A Study Of The Tibeto-Burman Place Names In Ancicnt MDo SMad

Mdo smad (?) or A mdo(?) is one of the three traditional cultural regions of Tibet, which located in the Sino-Tibetan Borderlands, Northeast Tibetan Plateau. Tibetan Plateau is the homeland for Tibeto-Burman people, old Chinese historical sources called them Ch'iang (羌) or Rong (戎), and so on. Before Tibetan Empire unified the Tibetan Plateau politically, old Chinese materials are the only lasting records for mdo smad. According to the princle of "name after the master", the old Chinese materials should record a large number of Tibeto-Burman place names. This dissertation is a study of the Tibeto-Burman place names in ancient mdo smad, which based on the old Chinese and Tibetan sources. Meantime, we also pay attention to the languages contacts between Chinese/Tibeto-Burman/Altaic/Indo-European in the historical period.The old Chinese sources include Yu-Gong(《禹贡》)/Shui-Jing-Zhu(《水经注》) and the authorized history about Ch'iang. For instance, Ruo-Shui((弱水)is the pronunciation of Tibetan word (?)(nag chu), means black or clean water; Zhu-Yu-Shan(朱圉山)is the pronunciation of Tibetan word (?)(rdo rnga), means stone drum; Qu-Sou(渠搜)has relation with (?)(khri shor rgyal mo), the old Tibetan name of Kokonor, and so on. The methods of Historical Literature/Historical Geography and Historical Linguistics are comprehensively used in the textual research.We believe this study could discover new value of the old Chinese materials, improve the study of western Ch'iang, and promote the understanding for the cultural exchange between early Hua-Xia(华夏)and Tibeto-Burman people.