V. p. 14) to be
Neuchih, Niuche, Niuchen or Juchen.
M. Deveria has shown that the
inscription is written in Si Hia, or the language of Tangut, and gave a
facsimile of a stone stele (pei) in this language kept in the great
Monastery of the Clouds (Ta Yun Ssu) at Liangchau in Kansuh, together with
a translation of the Chinese text, engraved on the reverse side of the
slab. M. Deveria thinks that this writing was borrowed by the Kings of
Tangut from the one derived in 920 by the Khitans from the Chinese.
(Stele Si-Hia de Leang-tcheou ... J. As., 1898; L'ectriture du
royaumes de Si-Hia ou Tangout, par M. Deveria ... Ext. des Mem ...
presentes a l'Ac. des. Ins. et B. Let. 1'ere Ser. XI., 1898.) Dr. S. W.
Bushell in two papers (Inscriptions in the Juchen and Allied Scripts,
Actes du XI. Congres Orientalistes, Paris, 1897, 2nd. sect., pp. 11, 35,
and the Hsi Hsia Dynasty of Tangut, their Money and their peculiar
Script, J. China Br. R. A. S., xxx. N.S. No. 2, pp. 142, 160) has also
made a special study of the same subject. The Si Hia writing was adopted
by Yuan Ho in 1036, on which occasion he changed the title of his reign to
Ta Ch'ing, i.e. "Great Good Fortune." Unfortunately, both the late M.
Deveria and Dr. S. W. Bushell have deciphered but few of the Si Hia
characters. - H. C.]
The orders of the Great Kaan are stated to have been published habitually
in six languages, viz., Mongol, Uighur, Arabic, Persian, Tangutan
(Si-Hia), and Chinese. - H. Y. and H. C.
Ghazan Khan of Persia is said to have understood Mongol, Arabic, Persian,
something of Kashmiri, of Tibetan, of Chinese, and a little of the Frank
tongue (probably French).
The annals of the Ming Dynasty, which succeeded the Mongols in China,
mention the establishment in the 11th moon of the 5th year Yong-lo (1407)
of the Sse yi kwan, a linguistic office for diplomatic purposes. The
languages to be studied were Niuche, Mongol, Tibetan, Sanskrit, Bokharan
(Persian?) Uighur, Burmese, and Siamese. To these were added by the Manchu
Dynasty two languages called Papeh and Pehyih, both dialects of the
S.W. frontier. (See infra, Bk. II. ch. lvi.-lvii., and notes.) Since 1382,
however, official interpreters had to translate Mongol texts; they were
selected among the Academicians, and their service (which was independent
of the Sse yi kwan when this was created) was under the control of the
Han-lin-yuen. There may have been similar institutions under the Yuen,
but we have no proof of it. At all events, such an office could not then
be called Sse yi kwan (Sse yi, Barbarians from four sides); Niuche
(Niuchen) was taught in Yong-lo's office, but not Manchu. The Sse yi
kwan must not be confounded with the Hui t'ong kwan, the office for the
reception of tributary envoys, to which it was annexed in 1748.
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