Names
See also: Names of Asian cities in different languagesUlan Bator has been given numerous names in its history. From 1639 to 1706, it was known as Urga (Mongolian: Өргөө, Örgöö, "Residence"), and from 1706 to 1911 as Kuren (Хүрээ, Xüree, "Camp"), Da-Kuren (Даа Хүрээ, Daa Xüree, from Chinese: 大, dà, "great", translation of Mongolian: Их Хүрээ, Ix Xüree, "Great Camp"), or Kulun (Chinese: 庫倫, transcription of Xüree). Upon independence in 1911, with both the secular government and the Bogd Khan's palace present, the city's name changed to Niĭslel Xüree (Нийслэл Хүрээ, "Capital Camp"). It is called Bogdiin Khuree (Богдийн Хүрээ, Bogdiĭn Xüree, "Saint's Camp") in the folk song "Praise of Bogdiin Khuree". The Chinese name Kulun was probably translated indirectly by borrowing from Manchu's Kuren (also means camp) which in turn came from the Mongolian name.
When the city became the capital of the new Mongolian People's Republic in 1924, its name was changed to Ulan Bator (Улаанбаатар, Ulaanbaatar, classical Mongolian Ulaγanbaγatur, literally "Red Hero"). On the session of the 1st Great People's Khraldan of Mongolia in 1924, majority of delegates expressed their wish to change the capital city's name to Baatar Khot (City of Hero). However, under the pressure of the Soviet activist of Communist International, Turar Ryskulov, the city was named Ulaanbaatar Khot (City of Red Hero). No particular name of who was that red hero was quoted in the documents.
In Europe and North America, Ulan Bator generally continued to be known as Urga or sometimes Kuren (or Kulun) till 1924, and Ulan Bator afterwards (a spelling derived from Улан-Батор, Ulan-Bator). The Russian spelling is different from the Mongolian because it was defined phonetically, and the Cyrillic script was only introduced in Mongolia seventeen years later. By Mongols, the city was nicknamed Aziĭn Cagaan Dagina (Азийн Цагаан Дагина, "White Fairy of Asia") in the late 20th century. In Mongolian it is now sometimes sarcastically called Utaanbaatar (Утаанбаатар, "Smog Hero") due to the heavy layer of smog in winter.
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Famous quotes containing the word names:
“I come to this land to ride my horse,
to try my own guitar, to copy out
their two separate names like sunflowers, to conjure
up my daily bread, to endure,
somehow to endure.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
“Ideas about life organize perception; names of emotions organize sensations; rules of syntax organize thought. But pain comes on its own.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“Every man who has lived for fifty years has buried a whole world or even two; he has grown used to its disappearance and accustomed to the new scenery of another act: but suddenly the names and faces of a time long dead appear more and more often on his way, calling up series of shades and pictures kept somewhere, “just in case” in the endless catacombs of the memory, making him smile or sigh, and sometimes almost weep.”
—Alexander Herzen (1812–1870)