Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Mongolian |
MongolianAdjective1. Of or relating to the modern Mongolian People's Republic; "the Mongolian embassy". 2. Of or relating to the region of Mongolia or its people or their languages or cultures; "the Mongol invaders"; "a Mongolian pony"; "Mongolian syntax strongly resembles Korean syntax". Noun1. A member of the nomadic peoples of Mongolia. 2. A family of Altaic language spoken in Mongolia. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "Mongolian" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1871. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Geography | Inhabitant of Mongolia. Source: European Union. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Mongolia is a region of East and Central Asia comprising the independent state of Mongolia, People's Republic of China-controlled Inner Mongolia and other small regions, inhabited by the Mongols. In the narrow sense, Mongolia refers to the state of Mongolia in the north, which consists of Outer Mongolia and Hovd.
Note: this article is about the region. For the country of Mongolia, see Mongolia (country).
Administrative districts of Mongolia during the Qing Dynasty
The distrists of the Mongols during the late Qing Dynasty. This list is mainly based on Menggu youmuji (蒙古遊牧記).
Regions under the direct control
Inner Mongolia
- Chakhar
- Guihua Tümed
- Külün Buyir (Barghu)
Outer Mongolia
- Jirim League
- Khorchin
- Ghorlus
- Dörbed
- Jalayid
- Josutu League
- Kharachin
- Tümed
- Juu Uda League
- Aokhan
- Naiman
- Baarin
- Jarud
- Aru Khorchin
- Ongnuud
- Kesigüten
- Khalkha Left Wing
- Sili-yin Ghoul League
- Üjümüchin
- Khuuchid
- Sünid
- Abagha
- Abaghanar
- Ulaan Chab League
- Dörben Küüked
- Muumingghan
- Urad
- Khalkha Right Wing
- Yeke Juu League
- Ordus
Oyirad
- Kerülen Bars Khota League
- Chechen Khan
- Khan Uula League
- Tösiyetü Khan
- Checherlig League
- Sayin Noyan
- Biidüriye Nuur League
- Jasaghtu Khan
The Mongols outside the Qing Dynasty
- Alashan Oolud
- Ejine Torghuud
- Köke Nuur
- Khoshuud Banners
- Choros Banners
- Khoyid Banner
- Torghuud Banners
- Khalkha Banner
- Other four Oyirad leagues
See also: List of Mongolia-related topics
- Buriyad
- Kalmykia (Oyirad)
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Mongolia."
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
The term Mongolian can refer to:
This is a disambiguation page; that is, one that just points to other pages that might otherwise have the same name. If you followed a link here, you might want to go back and fix that link to point to the appropriate specific page.
- A person, place or thing from Mongolia.
- A member of the Mongolian people, known as the Mongols.
- The Mongolian language.
- Also, the offensive terms "mongoloid" and "mongolism" were once used to describe individuals with Down's syndrome.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Mongolian."
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
The Mongolian language historically has three writing systems that were used over the centuries.Two writing systems based on simplified Chinese ideograms and Sinogram-typed alphabetic block (see Hangul), respectively, were used to write the Mongolic language of Khitan, also used to write the Tungusic Jurchen language in their modified forms. These two systems, called "Khitan/Jurchen big characters" and "Khitan/Jurchen small characters" fell into disuse when North China reverted to a homogenous Han Chinese culture.
The most recent one is a slightly modified Cyrillic script. This alphabet is a phonemic alphabet, meaning that there is a high level of consistency in the representation of individual sounds.
Intermediate between these is the Mongolian script proper, in 12-13 centuries derived from the Uighur alphabet, descendant of Sogdian alphabet which came from Syriac alphabet. Perhaps its two most notable features are that it is a vertical script, and that it is the only such script that is written from left to right. (All other vertical writing systems are written right to left.) In fact, the Uighurs changed the orientation of their script from horizontal to vertical to emulate the Chinese writing system. The visual effect is that of Syriac rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise. This alphabet is reasonably accurate with respect to the representation of consonants, but fails to distinguish several vowels. The situation is somewhat comparable to the various dialects of English, which must represent 10 or more vowels with only 5 letters.
See also: Languages of China
External Link
- Mongolian Alphabet
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Mongolian alphabet."
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
The Mongolian language is the primary language of most of the residents of Mongolia, with the majority of people speaking the Khalkha dialect. It is also spoken in some of the surrounding areas in provinces of China and the Russian Federation. Mongolian is a member of the Altaic language family, which also includes Turkish.Mongolian has been written in a variety of alphabets over the years. The official Mongolian alphabet was created in the 12th century, although it has undergone transformations and occasionally been supplanted by other scripts since then.
See also: Languages of China
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Mongolian language."
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
The Mongols are an ethnic group that originated in what is now Mongolia, Russia, and China, particularly Inner Mongolia. They currently number about 10 million and speak the Mongol language. They form one of the 56 nationalities officially recognized by the People's Republic of China.
History
Though few in number (approximately 200,000 people at the height of their empire), Mongols were important in world history. Under the leadership of Genghis Khan, the Mongols created the largest land empire in world history, ruling 13.8 million square miles and more than 100 million people. At their height, they controlled most of China, Korea, Afghanistan, Georgia, Armenia, Russia, and Hungary, and the lands between.
The People
The Mongols were a nomadic people who in the 13th century found themselves encompassed by large, city-dwelling agrarian civilizations. However, none of these civilizations were part of a strong central state.
Asia, Russia, and the Middle East were either declining kingdoms, or divided city states. Taking the strategic initiative, the Mongols exploited this power vacuum and linked all of these areas into a mutually supporting trade network.
The Mongols were completely dependent on trade with the city-dwelling peoples. As nomads, they could not accumulate a surplus against bad times, or support artisans.
The conquest began in 1200, because the kingdom that controlled northern China reduced trade with the Mongols. They attacked to survive.
Conquest, in the Khan's initial viewpoint, did not consist of subordination of competing cultures to the nomadic way of life, but rather in their destruction.
As a nomad, Genghis Khan is supposed to not have understood (or cared) of the supposed benefits in the city dwellers' way of life. This contrasts with their dependence on trade with the cities. However, the economic theories of these relationships still lay seven centuries in the future.
The Khan's initial plan was said to consist of destroying conquered opponents' territories, destroying all traces of their civilization, and converting the lands to pasture for his herds.
However, Sorghaghtani Beki (see Philosophy of Empire, below) pointed out a previously unseen advantage to keeping the status quo. If the city-dwelling peoples were allowed to continue their way of life (strange as it may have seemed to the Khan), they could produce a surplus of food and goods, a portion of which could be paid to the Khan as taxes.
Given the Khan's extraordinary success in his aggressive foreign policy, this wealth could be equally extraordinary. After some thought, the Khan agreed, taking his tribute in tax, and saving countless lives and cultures in the process.
Genghis Khan in particular never had any intention of creating a world empire. Each of his conquests was started by a specific dispute over the developing trade network (the treatment of Mongols or Mongol merchants, or disadvantageous terms for trade).
One such example is the capture of Yanjing (literally, the north capital, in Chinese) in 1215. He refused to exploit the capture of the capital of all of northern China, a real prize. After his success, he simply returned home to the steppe.
The same pattern was repeated throughout the conquest of Western Asia, taken at a breakneck pace over only 6 years. It was a simple formula, conquer the resistance, establish advantageous trade terms, and return.
The hidden benefit of this reluctance was to avoid the trap that all civilizations have made in trying to create a large empire on purpose. Simply put, rapid expansion leads to overextension of the empire, and an inability to protect outlying districts from invasion. Ancient Rome is a prime example of this problem.
Military Innovation
The western expansion was a success for the empire until 1242. As they encountered the peoples of Europe, the Mongols with their advanced way of warfare were unstoppable. The Mongols used (and by doing so, introduced) several revolutionary military ideas to European combatants.
Thus, when light cavalry meets heavy cavalry, the lighter, more numerous, faster moving, bow using, well-articulated light cavalry will usually defeat mounted knights - the cream of European military power.
- Use of articulation. Mongols used a system of horns and flags, blown or raised-and-lowered by the field commander. This allowed them to move their troops to preplanned positions on the field of battle, or modes of attack or retreat (such as charge, withdraw, or flank). In addition, they utilized subcommanders that were empowered to make decisions on the spot.
- Mongols based their forces almost wholly on light cavalry. Light cavalry consists of primarily archers and light swordsman mounted on horseback. Mobile and numerous, light cavalry can choose its battles, retreating from forces it cannot handle, such as heavy cavalry. Heavy cavalry lacks archers (who can kill at range) and is designed mainly to provide shock - using weight, speed, and fear of their massed movement (no one wants to be trampled to death) to break enemy heavy infantry lines.
If a mongol soldier was struck with an arrow, it penetrated the skin and sank into the flesh. However, the silk was not cut but pulled into the wound. Mongol doctors could easily pull an arrow from the wound, because it was wrapped in silken cloth. This reduced the chance of infection and made cleaning and dressing the wound easier, hopefully returning the skilled warrior to combat more quickly.
- Their conception of armor was markedly different. European knights used heavy plate armour (sheets of loops of chain and pieces of metal plate to protect the wearer, restricting his vision and movement). Mongols used silken clothes. The silk cloth allowed Mongol warriors greater ranges of movement, better vision and endurance. It still provided resistance to projectile weapons. It thus gave them a qualitative advantage over their opponents.
This simple procedure saved many lives. In a prolonged conflict, the Mongols retained more battlefield veterans than their opponents. This usually resulted in a situation where an army of veteran Mongols faced a conscript peasant army, with disastrous results for the Mongols' opponents.
Since their way of warfare was superior (articulated veteran light cavalry) they could not be bested in combat. The traditional solution to this problem is to attack the opponents' supply tail (food, fields, water, etc.). However, their city-dwelling opponents were tied to a supply tail, not the Mongols.
- Mongols utilized doctrines never before seen. As nomads, Mongols carried all of their wealth and provisions with them on horseback. It was equivalent to placing an entire city on horseback. It was more mobile than many of their opponents' armed forces, who were tied to the towns for supplies.
This doctrines assured their victory against foes throughout their history. The closest modern analogue is the modern aircraft carrier, with its ability to bring an entire city of warriors next door to an opponent on short notice, strike at them, and retreat away, without the possibility of pursuit.
First, the Mongols would provide an opportunity to surrender, usually on favourable (certainly to the Mongols) terms. These offers were typically dictated to the first major population center in a new territory.
- Mongols' effective use of terror is often credited for the unprecedented speed with which Mongol armies spread across western Asia and eastern Europe.
If the offer was refused, the Mongols would sack the city, execute the entire population (save a handful of skilled workers), and burn the city and the surrounding fields to the ground. They would often construct an edifice of cleaned skulls outside the walls of the destroyed city to serve as a reminder of their passage.
Finally, they would allow a few survivors to flee, to spread terror throughout the countryside. By first offering favourable (or at least acceptable) terms for surrender, and then invariably completely destroying any resistance, it is argued that Mongols forestalled most combat with invaded peoples. The Mongols quickly developed a reputation of being unstoppable, genocidal opponents. After the initial victories, and proof of the Mongols good intentions, it became more difficult for rulers to convince their people to resist an invasion.
Philosophy of Empire
The most famous Mongol in the 13th century (much more so than Genghis Khan himself) was Kublai Khan's mother, and Genghis Khan's daughter-in-law, Sorghaghtani Beki. She is mentioned by numerous, far-flung contemporary 13th century writers, such as the Persians, European missionaries, and Arab scholars as the most renowned of all Mongols. A Middle Eastern physician commented, "If I were to see among the race of women another who is so remarkable a woman as this, I would say that the race of women is superior to the race of men." The complement is a notable admission from an individual in a culture well known for views of women's naturally subservient role.
Beki's greatest single feat was to recognize the serious problems the Mongols would encounter in running a transcontinental empire. Although illiterate herself, as she groomed each of her four sons (all to become Khans) for rule, she made certain each would learn a different foreign language used in ruling their subject peoples. In addition, she educated court retainers and nobles in the religions of each subject people and sent them to become members of the clergy in each region. Religious tolerance was mandated by law (unheard of in the ancient world, and many areas of the world today), and all religions were equally supported throughout the empire. This eliminated a source of conflict around which resistance to Mongol rule could be based.
Her greatest contribution to Mongol rule was that she realized that destruction of subject peoples and their civilizations would be counterproductive. Thus, instead of remaking China into a Mongol pasture, she supported existing Chinese society. The increased production realized by enlightened Mongol rule would lead to increased tax and tribute. Each of her sons followed the same philosophy, ensuring continuity and stability.
Tolerance, religious and economic support, and literacy were the innovations that took a small nomad people to rulers of all they surveyed.
Timeline of Conquest
The Mongols attempted two unsuccessful invasions of Japan. The first invasion fleet was utterly destroyed by a typhoon (kamikaze). The Mongolian fleets survived the typhoon the second time but the landed troops, starved because their provisions had been lost in the typhoon, were annihilated by Japanese infantry and samurai.
- 1200, Northern China - Unknown number killed
- 1215, Yanjing China (today Beijing) - Unknown number killed
- 1221, Nishapur, Persia - ~1.7 million killed in assault
- 1221, Merv, Persia - ~1.3 million killed in assault
- 1221, Meru Chahjan, Persia - ~1.3 million killed in assault
- 1221, Rayy, Persia - ~1.6 million killed in assault
- 1226, Tangut Campaign - Gengis Khan launches war against the northern China people of Tangut.
- 1258, Baghdad - ~800,000 people. Results in destruction of Abbasid dynasty
- 1226-1266 (re-check dates) - ~18 million reported killed in conquest of northern Chinese territory. This number estimated by Kublai Khan himself.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Mongols."
Synonyms: MongolianSynonyms: Mongol (n), Mongolic (n), Mongolic language (n). (additional references) |
Crosswords: Mongolian |
| English words defined with "Mongolian": Calmucks, chigetai, Chuvash ♦ dziggetai ♦ epicanthic fold, epicanthus, Equus hemionus hemionus, Evenk ♦ Finns ♦ Golden Horde ♦ Kalka, Khalka, Khalkha, Khirghiz, Kirghiz, Kirgiz ♦ lama, Lapps ♦ Manchu, Mongol, Mongol Tatar, Mongolia ♦ Tamburlaine, Tamerlane, tartar, Tatar, Timur, Timur Lenk, Tungus ♦ Yakoots. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "Mongolian": Brushfield, Brushfield spots, Brushfield's spots ♦ Chinese Army technique ♦ Mongolian Hordes technique ♦ Nevus of Ota ♦ QUEUE ♦ razor, Russian. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "Mongolian": koumiss. (references) |
| Domain | Title | ||
References | |||
Books |
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Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | The Edrengiyn Nuruu forms a transition zone between the Mongolian steppes to the north and the arid deserts of northern China to the south. Credit: NASA. |  | Mongolian bull and jak--wood carving by the master Gebschi of the Ulan Bator fellowship of artists. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Fret-board and bow of a Mongolian violin, made by the master Abirmid of Ara-Changaj. Credit: Library of Congress. | ||
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
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| "Sunset Buds" by Elisabeth Howe Commentary: "The buds of a mongolian pear tree, glowing in the light of the sunset." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. |
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Economic History | Mongolia | Legal education at Mongolian State Univ. (references) |
Mongolia | Mongolian Democratic Association organized. (references) | |
Mongolia | The Mongolian People's Republic was proclaimed on November 25, 1924. (references) | |
Political Economy | Mongolia | In 2000 the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP), which held power from 1921 to 1996, won a sweeping victory in the parliamentary elections, leaving only 4 of 76 seats to opposition members. (references) |
Political Rights | Mongolia | In 2000 parliamentary elections brought the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP) back into power. (references) |
Worker Rights | Mongolia | Most union members are affiliated with the Mongolian Trade Unions Confederation, but some are affiliated with the newer Association of Free Trades Unions. (references) |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | RUSSIAN, n. A person with a Caucasian body and a Mongolian soul. A Tartar Emetic. S |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Mongolian" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 96.50% of the time. "Mongolian" is used about 143 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 96.5% | 138 | 27,024 |
| Noun (proper) | 3.5% | 5 | 157,705 |
| Total | 100.00% | 143 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "Mongolian": mongolian Hordes technique ♦ mongolian monetary unit ♦ mongolian people's republic ♦ mongolian race ♦ mongolian republic. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "Mongolian": mongolian-chinese, mongolian-language, mongolian-soviet. | |
Ending with "Mongolian": anglo-mongolian, sino-mongolian, soviet-mongolian, trans-mongolian. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "Mongolian"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Afrikaans | Mongools, Mongool (Mongol). (various references) | |
Albanian | mongol (mogul, mongol). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | монголски език, монголски (mongol), монголец (mongol). (various references) | |
Chinese | 蒙古人. (various references) | |
Czech | mongolský (mongol), mongolština (mongol), mongol (mongol). (various references) | |
Danish | mongol. (various references) | |
Dutch | Mongools. (various references) | |
Esperanto | mongolo (Mongol), mongola. (various references) | |
Finnish | mongolialainen. (various references) | |
French | Mongol (Mongol). (various references) | |
German | Mongole (Mongol), mongolisch, mongolin (mongol). (various references) | |
Greek | Μογγόλος, μογγόλοσ (mogul, mongol), μογγολικόσ. (various references) | |
Hebrew | מונגולי. (various references) | |
Hungarian | mongol (mongol, mongolic). (various references) | |
Italian | mongolo (mongol). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 蒙古語 . (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | もうこご. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | ongolianmay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | mongol (mogul, mongol, xanthippe). (various references) | |
Romanian | mongol, locuitor din mongolia, limba mongolã. (various references) | |
Russian | монгольский (mogul, mongol), монгол (mogul, mongol). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | mongolski jezik, mongolski (mongol), mongolac. (various references) | |
Spanish | mongol (mongol). (various references) | |
Swedish | mongol (mongol). (various references) | |
Turkish | moğolca, moğol (mogul, mongol). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | монгольський (mogul, mongol), монгол (mogul, mongol). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Misspellings | |
"Mongolian" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: mangurian, Margolin, Mlongoti, Mongalla, Mongolica, Monolena, Montolieu, Ongoiba. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| Words rhyming with "Mongolian" (pronounced 'Mon*go"li*an'): Abderian, Absinthian, Academian, Academician, Acadian, Acanthopterygian, Acaridan, Achean, Achillean, Acoustician, Acritan, Acroceraunian, Acropolitan, Adamantean, Adessenarian, Adonean, Adrian, AEgean, AEolian, AEonian, AEsculapian, AEsthetican, Ahriman, Airman, Airwoman, Alabastrian, Alan, Alban, Albanian, Albigensian, Aldebaran, Alderman, Alexandrian, Algerian, Algonkian, Algonquian, Alkoran, Alloxan, Almsman, Alogian, Alongshoreman, Alphabetarian, Altitudinarian, Amatorian, Amazonian, Amebean, Ametabolian, Amoebean, Amoebian, Amphigean. (additional references) |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-g-i-l-m-n-n-o-o" | |
-2 letters: glonoin, loaming, loaning, looming, moaning, mooning, nominal. | |
-3 letters: amnion, glioma, gnomon, gonion, lagoon, laming, lingam, logion, longan, looing, malign, mignon, mongol, mooing, naming, nomina, oilman. | |
-4 letters: algin, align, aloin, along, amigo, amino, amnio, among, anion, gamin, gloam, gloom, gonia, igloo, imago, liang, ligan, liman, linga, lingo, logan, logia, logoi, mango, mongo, moola, nomoi. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-g-i-l-m-n-n-o-o" | |
+1 letter: cognominal, lampooning. | |
+2 letters: monolingual. | |
+3 letters: monolinguals, monsignorial. | |
+4 letters: meningococcal, monogenically. | |
+5 letters: conglomerating, conglomeration, emotionalizing, mongrelization, nongeometrical. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Slideshow 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Images: Digital Art 8. Quotations: Non-fiction | 9. Usage Frequency 10. Expressions 11. Expressions: Internet 12. Translations: Modern | 13. Derivations 14. Rhymes 15. Anagrams 16. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
