Uyghur Material in Huá-yí-yì-yǔ And Its Problems

Abstract

The "Huá-yí-yì-yǔ" (華夷譯語) is a general name for the various glossaries (and sentence examples) between the Chinese language and its neighbor languages compiled on from the beginning of the Ming (明) dynasty (1368~1644). The Uyghur material is in the glossaries of the second and third classes. The glossaries of the second class are both in Chinese and in Uyghur characters, whereas the glossaries of the third class are only in Chinese characters. The words in the glossaries of the second class can be relatively easily determined and read. In order to treat the Uyghur material in the glossaries of the third class, one must understand both the old Uyghur language and Chinese characters well.In the glossaries of the third class, there are more than 820 words of the Uyghur language of the 15th century. Thus, it is in a state of the richest Turkic material recorded only in Chinese characters. This Uyghur material was treated only by Masahiro Shōgaito and Yong-Sŏng Li. Although Masahiro Shōgaito did research in minute detail, he misread or could not read some words. Not a few words were transmitted incorrectly during the duplication by hand because there are many similar letters in Chinese characters. It is so even in the Chinese words. Therefore, it is necessary to bring together all the existing copies and their duplicates and to publish them as a book which can be used by everebody, and to read the Uyghur words correctly by referring to all the copies