Jie Phrase
The Jie are known for one phrase that reached us in their native language, uttered by a Buddhist monk Fotucheng and recorded in the Chinese annals Book of Jin as 秀支 替戾剛 僕谷 劬禿當, in connection with Shi Le's fight against Liu Yao in 328 CE. The phrase was glossed with Chinese translation (Middle Chinese pronunciation provided below follows Pulleyblank):
秀支 means 軍 “army”; 替戾剛 means 出 “go out”; 僕谷 is 劉曜胡位 “Liu Yao's barbarian title”; 劬禿當 means 捉 “capture”.
This phrase has been analyzed in a number of publications. Shiratori (1900), Ramstedt (1922), Bazin (1948), von Gabain (1950), and Shervashidze (1986) recognized Turkic lexicon, and gave their versions of the transcription and translation:
| Ramstedt | Bazin | von Gabain | Shervashidze |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sükä talıqın bügüg tutun! |
Süg tägti ıdqaŋ boquγıγ tutqaŋ! |
Särig tılıtqan buγuγ kötürkän |
Sükâ tol'iqtin buγuγ qodigo(d)tin |
| Go with a war captured bügü! |
Send the army to attack, capture the commander! |
You'd put forth the army, you'd take the deer |
You came to the army Deposed buγuγ |
Pulleyblank (1963) remarked that the Turkic interpretations cannot be considered very successful because they conflicted with the phonetic values of the Chinese text and to the Chinese translation. Instead, he suggested a connection with the Yeniseian languages.
Vovin listed the following translation based on Yeniseian:
| Vovin |
|---|
| suke t-i-r-ek-ang bok-kok k-o-t-o-kt-ang |
| armies PV-CM-PERF-go out-3pp bok-kok PV-?-OBJ-CM-catch-3pp
(PV - preverb, CM - conjugation marker, OBJ - object marker, PERF - perfective) |
| Armies have gone out. will catch Bokkok. |
Read more about this topic: Jie People
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