A Study On Newly Found Epitaph Of Xiao Chenge Biexu In Khitan Large Script

Khitan,originated from Donghu,was one of the ancient northern nationalities in China.At the beginning of the 10 th century,the Khitan people,by imitating the strokes of Chinese characters,created the Khitan large script and the Khitan small script.The two writing systems were used in parallel with Chinese character in Liao Dynasty for more than 200 years,and continued to be used until the second year of Mingchang of Jin Dynasty(1191)after Liao was destroyed by Jin.The Khitan scripts have been used for more than 270 years(920-1191 AD)in total.By the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty,they have become dead scripts that no one could recognize.The Khitan studies began with the reappearance of the Eulogies of Emperor and Empress in Khitan scripts in the1920 s.Among them,limited by its logographic nature and the lack of materials,the overall research process of the study of Khitan large script is relatively slow.In recent years,with the excavation of new materials,the continuous growth of research teams and the improvement of research methods,the study of Khitan large script has ushered in unprecedented development and opportunities.The Epitaph of Xiao Chenge Biexu in Khitan large script is a precious inscription epitaph obtained by the Khitan Research Team of Inner Mongolia University at Chifeng,Inner Mongolia in 2018.The epitaph is beautifully carved,with 27 lines of Khitan large scripts,a total of 1,056 scripts.Except for 5 Khitan large scripts,which cannot be identified due to the wear of the inscription or rubbings,the other scripts are neatly carved,and are clearly distinguishable.After careful and in-depth study,the author found that it is a new material in Khitan large script with great research value,where there were some new Khitan large scripts in the epitaph,recording the names of people,places,mountains and official titles that were not found in other published epitaphs in Khitan large script.Taking the Epitaph of Xiao Chenge Biexu in Khitan large script as the research object,this paper,with extensive reference to the research results obtained in the research works on Khitan literature at home and abroad,combined with the inscriptions in Khitan large and small scripts discovered so far,makes a detailed and in-depth study of the epitaph rubbings,mainly by using the research methods of comparative philology and historical comparative linguistics,and with the help of computer technology.First of all,according to the epitaph rubbings and rubbings photos,the author input the Khitan large scripts seen in the epitaph into the computer,and through repeated proofreading and collation,formed a reliable electronic record.Secondly,based on the latest research results obtained from Khitan research papers at home and abroad,and in this study,the corresponding meanings are marked in Chinese under the interpreted words.Thirdly,through reviewing in great detail the pronunciation and meaning of Khitan large scripts in epitaph text in turn,comprehensively investigating the contents of the epitaph,the paper reconstructs and interprets the pronunciation and meaning of some Khitan large and small scripts.Finally,the words and grammatical phenomena seen in the related epitaphs in Khitan large and small scripts are studied.The main contributions and research results of this paper are reflected in the following five aspects:1.In terms of the form,the paper identified 44 new forms of Khitan large script through careful checking,and sorted out 41 groups of Khitan large scripts and1 group of Khitan small scripts with different writing forms that denote the same word,and 2 groups of spelled forms of Khitan large scripts.2.In terms of pronunciation,through the interpretation of new materials,the pronunciation of 64 Khitan large scripts,such as(?)(?u-n or ?e-n),(?)(?,?u or ??),(?)(l-?),(?)?-?(?)? or (?)-?(?)uetc.are reconstructed or revised,and the pronunciation of 8 glyphs,such as(?)(ri),(?)(ri),(?)((?))(?s or s),(?)(x-ri-i or k-ri-i),(?)((?)ul? or q?l?),(?)(t??u),(?)(ur),(?)(uk)etc.are reconstructed.3.In terms of word meaning,the paper interprets in total of 48 Khitan large scripts,including the names such as (?)“Nielugun”,(?)“Hudujin”,(?)“Wang Yan”,(?)“Nielugu” and (?)“Yugulin”,the official names such as(?)“Great Prime Minister” and(?) “Wenban Taibao”,and the tribal name and the clan name such as(?) “Wotuwan Wugu” and(?)“Miegunai”,as well as other inherent words in Khitan large script.In the meanwhile,the paper interprets 7 Khitan small scripts such as(?)((?))“loyal”,(?)“(as)manager” and so forth.4.In terms of the comparative study of Khitan large and small scripts,125 corresponding relations between Khitan large and small scripts have been identified,including 91 newly interpreted corresponding relations and 34 newly identified corresponding relations.5.In terms of grammar rules,the following grammatical phenomena have been observed: The “gender” grammatical rule in the Khitan that the “feminine” suffixes and words can denote both “feminine” and “masculine” gender,while “masculine”suffixes and words can only denote “masculine” gender is also applicable to the qualifiers(?),(?)“the elder(of the two)”,“the eldest(of three or more)” in Khitan large and small script;(?)corresponds to the saying“Misfortune lies within fortune,and vice versa.”;Verb additive component(?)(s-li)can express “after” in time;Among the verbs demoting “to die”,when(?)(iu)is used as a predicate in a sentence,the subject of it is female singular,and when(?)(ou-uei)is used as a predicate in a sentence,the subject of it is male singular,while when(?)((?))(ou-?)is used as a predicate of a sentence,the subject of it is female plural;The Mediaeval pronunciation of the Chinese character “Yan”may contain phoneme “n”;The Khitan large script(?)(ri)can serve as plural additive component.In addition,through the interpretation of “Chen”,the author speculates that the Khitan inheritance custom covers a broader content,which not only denotes the inheritance of the ancestral hall in the general sense,but also denotes the marriage customs such as renewal of marriage.