case with <au> and <aú>.The glyph <au> (161) is frequent, and occurs in the stem of ferent words.The glyph (210) occurs in the form aú-ui  (210.262)ʻmilady, a term of pect of noble womenʼ, Chin niangzi 娘子.CWJ gives no reading for  (210), but it is rely to be read aú-ui and is frequent, see below.
For comparison, in the last column we added the identical syllable written in the Uigurongolian script.1.
The system is basically syllabic, though there exist glyphs representing one consonant or o syllables.In our sample, there are two cases, where the Romanization of the glyph is yllabic: abu and aju.In both cases, the readings bu and ju are also possible.
In most cases where we find two glyphs for the same or seemingly same syllable, one of glyphs is rare, as in the cases of <ai> and <ai2> or <au> and <aû>.This is, however, not case with <au> and <aú>.The glyph <au> (161) is frequent, and occurs in the stem of ferent words.The glyph (210) occurs in the form aú-ui  (210.262)ʻmilady, a term of pect of noble womenʼ, Chin niangzi 娘子.CWJ gives no reading for  (210), but it is rely to be read aú-ui and is frequent, see below.
For comparison, in the last column we added the identical syllable written in the Uigurongolian script.
The system is basically syllabic, though there exist glyphs representing one consonant or o syllables.In our sample, there are two cases, where the Romanization of the glyph is yllabic: abu and aju.In both cases, the readings bu and ju are also possible.
In most cases where we find two glyphs for the same or seemingly same syllable, one of glyphs is rare, as in the cases of <ai> and <ai2> or <au> and <aû>.This is, however, not case with <au> and <aú>.The glyph <au> ( 161) is frequent, and occurs in the stem of ferent words.The glyph (210) occurs in the form aú-ui  (210.262)ʻmilady, a term of pect of noble womenʼ, Chin niangzi 娘子.CWJ gives no reading for  (210), but it is rely to be read aú-ui and is frequent, see below.
For comparison, in the last column we added the identical syllable written in the Uigurongolian script.1.
The system is basically syllabic, though there exist glyphs representing one consonant or o syllables.In our sample, there are two cases, where the Romanization of the glyph is yllabic: abu and aju.In both cases, the readings bu and ju are also possible.
In most cases where we find two glyphs for the same or seemingly same syllable, one of glyphs is rare, as in the cases of <ai> and <ai2> or <au> and <aû>.This is, however, not case with <au> and <aú>.The glyph <au> ( 161) is frequent, and occurs in the stem of ferent words.The glyph (210) occurs in the form aú-ui  (210.262)ʻmilady, a term of pect of noble womenʼ, Chin niangzi 娘子.CWJ gives no reading for  (210), but it is rely to be read aú-ui and is frequent, see below.
For comparison, in the last column we added the identical syllable written in the Uigur-Remarks on Table 1.** 16 17 18 The system is basically syllabic, though there exist glyphs representing one consonant or two syllables.In our sample, there are two cases, where the Romanization of the glyph is bisyllabic: abu and aju.In both cases, the readings bu and ju are also possible.
In most cases where we find two glyphs for the same or seemingly same syllable, one of the glyphs is rare, as in the cases of <ai> and <ai 2 > or <au> and <aû>.This is, however, not the case with <au> and <aú>.The glyph <au> ( 161) is frequent, and occurs in the stem of different words.The glyph (210) occurs in the form aú-ui  (210-262) 'milady, a term of respect of noble women' , Chin niangzi 娘子.CWJ gives no reading for  (210), but it is surely to be read aú-ui and is frequent, see below.
For comparison, in the last column we added the identical syllable written in the Uigur-Mongolian script. 16Frequent also as suffix. 17Frequent as suffix. 18CWJ has no reading.
Unauthenticated | Downloaded 09/15/23 01:31 PM UTC Remarks on the glyphs beginning with a-<a>  (189) occurs 6 times in isolation.However, it is only an orthographic variant in Yu35-68 <g úr ci ar il or a án>, it is written in the 'highlighting mode' 19 and is a part of -<a-án>, the same is the case with <a-al> (Yu35-76, Yu 62-44 and Wu50-12).The only place where <a> (189) seems to occur in real isolation is Zhen21-32, perhaps a part of a name.In all other cases, this glyph occurs as the first syllable of a morphological unit.There are more subtypes: 1.It appears as the representative of the verb of to be somewhere and takes suffixes, see below a-*; 2. in some cases, it seems to secure the length or stressed syllable at the initial syllable as in a-abu versus abu, in other cases 3. it is simply representing the first syllable of words.
<a 2 >  (190) is the glyph (189) extended by a vertical dash on its right side.CWJ does not give a Romanization, but its occurrence points to a reading near to <a>.It occurs as intial ten times isolated, in 5 cases as <a 2 -an> (Song14-3, Zhong34-44, Nan29-16, Tai14-5, Jue35-11) in the same or similar function as <a-an>, see below.Similar graphic extensions are: <ad>  (099).The glyph occurs in initial position, where it is relatively rare.Khitan bases as ad-y-(099-020) with several further suffixes are occurring once each, the base <ad-ha>, seemingly a verbal stem (ad-ha-ai, ad-ha-a-án), is also occurring only once each.The base <ad-a> (ad-a, ad-a-an) is represented by six cases.The glyph frequently occurs in word middle and in final positions, see e.g.n-ad-bu-ad  (251-099-196-099).
<ai>  (122) is a very frequent initial, the three homoglyph words written with <ai> occur 423 times, and the genitive case of the two nouns <ai-en> appear in 110 cases.Other words with <ai> are the stems ai-ó-ul-*, ai-ci*, ai-l-*.The short form of the converb of a-<ai> is also very frequent.
<ai 2 >  (197).This glyph as initial occurs only in two cases according to the Index (p.1948).It occurs on the canopy of the inscription Tai (A.D. 1110) line 3.In the Index it looks like it would be an independent word, but on the canopy all words are written separately 'highlighted' , and the glyph pertains to the word ci ai₂  (162-197).In fact, the word is repeated in line 1 of Tai and there in one box  (162-197).In line 19 of the inscription Xu, the glyph occurs as initial, and it is followed by the suffix of the genitive case ai 2 -en  (197-140) in a context yet unclear.As non initial it occurs 112 times.Kane (2009: 59) has <ah>, but remarked that it transcribes Chinese /ai/.
<aju>  (082.1).It is difficult to distinguish from  (081), the logoglyph for MONTH (to read sär), and from <üe>  (082), which is a dotted form of ( 081) and which should be read as <ü>.The glyph looks like a logoglyph.In cases as <COMPOSE-a-aju>  and the like it should in all probability be read as -ju.
<al>  (098) as an initial is used for several different words, many of which are not yet deciphered.
<an>  (011).Its most common use is as suffix for the genitive case.Rarely used also as initial as in the verb an-l-ha- (011-261-051).
<án>  (290).It occurs frequently as a verbal suffix.It is very rare as initial, and in some cases functions as an orthographic variant of <an>  (011).
<as>  (174).Beside the word as-ar (see below) this gyph is very rare in initial position, but very frequent in word internal and final positions.

WORDS WITH INITIAL A-Introduction
In this sample we present the words that begin with a-and have a meaning suggested by the former research and fixed by CWJ or identified by us.In case when the word and its meaning is occurring in CWJ, we give the page number in the form C000. In many cases, if a word has a meaning, its suffixed forms are added under S also when the meaning of the latter was not identified.In cases where we think that the Khitan word may have parallels in the Mongolic languages, we give the literary form of the Mongolian word from Lessing (1960), and add the Dagur data. 26he Chinese meanings are in most cases from CWJ.In clear cases, we add some compounds under C.If a similar syllable does exist in a Khitan name and it is transcribed in the contemporary Chinese sources, we cite it under O.In this case, we give the place where the name occurs.Later we will quote the Khitan Onomasticon, which is now a work in progress.We consider the frequency of a word in the Corpus of great importance, therefore we give it where it is reasonable in the form XXx. In some cases we added a short remark, hint for possible further research under the abbreviation R for Róna-Tas or B for Bai Yuanming.Errors, misprints are mentioned under W.
• a-*  (189) 'to exist, to be at, to be present (somewhere), also an auxiliary verb' E: Mong a-'to be, verb of existence', see also ajugu, aji past tense of a-'it was, there was, or were' , Dag aa-'to live, be, stay, auxiliary verb' (M109), a-'sein' (M-K107 There is an ongoing debate on the relationship between Khitan and Dagur.Ligeti (1950: 167) was inclined to suppose that Dagur is identical with Khitan or more precisely with one of its dialects.Some authors claim that Dagur is a heavily Mongolized Khitan language, other think that Dagur is a Mongolic dialect that was under Khitan influence.At present, we will not take part in this discussion, only quote the Dagur data.In this sample we are quoting the Dagur wordlist given by Martin (1961), Muromskij and Kaluzinsky (1969-1970) and Poppe (1930).Later other important sources of Dagur, as e.g. of Enkhbat, will be added. 27In most cases  (011) is the suffix of the genitive. 28  3 Kane (2009: 161) tentatively identified this word with a term found in the Liaoshi as Aluwan 阿魯盌 and glossed there by fuyou 輔右 'to assist, support' .Following Kane, Shimunek (2017: 421-422, n. 39) reconstructed a Khitan verb *aru-'assist, support' .The question here is how freely the Chinese expression tong was translated into Khitan.The meaning of tong, as it was mentioned by Kane, was 'gather into one, unite' .We claim that the Khitan reign name was rather 'Governed by the Heaven' than 'Heavenly Assistance' .The proper meaning of the Khitan verb has to be fixed yet.
32 qian = 'one of the eight trigrams representing heaven', tong = command.<b>  (311) as also the other glyphs with initial b-are used in the transcription for Chinese not aspirated bilabial stops /p/.The glyph (311) is perhaps also used in some cases for the initial <ab->.
<bai 2 >  (060) may be an alloglyph of <bai>  and is not occurring as initial.<bai>  (061) is frequent and occurs as initial syllable of nouns and verbs as well.<bi>  (225) is occurring only in four morphological items and alone it is occurring 10 times.It pertains to a group of glyphs with the same element on their left side (see Wu and Róna-Tas 2019: 49).<bun>  (288) has been Romanized by CWJ as <bir> and the reasons are given on CWJ 290.They identified  (144) as <ir 2 > and hence  as <b-ir 2 >.This is alternating with  (288).This is true, but the correct reading of ( 144) is <un>, and thus  (288) has to be written as <bun> 35 .
<búl>  (272) is discussed in CWJ 283-284.The glyph is used in the transcription of Chinese names.

Table 2 .
Glyphs with the same extension on the right side ** 20 21 22 23 There do exist also other extensions in the system.Their function, if any, is unclear.<abu>(196)24Thisglyphseems to be a logoglyph with the reading abu.As a glyph representing the word abu it occurs 61 times in the Corpus.The word abu may have different suffixes (see below).Its reading as abu is secured by the transcription of names (see below).It may have also a reading abu in non initial position, as we can see in the name T-abu-y  (247-196-020), which occurs as ta bu ye 撻不也 (Liaoshi, also ta bu yan 撻不衍, seeKane 2009: 59).The Khitan name of the moving imperial palace, the nabo is written in KSS as n-ad-bu-ad  (251-099-196-099) etc. (see there), and is transcribed by Chinese nabo 捺钵, see also below.19The'highlightingmode' is present if the words are not written in boxes.20CWJ<bot>. 21CWJ <búl>. 22Yet undeciphered. 23Yet undeciphered. 24Shimunek 2017: 433: <ebu>, see below. 25Not abu ilhan.Unauthenticated | Downloaded 09/15/23 01:31 PM UTC

Table 3 .
The glyphs with initial b-

Table 3 .
The glyphs with initial b-

Table 3 .
The glyphs with initial b-Remarks on Table3and on the glyphs begining with b-34