| Rouran | |
|---|---|
| Ruanruan, Ruan-ruan, Juan-juan | |
| Native to | Rouran Khaganate |
| Region | Mongolia andnorthern China |
| Era | 4th century AD – 6th century AD |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | None (mis) |
| Glottolog | None |
Rouran (Chinese:柔然), also calledRuanruan,Ruan-ruan orJuan-juan (Chinese:蠕蠕), is an unclassifiedextinct language ofMongolia andInner Mongolia, spoken in theRouran Khaganate from the 4th to the 6th centuries AD, The Rouran state was undoubtedly multi-ethnic, but there is no definite evidence as to their language.[1] The received view is that the relationships of the language remain a puzzle and that it may be an isolate.[2] Vovin through the analysis of the Brāhmī Bugut and Khüis Tolgoi consider it a likely early precursor toMongolic.[3] According to Alexander Savelyev and Choongwon Jeong the identification of Brāhmī Bugut and Khüis Tolgoi with the Rouran language remains problematic because of the dating. They further write According to Vovin (2019a), the Brāhmī Bugut inscription is dated to ca. 584–587 AD, and the Khüis Tolgoi inscription must have been erected between 604 and 620 AD. As both were created several decades after the Rouran Khaganate had been destroyed, it is unsafe to make conclusions on the composition of the Rouran population, or its elite, on the basis of these inscriptions.[4]
Peter A. Boodberg claimed in 1935 that the Rouran language was Mongolic by analysing Chinese transcriptions of Rouran names.[5] Atwood (2013) notes that Rouranscalqued theSogdian wordpūr "son" into their language as *kʻobun (Chinese transliteration: 去汾MC *kʰɨʌH-bɨun >Mandarinqùfén); which, according to Atwood, is cognate withMiddle Mongolkö'ün "son".[6]Alexander Vovin noted thatOld Turkic had borrowed some words from an unknown language not part of the Altaicsprachbund that might have been Rouran,[7] arguing that if so, the language would be possibly alanguage isolate, though evidence was scant.[5] In 2019, with the emergence of new evidence through the analysis of theBrāhmī Bugut andKhüis Tolgoi, Vovin changed his view, suggesting Rouran was, in fact, aMongolic language, close but not identical toMiddle Mongolian.[3]
Features of Rouran included:[5]
Rouran had the feminine gender suffix-tu-.[5]
Rouran vocabulary included:[5][3]
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