“Altaistic Problem” and two Hypotheses on the Origin of Mongols
50th Annual Meeting of the PIAC, Kazan 2007
The first investigators of Mongolian history considered them to be native dwellers of Central Asian grasslands. The study of the Altaic languages has shown that most of the Mongolian words which reflect grassland landscape and fauna were borrowed by Mongols from Turks. Meanwhile, translations of Chinese materials have shown that Mongols inhabited regions to the East of Xing An mountains.
There are two scientific hypotheses on the origin of the Mongols. They are the indigenous hypothesis and the migration hypothesis. We have decided to see if these hypotheses are true. For that it was necessary to use the data of a number of sciences – archaeology, anthropology, folklore studies, and linguistics. The newest genetic studies were also taken into consideration. We supposed that the sources preserved some facts, remnants or memories of the Mongolian pre-nomadic way of living.
The study of the Buryat folklore produced a fact which is non-characteristic of a nomadic nation – plots connected with pig-breeding. Here are some examples. Proverbs: Nokhoin ugide gahai husaha (When there is no dog, the pig barks). Wishes: Gazar hadarha gahaitai bolozho, galabtaduuldaha neretei bolozho baigaarayt! (May you have a pig to dig the ground, may you have a name to sound forever!). Fairytales: Buryats have a “Pig-breeder” fairy-tale which is devoted to an only son keeping seven pigs. By now people have almost forgotten the expression — “gahain myahan amtatai, gazar ger dulaahan” (pork is tasty, life in a dug-out is warm). This expression points to a settled life-style and pig-breeding of Buryats’ ancestors.
Mongols are mentioned in Mongolian chronicles as MengWu or MengWa. According to the sources they “… use pigs and dogs as their domestic cattle. They are fattened for slaughter”. Consequently, pigs and dogs are among the main animals bred by Mongols. We have to pay attention to the fact that the term gahai “pig” is an independent one in the Mongolian language. This is the proof of independent pig- breeding.
There is an excellent Buryat proverb: “Dalain olzo dalan honogoi, daidyn olzo dalan zhelei“ – “Marine quarry lasts seventy days, soil crops last seventy years”. The names of marine animals are well preserved in Mongolian languages: Buryat — hab zagahan, Khalkha-Mongolian — hav zagas, Kalmyk — hav “seal”; Buryat and Khalkha-Mongolian — halim “whale”. Besides, the Mongolian language has such a notion as whalebone — elzhin. Rivers and lakes of Mongolia and Buryatia have no plaice and lamprey, but their names are present in the language — halbin and nud zagas. Probably, ancient Mongols’ ancestors ate marine trepangs (holothurian). The Mongolian word hizhi testifies to it. It is also important that the Mongolian language has independent words which stand for animal fat (ooh) and fish fat (eer). Also, animal and fish bones are nominated by separate lexical units in the language.
Thus, folklore studies and linguistics together with other sources, open new pages in the history and culture of Mongolian nations.
This research was made possible by support of RFFI (№ 06-06-80192, 05-06-80183).