2. On the signification and employment of the different names of the West Mongols (Kalmucks, Oelōd, Oirad or Dōrbōn Oirad＝the four Oirad, Mongol Oirad), and also as regards the subdivision of the tribes, there is much uncertainty. The name Kalmuck, so generally employed among us, is in fact only used by the Volga Kalmucks (Khalimak), but even with them the name is not common, and almost a byname. It is of foreign origin, and most likely a Tataric word which has yet to be explained. Oirad means the “near ones,” the “related.” The usual explanation given is that the single tribes consider themselves as being related to each other—hence Mongol Oirad, “the Mongol related tribe.” This is the favourite name among Kalmucks. Dōrbōn Oirad, or the four related tribes, comprise (1) Dzungars, (2) Torgod, (3) Koshod, (4) Derbet. The signification of the name Oelōd, in the East Mongolian Oegeled, now the most widely-spread among the tribes living in China, is likewise very doubtful. Some assert that “Oelod” is nothing but the Chinese transcription of Oirad, as the ordinary Chinese language does not possess the sound r. We have, however, to bear in mind that we have a Mongolian root ōgelekū, with the sense “ to be inimical,” “to bear hatred, ill-will,” &c. The main population of the Kalmucks live, or rather drag out, their existence after the usual fashion of nomad tribes in Dzungaria, in the eastern part of the Tian-shan, on the south border of the Gobi, on Koko-nor, and in the province of Kan-suh. All these are under the Chinese government. In consequence, however, of the extension of the Russian empire in Tian-shan and Alatau, many hordes have come under the Russian sway. According to an approximate account we may reckon in the territory Semiryetshensk (Kulja) and Semipalatinsk 34,000 Kalmucks, while in the southern part of the government Tomsk, on the Altai, the Kalmuck population amounted formerly to 19,000. Besides these we find a section of Kalmuck population far in the west, on the banks of the Volga (near Astrakhan). From their original seats in Dzungaria they turned in their migrations to the north, crossed the steppe of the Kirghiz, and thus gradually reached the Emba and the Or. Between these two rivers and the Ural the Torgod settled in 1616; thence they crossed the Volga in 1650, and took possession of the now so-called steppe of the Kalmucks, being followed in 1673 by the Derbet and in 1675 by the Koshod, In 1771 a considerable number returned to the Chinese empire. There is still a not unimportant population in the so-called steppe of the Kalmucks, which extends between the Caspian and the Volga in the east and the Don in the west, and from the town of Sarepta in the north to the Kuma and the Manych in the south. According to modern statistical accounts, this population amounts to 76,000. To these we have to add 25,000 more on the borders of the Cossacks of the Don, and lastly 8000 in the bordering provinces of Orenburg and Saratov.
3. In the southern part of the Russian province of Irkutsk, in a wide circle round Lake Baikal, lies the heirdom proper of the Buriats, which they also call the “Holy Sea”; the country east of the lake is commonly called Transbiakalia. Their country practically extends from the Chinese frontier on the south within almost parallel lines to the north, to the town Kirensk on the Lena, and from the Onon in the east to the Oka, a tributary of the Angara, in the west, and still farther west towards Nizhni-Udinsk. They are most numerous beyond the Baikal Lake, in the valleys along the Uda, the Onon and the Selenga, and in Nertchinsk. These Transbaikalian Buriats came to these parts only towards the end of the 17th century from the Kalkas. While Mongols and Kalmucks generally continue to live after the usual fashion of nomads, we find here agricultural pursuits, most likely, however, due mainly to Russian influence. Christianity is also making its way. The sum total of the Buriats amounts to about 250,000.
Another tribe separated from the rest of the Mongols is the so-called Hazāra (the thousand), and the four Aimak (i.e. tribes), who wander about as herdsmen in Afghanistan, between Herat and Kabul. In external characteristics they are Mongols, and in all probability they are the remains of a tribe from the time of the Mongol dynasty. Their language, which shows, of course, Persian influence, is strictly Mongolian, more particularly West Mongolian or Kalmuck, as has been proved by H. C. von der Gabelentz.[1]
Agreeably with this threefold division of the Mongols we have also a threefold division of their respective languages: (1) East Mongolian or Mongolian proper, (2) West Mongolian or Kalmuck, (3) Buriatic.
The dialects just mentioned are found to be in close relation to each other when we examine their roots, inflections and grammatical structure. The difference between them is indeed so slight that whoever understands one of them understands all. Phonetically a characteristic of them all is the “harmony of vowels,” which are divided into two chief classes: the hard a, o, u and the soft e, ō, ū, between which i is in the middle. All vowels of the same word must necessarily belong to the same class, so that the nature of the first or root-vowel determines the nature of the other or inflection vowels; now and then a sort of retrogressive harmony takes place, so that a later vowel determines the nature of the former. The consonants preceding the vowels are equally under their influence. The Mongolian characters, which in a slightly altered form are also in use among the Manchus, are written perpendicularly from above downward, and the lines follow from left to right, the alphabet having signs for seven vowels—a, e, i, o, u, ō, ū, and diphthongs derived from them—ao, ai, ei, ii, oi, ui, ōi ūi, and for seventeen consonants—n, b, kh, gh, k, g, m, l, r (never initial), t, d, y, s, (ds), ts, ss, sh, w. All these are modified in shape according to their position, in the beginning, middle, or end of a word, and also by certain Orthographic rules. In Mongolian and Manchu writing the syllable (i.e. the consonant together with the vowel) is considered as a unit, in other words a syllabarium rather than an alphabet. The existing characters are lineal descendants of the original Uighurian forms, which were themselves derived from the Syriac, having been brought to the Uighurs by Nestorian missionaries. An Indian and Tibetan influence may also be noticed, while the arrangement of the characters in perpendicular lines is common to the Chinese. The writing was brought into its present shape by the learned Lamas Saskya Pandita, Phags-pa Lama, and Tshoitshi Odser in the 13th century,[2] but is exceedingly imperfect. To express the frequently-occurring letters borrowed from Sanskrit and Tibetan, which are wanting in the Mongol alphabet, a special alphabet, called Galik, is employed. Every one who has tried to read Mongolian knows how many difficulties have to be overcome, arising from the ambiguity of certain letters, or from the fact that the same sign is to be pronounced differently, according to its position in the word. Thus, there are no means for distinguishing the o and u, ō and ū, the consonants g and k, t and d, y and s (ds). A and e, o (u) and ō (ū), a (e) and n, g and kh, t (d) and on, are liable to be mistaken for each other. Other changes will be noticed and avoided by advanced students. It is a great defect that such common words as ada (a fury) and ende (here), ende (here) and nada (me), aldan (fathom) and altan (gold), ordu (court-residence) and urtu (long), onokhu (to seize) and unukhu (to ride), tere (this) and dere (pillow), gebe (said) and kebe (made), gem (evil) and kem (measure), ger (house) and ker (how), naran (sun) and nere (name), yagon (what) and dsagon (hundred), should be written exactly alike. This list might be largely increased. These defects apply equally to the Mongolian and Buriatic alphabets.
In 1648 the Saya Pandita composed a new alphabet (the Kalmuck), in which these ambiguities are avoided, though the graphic differences between the two alphabets are only slight. The Kalmuck alphabet avoids the angular and clumsy shapes of the Mongolian, and has, on the contrary, a rounded and pleasing shape. The Kalmuck alphabet has also this great advantage—that every sound has its distinct graphic character; a mistake between two characters can scarcely occur. The Kalmuck words once mastered, they can be easily recognized in their Mongolian shape. The dialectical differences are also very slight.
The Kalmuck, therefore, is the key of the Mongolian, and should form the groundwork of Mongolian studies. The Kalmuck and East Mongolian dialects do not differ much, at least in the spoken language; but the Kalmucks write according to their pronunciation, while the Mongols do not. For example, sōn (dsōn), “hundred,” is pronounced alike by the Kalmucks and the East Mongolians; but according to Mongolian orthography the word appears in the form dsagon. The dialectic difference between the two dialects very frequently lies only in a different pronunciation of some letters. Thus East Mongolian ds is in Kalmuck soft s, &c. The chief difference between the two dialects lies in the fact that in Kalmuck the soft guttural g between two vowels is omitted, while, through the joining of the two vowels, a long vowel is produced. In the pronunciation of common East Mongolian the g is likewise omitted, but it is written, while in Kalmuck, as just now mentioned, the guttural can only be traced through the lengthening of the syllable. Thus we find: Mongol khagan, “prince,” Kalmuck khān: M. dagon, “voice, sound,” K. dōn, dūn, M. dologan, “seven,” K. dolōn; M. agola, “mountain,” K. ōla, ūla; M. nagor, “lake,” K. nōr, nūr; M. ulagan, “red,” K. ulān; M. yagon, “what,” K. yōn (yūn); M. dabagan, “mountain ridge,” K. dabān; M. ssanagan, “thought,” K. ssanān; M. baragon, “on the right,” K. barōn, barūn; M. shibagon, “bird,” K. showōn; M. chilagon, “stone,” K. chilōn (chulūn); M. jirgogan, “six,” K. surgān; M. degere, “high, above,” K. dēre; M. ugukhu, “to drink,” K. ūkhu; M. togodshi, “history,” K. tōdshi, tūdshi; M. egūden, “door,” K. ōden; M. dsegūn, “left,” K. sōn; M. ōgede, “in the height,” K. ōdo; M. ōgeled, “the Kalmucks,” K. ōlōd;. M. ūileged, “if one has done,” K. ūilēd; M. kōbegūn, “son,” K. kōwōn; M. gegūn, “mare,” K. gūn; M. kegūr, “corpse.” K. kūr; M. kharigad, “returned,” K. kharēd, &c.
The Buriatic, in these peculiarities, is almost always found with East Mongolian, with which it is in every respect closely allied. In the pronunciation of some letters the transition of East Mongolian tsa, tse into Buriatic ss is noticeable; for instance: Mong. tsetsek, “flower,” Buriatic ssessek; M. tsak, “time,” B. ssak; M. tsagan, “white,” B. ssagan; M. tsetsen, “prudent,” B. ssessen. Ss is sometimes
pronounced like (the German) ch: East M. ssain, “good,” B.
