The Khitan large script (Chinese: 契丹大字; pinyin: qìdān dàzì) was one of two writing systems used for the now-extinct Khitan language (the other was the Khitan small script). It was used during the 10th–12th centuries by the Khitan people, who had created the Liao Empire in north-eastern China. In addition to the large script, the Khitans simultaneously also used a functionally independent writing system known as the Khitan small script. Both Khitan scripts continued to be in use to some extent by the Jurchens for several decades after the fall of the Liao dynasty, until the Jurchens fully switched to a script of their own. Examples of the scripts appeared most often on epitaphs and monuments, although other fragments sometimes surface.
Abaoji of the Yelü clan, founder of the Khitan, or Liao, dynasty, introduced the original Khitan script in 920 CE.[1] The "large script", or "big characters" (大字), as it was referred to in some Chinese sources, was established to keep the record of the new Khitan state. The Khitan script was based on the idea of the Chinese script.[2]
Description
The Khitan large script was considered to be relatively simple. The large script characters were written equally spaced, in vertical columns, in the same way as the Chinese has been traditionally written. Although the large script mostly uses logograms, it is possible that ideograms and syllabograms are used for grammatical functions. The large script has a few similarities to Chinese, with several words taken directly with or without modifications from the Chinese (e.g. characters 二, 三, 十, 廿, 月, and 日, which appear in dates in the apparently bilingual Xiao Xiaozhong muzhi inscription from Xigushan, Jinxi, Liaoning Province).[3] Most large script characters, however, cannot be directly related to any Chinese characters. The meaning of most of them remains unknown, but that of a few of them (numbers, symbols for some of the five elements and the twelve animals that the Khitans apparently used to designate years of the sexagenary cycle) has been established by analyzing dates in Khitan inscriptions.[4]
While there has long been controversy as to whether a particular monument belong to the large or small script,[5] there are several monuments (steles or fragments of stelae) that the specialists at least tentatively identify as written in the Khitan large script. However, one of the first inscriptions so identified (the Gu taishi mingshi ji epitaph, found in 1935) has been since lost, and the preserved rubbings of it are not very legible; moreover, some believe that this inscription was a forgery in the first place. In any event, the total of about 830 different large-script characters are thought to have been identified, even without the problematic Gu taishi mingshi ji; including it, the character count rises to about 1000.[6] The Memorial for Yelü Yanning (dated 986 CE) is one of the earliest inscriptions in the Khitan large script.
Direction
While the Khitan large script was traditionally written top-to-bottom, it can also be written left-to-right, which is the direction to be expected in modern contexts for the Khitan large script and other traditionally top-to-bottom scripts, especially in electronic text.
Jurchen
Some of the characters of the Jurchen scripts have similarities to the Khitan large script. According to some sources, the discoveries of inscriptions on monuments and epitaphs give clues to the connection between Khitan and Jurchen.[7] After the fall of the Liao dynasty, the Khitan (small-character) script continued to be used by the Jurchen people for a few decades, until it was fully replaced with the Jurchen script and, in 1191, suppressed by imperial order.[8][9]
There are no surviving examples of printed texts in the Khitan language, and aside from five example Khitan large characters with Chinese glosses in a book on calligraphy written by Tao Zongyi (陶宗儀) during the mid 14th century, there are no Chinese glossaries or dictionaries of Khitan. However, in 2002 a small fragment of a Khitan manuscript with seven Khitan large characters and interlinear glosses in Old Uyghur was identified in the collection of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities.[10] Then, in 2010 a manuscript codex (Nova N 176) held at the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Saint Petersburg was identified by Viacheslav Zaytsev as being written in the Khitan large script.[11]
The main source of Khitan texts are monumental inscriptions, mostly comprising memorial tablets buried in the tombs of Khitan nobility.[12] There are about 17 known monuments with inscriptions in the Khitan large script, ranging in date from 986 to 1176.
In addition to monumental inscriptions, short inscriptions in both Khitan scripts have also been found on tomb murals and rock paintings, and on various portable artefacts such as mirrors, amulets, paiza (tablets of authority given to officials and envoys), and special non-circulation coins. A number of bronze official seals with the seal face inscribed in a convoluted seal script style of Khitan characters are also known.
References
^Jacques Gernet (1996). A history of Chinese civilization. Cambridge University Press. p. 353. ISBN0-521-49781-7. Retrieved June 7, 2011.
^Jacques Gernet (1996). A history of Chinese civilization. Cambridge University Press. p. 34. ISBN0-521-49781-7. Retrieved June 7, 2011.
^Kiyose, Gisaburo N. (1985), "The Significance of the New Kitan and Jurchen Materials", Papers in East Asian Languages, pp. 75–87
^Daniels, Peter T.; Bright, William (1996), The World's Writing Systems, New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 230–234
^Jacques Gernet (1996). A history of Chinese civilization. Cambridge University Press. p. 359. ISBN0-521-49781-7. Retrieved June 7, 2011.
^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.). Turfan Revisited: The First Century of Research into the Arts and Cultures of the Silk Road. Dietrich Reimer Verlag. ISBN978-3-496-02763-8.
Liu Fengzhu (刘凤翥). Qidan Wenzi Yanjiu Leibian (1–4) (契丹文字研究类编, 'Collection of Research on the Khitan scripts'), China Social Science Publishers 中国社会科学出版社), 2014.(in Chinese)
Daniel Kane, The Sino-Jurchen Vocabulary of the Bureau of Interpreters. (Uralic and Altaic Series, Vol. 153). Indiana University, Research Institute for Inner Asian Studies. Bloomington, Indiana, 1989. In particular, Chapter 3, "Khitan script" (pp. 11–20).
Jacques, Guillaume (2010). "Review of Kane 2009, The Khitan Language and Script". Diachronica. 27 (1): 157–165. doi:10.1075/dia.27.1.05jac.
External links
Khitan script on Omniglot
Linguist List – Description of Kitan 2008-09-23 at the Wayback Machine
Khitan script by Babelstone.co.uk
January 13, 2023
khitan, large, script, chinese, 契丹大字, pinyin, qìdān, dàzì, writing, systems, used, extinct, khitan, language, other, khitan, small, script, used, during, 10th, 12th, centuries, khitan, people, created, liao, empire, north, eastern, china, addition, large, scri. The Khitan large script Chinese 契丹大字 pinyin qidan dazi was one of two writing systems used for the now extinct Khitan language the other was the Khitan small script It was used during the 10th 12th centuries by the Khitan people who had created the Liao Empire in north eastern China In addition to the large script the Khitans simultaneously also used a functionally independent writing system known as the Khitan small script Both Khitan scripts continued to be in use to some extent by the Jurchens for several decades after the fall of the Liao dynasty until the Jurchens fully switched to a script of their own Examples of the scripts appeared most often on epitaphs and monuments although other fragments sometimes surface Khitan large scriptMemorial for Yelu Yanning dated 986Script typeLogographicDirectionTop to bottom and right to leftLanguagesKhitan languageRelated scriptsParent systemsOracle bone scriptSeal scriptClerical scriptKhitan large scriptChild systemsJurchen scriptSister systemsSimplified Chinese Tangut script Kanji Hanja Chữ Nom ZhuyinISO 15924ISO 15924Kitl 505 Khitan large script Contents 1 History 2 Description 2 1 Direction 3 Jurchen 4 Corpus 5 References 6 Further reading 7 External linksHistory EditAbaoji of the Yelu clan founder of the Khitan or Liao dynasty introduced the original Khitan script in 920 CE 1 The large script or big characters 大字 as it was referred to in some Chinese sources was established to keep the record of the new Khitan state The Khitan script was based on the idea of the Chinese script 2 Description EditThe Khitan large script was considered to be relatively simple The large script characters were written equally spaced in vertical columns in the same way as the Chinese has been traditionally written Although the large script mostly uses logograms it is possible that ideograms and syllabograms are used for grammatical functions The large script has a few similarities to Chinese with several words taken directly with or without modifications from the Chinese e g characters 二 三 十 廿 月 and 日 which appear in dates in the apparently bilingual Xiao Xiaozhong muzhi inscription from Xigushan Jinxi Liaoning Province 3 Most large script characters however cannot be directly related to any Chinese characters The meaning of most of them remains unknown but that of a few of them numbers symbols for some of the five elements and the twelve animals that the Khitans apparently used to designate years of the sexagenary cycle has been established by analyzing dates in Khitan inscriptions 4 While there has long been controversy as to whether a particular monument belong to the large or small script 5 there are several monuments steles or fragments of stelae that the specialists at least tentatively identify as written in the Khitan large script However one of the first inscriptions so identified the Gu taishi mingshi ji epitaph found in 1935 has been since lost and the preserved rubbings of it are not very legible moreover some believe that this inscription was a forgery in the first place In any event the total of about 830 different large script characters are thought to have been identified even without the problematic Gu taishi mingshi ji including it the character count rises to about 1000 6 The Memorial for Yelu Yanning dated 986 CE is one of the earliest inscriptions in the Khitan large script Direction Edit While the Khitan large script was traditionally written top to bottom it can also be written left to right which is the direction to be expected in modern contexts for the Khitan large script and other traditionally top to bottom scripts especially in electronic text Jurchen EditSome of the characters of the Jurchen scripts have similarities to the Khitan large script According to some sources the discoveries of inscriptions on monuments and epitaphs give clues to the connection between Khitan and Jurchen 7 After the fall of the Liao dynasty the Khitan small character script continued to be used by the Jurchen people for a few decades until it was fully replaced with the Jurchen script and in 1191 suppressed by imperial order 8 9 Corpus EditMain article List of Khitan inscriptions Folio 9 of manuscript codex Nova N 176 There are no surviving examples of printed texts in the Khitan language and aside from five example Khitan large characters with Chinese glosses in a book on calligraphy written by Tao Zongyi 陶宗儀 during the mid 14th century there are no Chinese glossaries or dictionaries of Khitan However in 2002 a small fragment of a Khitan manuscript with seven Khitan large characters and interlinear glosses in Old Uyghur was identified in the collection of the Berlin Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities 10 Then in 2010 a manuscript codex Nova N 176 held at the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Saint Petersburg was identified by Viacheslav Zaytsev as being written in the Khitan large script 11 The main source of Khitan texts are monumental inscriptions mostly comprising memorial tablets buried in the tombs of Khitan nobility 12 There are about 17 known monuments with inscriptions in the Khitan large script ranging in date from 986 to 1176 In addition to monumental inscriptions short inscriptions in both Khitan scripts have also been found on tomb murals and rock paintings and on various portable artefacts such as mirrors amulets paiza tablets of authority given to officials and envoys and special non circulation coins A number of bronze official seals with the seal face inscribed in a convoluted seal script style of Khitan characters are also known References Edit Jacques Gernet 1996 A history of Chinese civilization Cambridge University Press p 353 ISBN 0 521 49781 7 Retrieved June 7 2011 Jacques Gernet 1996 A history of Chinese civilization Cambridge University Press p 34 ISBN 0 521 49781 7 Retrieved June 7 2011 Kane 1989 p 12 Kane 1989 p 11 13 Kane 1989 pp 6 7 Kane 1989 pp 6 12 Kiyose Gisaburo N 1985 The Significance of the New Kitan and Jurchen Materials Papers in East Asian Languages pp 75 87 Daniels Peter T Bright William 1996 The World s Writing Systems New York Oxford University Press pp 230 234 Jacques Gernet 1996 A history of Chinese civilization Cambridge University Press p 359 ISBN 0 521 49781 7 Retrieved June 7 2011 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 Turfan Revisited The First Century of Research into the Arts and Cultures of the Silk Road Dietrich Reimer Verlag ISBN 978 3 496 02763 8 O A Vodneva O A Vodneva 2 June 2011 Otchet o ezhegodnoj nauchnoj sessii IVR RAN 2010 Report on the annual scientific session of the IOM 2010 in Russian Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences Retrieved 2011 10 11 Kane 2009 p 4Further reading EditLiu Fengzhu 刘凤翥 Qidan Wenzi Yanjiu Leibian 1 4 契丹文字研究类编 Collection of Research on the Khitan scripts China Social Science Publishers 中国社会科学出版社 2014 in Chinese Kane Daniel 2009 The Kitan Language and Script Brill ISBN 978 90 04 16829 9 Daniel Kane The Sino Jurchen Vocabulary of the Bureau of Interpreters Uralic and Altaic Series Vol 153 Indiana University Research Institute for Inner Asian Studies Bloomington Indiana 1989 In particular Chapter 3 Khitan script pp 11 20 Jacques Guillaume 2010 Review of Kane 2009 The Khitan Language and Script Diachronica 27 1 157 165 doi 10 1075 dia 27 1 05jac External links EditKhitan script on Omniglot Linguist List Description of Kitan Archived 2008 09 23 at the Wayback Machine Khitan script by Babelstone co uk Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Khitan large script amp oldid 1120285549, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
