On the Self-Styled Name of Tatar During the 8–10th Centuries A.D. — As an Attempt to Resolve on the Problem of the Original Meaning of Shi-Wei and Zu-Bu in Mongolia
50th Annual Meeting of the PIAC, Kazan 2007
As well known, in the vast steppe region from the Kerlen River of the Northeastern Mongolia to the upper steppe of the Amur River of the Southeastern Manchuria, there are nomadic peoples that were also engaged in hunting or semi-agriculture peoples named <Shi-wei> during the 8–10th century. In my view, they are composed of the several ethnical groups. As long as we can, however, it does not seem that their original meaning have not been resolved until now. According to the Old Chinese chronicles such as <Weishu>, <Beishi>, <Qishu>, <Zhoushu>, <Suishu>, <Jiou Tangshu>, <Tangshu> and other souces etc., they had often been communicated with the Chinese Dynasties. From there we can know that they were chiefly nomadic peoples, partly semi-hunting peoples or semi-settled peoples. On one hand, we know that there are the Tatar peoples named <Otuz Tatar (i.e. 30 Tatar tribes)> or <Toquz Tatar (i.e. Nine Tatar tribes)> or Tatar ogli (i. e. Son of the Tatar tribes)> in the Old Turkic Runic inscriptions. And the other hand, they were also named <Dada> (i. e. Tatar), <Bai-dada> (White Tatar) in the Old Chinese Chronicles of the 8–10th centuries.
In my presentation, I would like to attempt to resolve the problematic issues on the meaning of <Shi-wei> and the relationship between the <Shi-wei> peoples and <Da-da, i.e Tatar> peoples comparing the ethnical names and their territories of <Shi- wei> with several tribal names such as <Da-da, ie. Tatar> and <Zu-bu> peoples and their territories during the 8–10th centuries from the philological and historical points of views on the basis of their records in the <Sung-shi>, <Liao-shi> and some Chinese travel book of <Wang yante>, Jami’ at-Tabarih of Rashid ad-Din, <Yuanchen- pishi> and other sources such as the Tunhuang documents.