The Etymology of “Manchu”: A Critical Evaluation of the Riverside Hypothesis
In: International Journal of Eurasian LinguisticsSFB 1287 – Limits of Variability in Language, Project C08 – Consequences of Head Argument Order for Syntax (CHAOS)
Search for other papers by Andreas Hölzl in
Current site
Google Scholar
Abstract
Manchu is the name of a people that has an important place in world history. While the list of etymologies of the name already encompasses several dozen proposals, none is widely accepted. The most promising etymology from a linguistic perspective can be characterized as the “riverside hypothesis”. It states that the name is that of the lower Amur that was later used for peoples living along that river. This paper takes a fresh look at this hypothesis, discussing previous approaches, rejecting earlier arguments against it, and evaluating the plausibility of the hypothesis by establishing a detailed semantic model and a list of sound laws. It concludes that, despite minor phonological issues, the hypothesis is very likely the correct one.
Purchase
Buy instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):
Institutional Login
Log in with Open Athens, Shibboleth, or your institutional credentials
Personal login
Log in with your brill.com account
-
Aalto, Pentti. 1977. G. J. Ramstedts Onkor-Solonisches Wörterverzeichnis. Rocznik Orientalistyczny 39. 55–84.
-
Aixinjueluo, Yingsheng 爱新觉罗瀛生. 2014. Manyu kouyu yindian 满语口语音典. Beijing: Huayi chubanshe.
-
Alonso de la Fuente, José Andrés. 2010/11. Written Manchu uju ‘head’. Ural-Altaische Jahrbücher, Neue Folge 24. 204–226.
-
An, Jun 安俊. 1986. Hezheyu jianzhi 赫哲语简志. Beijing: Minzu chubanshe.
-
An, Shuangcheng 安双成. 2007. Man han da cidian 满汉大词典. Shenyang: Liaoning minzu chubanshe.
-
Andree, Richard. 1867. Das Amur-Gebiet und seine Bedeutung. Leipzig: Verlag von Otto Spamer.
-
Arsen’ev, V. K. & Albina H. Girfanova (ed.). 2008. Russko-oročskij slovar’. Saint Petersburg: Filologičeskij fakul’tet Sankt-Peterburgskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta.
-
Atkinson, Thomas W. 1861. Travels in the Regions of the Upper and Lower Amoor and the Russian acquisitions on the confines of India and China. London: Hurst & Blackett.
-
Atwood, Christopher P. 2015. The Qai, the Khongai, and the Names of the Xiōngnú. International Journal of Eurasian Studies 2. 34–63.
-
Avrorin, Valentin A. 1981. Sintaksičeskie issledovanija po nanajskomy jazyku. Leningrad: Nauka.
-
Avrorin, Valentin A. & Elena P. Lebedeva. 1978. Oročskie teksty i slovar’. Leningrad: Nauka.
-
Benzing, Johannes. 1956. Die tungusischen Sprachen: Versuch einer vergleichenden Grammatik. Mainz: Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur.
-
BYZJ = Biyuan zaji笔苑杂记. https://m.kulib.kyoto-u.ac.jp/webopac/RB00023634.
-
Bulatova, N. Ja. 1999. Jazyk saxalinskix èvenkov. Saint Petersburg: Beskonfliktnyj Sever.
-
Bulatova, N. Ja. & Stefano Cotrozzi. 2004. Ewenkische Erzählungen aus der Insel Sachalin. Bonn: Verlag für Kultur und Wissenschaft.
-
Brylkin, A. 1861. Zaměčanija o svojstvax” jazyka xodzenov” i xodzenskij slovar’. In R. Maak″ (ed.), Putešestvie po doline reki Ussuri, vol. 1., 204–225. Saint Petersburg: V tip. V. Bezobrazova i Komp.
-
Byington, Mark E. 2016. The ancient state of Puyŏ in Northeast Asia. Archaeology and historical memory. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
-
Chaoke 朝克 D. O. 2017. Ewenkezu san da fangyan cihui bijiao 鄂温克族三大方言词汇比较. Beijing: Shehui kexue wenxian chubanshe.
-
Chaoke 朝克 D. O. & Kajia 卡佳. 2017. Nehe ewenkeyu jiben cihui 讷河鄂温克语基本 词汇. Beijing: Shehui kexue wenxian chubanshe.
-
Chaoke 朝克, D. O. & Kalina 卡丽娜. 2017. Arong ewenkeyu 阿荣鄂温克语. Beijing: Shehui kexue wenxian chubanshe.
-
Chen, Jiexian [Ch’en Chieh-hsien] 陈捷先. 1965. Manzhou congkao 满洲丛考. Taipei: Guoli taiwan daxue wenxueyuan.
-
Chen, Peng 陈鹏. 2011. “Manzhou” mingcheng shukao “满洲” 名称述考. Manzu yanjiu 满族研究 3. 95–103.
-
Cincius, Vera I. 1949. Sravnitel’naja fonetika tunguso-man’čžurskix jazykov. Leningrad: Nauka.
-
Cincius, Vera I. 1975/1977. Sravnitel’nyj slovar’ tunguso-man’čžurskix jazykov. Leningrad: Nauka.
-
Cincius, Vera I. 1982. Negidal’skij jazyk. Leningrad: Nauka.
-
Collins, Perry McDonough. 1860. A voyage down the Amoor. D. Appleton and Company.
-
Crossley, Pamela K. 1997. The Manchus. Oxford: Blackwell.
-
Dai, Guangyu 戴光宇. 2012. Sanjiazi manyu yuyin yanjiu 三家子满语语音研究. Beijing: Beijing daxue chubanshe.
-
Dao’erji 道尔基. 1998. E han cidian 鄂汉词典. Hailar: Neimenggu wenhua chubanshe.
-
Doerfer, Gerhard. 1978a. Classification problems of Tungus. In Gerhard Doerfer & Michael Weiers (eds.), Tungusica, vol. 1, 1–26. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
-
Doerfer, Gerhard. 1978b. Urtungusisch *ö. In Gerhard Doerfer & Michael Weiers (eds.), Tungusica, vol. 1, 66–116. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
-
Doerfer, Gerhard. 1985. Mongolo-Tungusica. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz.
-
Doerfer, Gerhard, Wolfram Hesche & Hartwig Scheinhardt. 1980. Lamutisches Wörterbuch. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
-
Doerfer, Gerhard & Michael Knüppel. 2004. Etymologisch-ethnologisches Wörterbuch tungusischer Dialekte. Hildesheim: Olms.
-
Doerfer, Gerhard & Michael Knüppel. 2013. Armanisches Wörterbuch. Nordhausen: Verlag Traugott Bautz.
-
Dong, Xingye 董兴业. 2016. Hezheyu 赫哲语. Harbin: Heilongjiang renmin chubanshe.
-
Elliott, Mark C. 2000. The limits of Tartary: Manchuria in imperial and national geographies. The Journal of Asian Studies 59(3). 603–646.
-
Enhebatu 恩和巴图, Merden. 1995. Manyu kouyu yanjiu 满语口语研究. Hohot: Neimonggu daxue chubanshe.
-
Farquhar, David M. 1978. Emperor as bodhisattva in the governance of the Ch’ing empire. Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 38(1). 5–34.
-
Fillmore, Charles. 1985. Frames and the semantics of understanding. Quaderni di Semantica 6(2). 222–254.
-
Franke, Herbert. 1994. The Chin dynasty. In Herbert Franke & Denis Twitchett (eds.), The Cambridge History of China, Volume 6: Alien regimes and border states, 907–1368, 215–320. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
-
Franke, Herbert. 2000. Old Jurchen Words in Chinese transcription. Some tentative reconstructions. In Lutz Bieg, Erling von Mende & Martina Siebert (eds.), Ad Seres et Tungusos. Festschrift für Martin Gimm, 139–146. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
-
Gibert, Lucien. 1934. Dictionnaire historique et géographique de la Mandchourie. Hongkong: Imprimerie de la Société des Missions-Étrangéres.
-
Grenoble, Lenore A. & Lindsay J. Whaley. 2003. The case for dialect continua in Tungusic: Plural morphology. In Dee A. Holisky & Kevin Tuite (eds.) Current Trends in Caucasian, East European and Inner Asian Linguistics, 97–122. Amsterdam: Benjamins.
-
Grube, Wilhelm. 1900. Goldisch-Deutsches Wörterverzeichnis. Sankt Petersburg: Kaiserliche Akademie der Wissenschaften.
-
Gruzdeva, Ekaterina & Marina Temina. 2020. Nivkh toponyms in the Amur-Sakhalin region of the Russian Far East. Altai Hakpo 30. 167–204.
-
Guy, R. Kent. 2002. Who were the Manchus? A review essay. The Journal of Asian Studies 61(1). 151–164.
-
Han Youfeng 韩有峰 & Meng Shuxian 孟淑贤. 2019. Elunchunyu hanyu cidian 鄂伦春语汉语词典. Beijing: Beifang wenyi chubanshe.
-
Harrington, Laura. 2017. Mañjuśrī. In Oxford research encyclopedia of religion. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.013.186.
-
Hasibate’er 哈斯巴特尔. 2016. Aoluguya fangyan yanjiu 敖鲁古雅方言研究. Beijing: Minzu chubanshe.
-
Hauer, Erich. 2007. Handwörterbuch der Mandschusprache. 2nd edn. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
-
Hölzl, Andreas. 2015. The role of rivers in language, culture, and identity of Tungusic peoples. Münchner Nordische Studien 19. 183–191.
-
Hölzl, Andreas. 2018. Udi, Udihe, and the language(s) of the Kyakala. International Journal of Diachronic Linguistics and Linguistic Reconstruction 15. 111–146.
-
Hölzl, Andreas. 2020. Bala (China). Language snapshot. Language Documentation and Description 19. 162–170.
-
Hölzl, Andreas. 2021. The only known text from Bala, an extinct Tungusic language. Studia Orientalia Electronica 9(1). 173–191.
-
Hölzl, Andreas. preprint. The complexification of Tungusic interrogative systems. In Dankmar Enke, Thilo Weber, Larry Hyman, Johanna Nichols & Guido Seiler (ed.), Language change for the worse (Studies in Diversity Linguistics), 213–243. Berlin: Language Science Press.
-
Hölzl, Andreas & Yadi Hölzl. 2019. A wedding ceremony of the Kyakala in China: Language and ritual. International Journal of Diachronic Linguistics and Linguistic Reconstruction 16. 87–144.
-
Hölzl, Andreas & Thomas E. Payne. 2022. Introduction. In Andreas Hölzl & Thomas E. Payne (eds.), Tungusic languages: Past and present. (Studies in Diversity Linguistics 32), 1–20. Berlin: Language Science Press.
-
Huang, Zhangjian 黄彰健. 1967. Manzhouguo guohao kao 满洲国国号考. Bulletin of the Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica 37(2). 459–473.
-
Huang, Pei. 1990. New light on the origins of the Manchus. Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 50(1). 239–282.
-
Ikegami, Jirō. 1974. Versuch einer Klassifikation der tungusischen Sprachen. In Georg Hazai & Peter Zieme (eds.), Sprache, Geschichte und Kultur der altaischen Völker, 271–272. Berlin: Akademie Verlag.
-
Ikegami, Jiro. 1989. The Lower Amur and Sungari Basins from the viewpoint of toponymy and ethnonymy. In Giovanni Stary (ed.), Proceedings of the XXVIII Permanent International Altaistic Conference, 123–129. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
-
Ikegami, Jirō 池上二良. 1999. Manshūgo kenkyū 満洲語研究. Tōkyō: Kyūko Shoin.
-
Ikegami, Jirō 池上二良. 1997. Uirutago jiten ウイルタ語辞典. Sapporo: Hokkaido University Press.
-
Janhunen, Juha. 2008. Liao: A Manchurian hydronym and its ethnohistorical context. Studia Etymologica Cracoviensia 13. 89–102.
-
Janhunen, Juha. 2012. The expansion of Tungusic as an ethnic and linguistic process. Andrej Malchukov & Lindsay J. Whaley (eds.), Recent advances in Tungusic Linguistics, 5–16. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
-
Jettmar, H. M. 1937. Der Stamm der oberen Golden (Die Sungari-Ussuri-Gruppe). Mitteilungen der Anthropologischen Gesellschaft in Wien 5. 245–276.
-
Jia, Yuping 贾玉平 2017. Jianming hezheyu hanyu duizhao简明赫哲语汉语对照. In Sun Yaqiang 孙亚强 (ed.), Jianming hezheyu cidian 简明赫哲语词典, 553–750. Harbin: Heilongjiang renmin chubanshe.
-
Jin, Lina 金莉娜 & Cheng Yaheng 程亚恒. 2019. Heilongjiang tongjiang hezheyu 黑龙江同江赫哲语. Beijing: Shangwu yinshu guan.
-
JMD = Jiu manzhou dang旧满洲档.
-
Kane, Daniel. 1989. The Sino-Jurchen vocabulary of the Bureau of Interpreters. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
-
Kane, Daniel. 2006. Khitan and Jurchen. In Alessandra Pozzi, Juha Janhunen & Michael Weiers (eds.), Tumen jalafun jecen akū. Manchu studies in honour of Giovanni Stary, 123–132. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
-
Kazama Shinjirō. 2003. Basic vocabulary (A) of Tungusic languages. Kyōto: Nakanishi Printing.
-
Kim, Juwon. 2011. A grammar of Ewen. Seoul: Seoul National University Press.
-
Kim, Juwon, Ko Dongho, Chaoke D. O., Han Youfeng, Piao Lianyu, & Boris V. Boldyrev. 2008. Materials of spoken Manchu. Seoul: Seoul National University Press.
-
Kiyose, Gisaburo N. 1977. A study of the Jurchen language and script: Reconstruction and decipherment. Kyoto: Shōwado.
-
Knox, Thomas W. 1870. Overland through Asia. Hartford: American Publishing Company.
-
Ko, Dongho & Yurn Gyudong. 2011. A description of Najkhin Nanai. Seoul: Seoul National University Press.
-
Langacker, Ronald W. 1993. Reference-point constructions. Cognitive Linguistics 4(1). 1–38.
-
Langacker, Ronald W. 2008. Cognitive Grammar. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
-
Lattimore, Owen. 1933. The Gold tribe of the lower Sungari. Memoires of the American Anthropological Association 40. 1–77.
-
Lavrillier, Alexandra. 2006. S’orienter avec les rivières chez les Évenks du Sud-Est sibérien. Un système d’orientation spatial, identitaire et rituel. Études mongoles et sibériennes, centrasiatiques et tibétaines 36/37. 95–138.
-
Lavrillier, Alexandra & Semen Gabyshev. 2017. An arctic indigenous knowledge system of landscape, climate, and human interactions. Fürstenberg: Verlag der Kulturstiftung Sibirien.
-
Leontovič, Sergej. 1896. Kratkij russko-oročenskij slovar’ s” grammatičeskoj zamětkoj. Vladivostok: Tipografija N. V. Remezova.
-
Lessing, Ferdinand (ed.). 1960. Mongolian-English dictionary. Berkeley: University of California Press.
-
Levin, M. G. & L. P. Potapov. 1956. Ul’či. In M. G. Levin & L. P. Potapov (eds.), Narody sibiri, 817–830. Moscow: Izdatel’stvo akademii nauk SSSR.
-
Levin, M. G. & L. P. Potapov. 1964. The Ul’chi. In M. G. Levin & L. P. Potapov (eds.), The peoples of Siberia, 721–736. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. (Translation.)
-
Li, Shulan 李树兰, Zhong Qian 仲谦 & Wang Qingfeng 王庆丰. 1984. Xiboyu kouyu yanjiu 锡伯语口语研究. Beijing: Minzu chubanshe.
-
Lie, Hiu. 1972. Die Mandschu-Sprachkunde in Korea. Bloomington: Indiana University.
-
Lie, Hiu. 1978. Solonisches Material aus dem Huin-gol. In Gerhard Doerfer & Michael Weiers (eds.), Tungusica, vol. 1, 126–178. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz.
-
Ling, Chunsheng 凌纯声. 1934. Songhuajiang xiayou de hezhezu 松花江下游的赫哲族. Nanjing: Guoli zhongyang yanjiuyuan lishi yuyan yanjiusuo.
-
Liu, Dazhi 刘大志. 2007. Manzu zuyuan shenhua yu “manzhou” zucheng 满族族源神话与“满洲” 族称. Heilongjiang minzu congkan 黑龙江民族丛刊 96. 109–113.
-
Lopatin, Ivan A. 1957. Material on the Orochee language. Micro-Bibliotheca Anthropos 26. 1–110.
-
Ma, Mingchao 马名超. 1997 [1987]. Heilongjiang tonggusi yuqu yuanzhu minzu minjian xushi wenxue diaocha 黑龙江通古斯语区原住民族民间叙事文学调查. In Ma Xiujuan 马秀娟 (ed.), Ma Mingchao minsu wenhua lunji 马名超民俗文化论集, 142–148. Harbin: Heilongjiang renmin chubanshe.
-
Maak″, R. 1859. Putešestvie na Amur’. Saint Petersburg: K. Wulf.
-
Magata, Hisaharu 澗潟久治. 1981. Uirutago jiten ウイルタ語辞典. Abashiri: The Society for the preservation of northern region culture and folklore.
-
Majewicz, Alfred F. (ed.). 2011. The collected works of Bronisław Piłsudski, Vol. 4: Materials for the study of Tungusic languages and folklore. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
-
Miyawaki-Okada, Junko. 2006. What ‘manju’ was in the beginning and when it grew into a place-name. In Alessandra Pozzi, Juha Janhunen & Michael Weiers (eds.), Tumen jalafun jecen akū. Manchu studies in honour of Giovanni Stary, 159–170. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
-
Mu, Yejun 穆晔骏. 1985. Alechuka manyu yuyin jianlun 阿勒楚喀满语语音简论. Manyu yanjiu 满语研究 1985(1). 5–15.
-
Mu, Yejun 穆晔骏. 1986. Alechuka manyu de shuci yu gezhuci 阿勒楚喀满语的数词与格助词. Manyu yanjiu 满语研究 1986(1). 2–17.
-
Mu, Yejun 穆晔骏. 1987. Balayu 巴拉语. Manyu yanjiu 满语研究 1987(2), 2–31, 128.
-
Müller, Friedrich. 1873. Allgemeine Ethnographie. Wien: Alfred Hölder.
-
MZSL = Manzhou shilu满洲实录.
-
Nakanome, Akira. 1928. Grammatik der Orokko-Sprache. Osaka: The Osaka Asiatic Society.
-
Nedjalkov, Igor. 1997. Evenki. London: Routledge.
-
NDSSLD 1958 = Heilongjiangsheng fuyuanxian xiabacha hezhe minzuxiang qingkuang (hezhezu diaocha cailiao zhi yi) 黑龙江省抚远县下八岔赫哲民族乡情况(赫哲 族调查材料之一). Beijing: Quanguo renmin daibiao dahui minzu weiyuanhui bangongshi.
-
Nikolaeva, Irina & Maria Tolskaya. 2001. A grammar of Udihe. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
-
Nikolaeva, Irina & Perekhvalskaya, Elena & Tolskaya Maria. 2002. Udeghe (Udihe) folk tales. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
-
Norman, Jerry. 1977. The evolution of Proto-Tungusic *t to Manchu s. Central Asiatic Journal 21(3/4). 229–233.
-
Norman, Jerry. 1996. On some Manchu etymologies. Saksaha: A Review of Manchu Studies 1. 1–5.
-
Norman, Jerry. 2003. The Manchus and their language. Journal of American Oriental Society 123(3). 483–491.
-
Norman, Jerry. 2004/05. Notes on Manchu pronunciation. Saksaha: A Review of Manchu Studies 9: 25–30.
-
Norman, Jerry. 2013. A comprehensive Manchu-English dictionary. Cambridge, London: Harvard University Asia Center.
-
Nowak, Margaret C. & Stephen W. Durrant. 1977. The tale of the Nišan shamaness: A Manchu folk epic. Seattle: University of Washington Press.
-
Nugteren, Hans. 2011. Mongolic phonology and the Qinghai Gansu languages. Utrecht: LOT.
-
Onenko, S. N. 1980. Nanajsko-russkij slovar’. Moscow: Izdatel’stvo Russkij Jazyk.
-
Ozolinja, Larisa V. 2001. Oroksko-russkij slovar’. Novosibirsk: Izdatel’stvo SO RAN.
-
Pang, Tatiana & Giovanni Stary. 1998. New light on Manchu historiography and literature. The discovery of three documents in Old Manchu Script. Wiebaden: Harrassowitz.
-
Petermann, A. 1857. Der Amur-Strom. In A. Petermann (ed.), Mittheilungen aus Justus Perthers’ geographischer Anstalt über wichtige neue Erforschungen auf dem Gesammtgebiet der Geographie, 296–315. Gotha: Justus Perthes.
-
Petrova, T. I. 1936. Ul’čskiy dialekt nanajskogo jazyka. Moscow: Gosudarstvennoe Učebno-pedagogičeskoe Izdatel’stvo.
-
Plath, Heinrich. 1830. Die Völker der Mandschurey, vol. 1, Göttingen: in der Dietrichschen Buchhandlung.
-
Poniatowski, Stanisław. 1923. Materials to the vocabulary of the Amur Gold. Warsaw: Cura et sumptibus Universitatis liberae Polonae.
-
Ravenstein, Ernst G. 1861. The Russians on the Amur: Its discovery, conquest, and colonisation. London: Trübner and Co.
-
Mamiya Rinzō 間宮林蔵. 1810. Tōdatsu chihō kikō 東韃地方紀行, vol. 1. https://www.digital.archives.go.jp/DAS/pickup/view/detail/detailArchivesEn/0403020000/0001260516/01.
-
Ross, John. 1880. The Manchus. London: Houlston & Sons.
-
Roth Li, Gertraude. 2002. State building before 1644. In Willard J. Peterson (ed.), Cambridge history of China, vol. 9(1), 9–72. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
-
Rozycki, William. 1984. Mongol elements in Manchu. Bloomington: Indiana University. (Doctoral dissertation.)
-
Sam-Sin, Fresco & Léon Rodenburg. 2022. Concordance. https://manc.hu/en/tools/concordance.
-
Sasaki, Shiro. 2011. Sacred places and masters of hunting luck in the forest worlds of the Udege people of the Russian Far East. In Peter Jordan (ed.), Landscape and culture in Northern Eurasia, 257–278. New York: Routledge.
-
Schmidt, Isaak Jacob. 2005 [1834]. Ursprung des Namens Mandschu. In Hartmut Walravens (ed.), Isaak Jacob Schmidt (1779–1847), 137–140. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
-
Schmidt, Peter. 1923a. The language of the Negidals. Acta Universitatis Latviensis 5. 3–38.
-
Schmidt, Peter. 1923b. The Language of the Olchas. Acta Universitatis Latviensis 8. 229–288.
-
Schmidt, Peter. 1928a. The language of the Oroches. Acta Universitatis Latviensis 17. 17–62.
-
Schmidt, Peter. 1928b. The language of the Samagirs. Acta Universitatis Latviensis 19. 219–249.
-
Sem, Lidija I. 1976. Očerki dialektov nanajskogo jazyka. Bikinskij (ussurijskij) dialekt. Leningrad: Nauka.
-
Shirokogoroff, Sergei M. 1924. Social organization of the Manchus. A study of the Manchu clan organization. Shanghai: Royal Asiatic society. North China branch.
-
Shirokogoroff, Sergei M. 1935. Psychomental Complex of the Tungus. London: Kegan, Paul, Trench, Trubner.
-
Šnejder, E. R. 1936. Kratkij udèjsko-russkij slovar’. Moscow: Gosudarstvennoe učebno- pedagogičeskoe izdatel’stvo.
-
Sinor, Denis. 1995. Western information on the Kitans and some related questions. Journal of the American Oriental Society 115(2). 262–269.
-
Stary, Giovanni. 1990. The meaning of the word „Manchu“: A new solution to an old problem. Central Asiatic Journal 34. 109–119.
-
Sunik, O. P. 1985. Ul’čskij jazyk. Leningrad: Nauka.
-
Teng, Shaozhen 滕绍箴. 1996. “Manzhou” mingcheng kaoshu “满洲” 名称考述. Minzu yanjiu 民族研究 1996(4). 70–77.
-
Tsumagari Toshirō. 2011. An Udihe folktale text: “Solomo and Tausima“. Hoppō jinbun kenkyū 4. 75–93.
-
Van Ysslestyne, J. 2018. Spirits from the edge of the world. Classical shamanism in Ulchi society. Pathfinder Communications.
-
Vasilevič, G. M. 1958. Èvenkijsko-russkij slovar’. Moscow: Gosudarstvennoe izdatel’stvo inostrannyx i nacional’nyx slovarej.
-
von Middendorff, Alexander Theodor. 1875. Reise in den äussersten Norden und Osten Sibiriens während der Jahre 1843 und 1844, vol. 4(2). Saint Petersburg: Buchdruckerei der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften.
-
von Schrenck, Leopold. 1881. Reisen und Forschungen im Amur-Lande in den Jahren 1854–1856, vol. 3. Sankt Petersburg.
-
von Siebold, Franz. 1897. Nippon, vol. 2, 2nd edn. Würzburg: Woerl.
-
Wang, Qingfeng 王庆丰. 2005. Manyu yanjiu 满语研究. Beijing: Minzu chubanshe.
-
Yamamoto, Kengo. 1969. A classified dictionary of spoken Manchu. Tokyo: Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa.
-
Yang, Youchen 杨优臣 & He Jichun 何继春 (eds.). 2017. Dawo’eryu cidian 达斡尔语 词典, 2nd edn. Beijing: Renmin chubanshe.
-
You, Zhixian 尤志贤, Fu Wanjin 傅万金 & Jia Yuping 贾玉平 2017. Jianming hezheyu hanyu duizhao简明赫哲语汉语对照. In Sun Yaqiang 孙亚强 (ed.), Jianming hezheyu cidian 简明赫哲语词典, 3–551. Harbin: Heilongjiang renmin chubanshe.
-
Zhang, Paiyu. 2013. The Kilen language of Manchuria. Grammar of a moribund Tungusic language. Hong Kong: Hongkong University Press. (Doctoral dissertation.)
-
Zhang, Yanchang, Zhang Xi & Dai Shuyan. 1989. The Hezhen language. Jilin: Jilin daxue chubanshe.
-
Zhao, Jie 赵杰. 1989. Xiandai manyu yanjiu 现代满语研究. Beijing: Minzu chubanshe.
-
Zhao, Jie 赵杰. 2000. Yanbian manyu duoshi 延边满语掇拾. Minzu yuwen 民族语文 3. 18–24.
-
Zhao, Zhiqiang 赵志强. 2020. Manzhou zucheng yuanzi buluo mingcheng – jiyu “manwen laodang” de kaocha 满洲族称源自部落名称–基于《满文原档》的考察. Qingshi yanjiu 清史研究 3. 17–24.
-
Zikmundová, Veronika. 2013. Spoken Sibe. Morphology of the inflected parts of speech. Karolinum Press: Prague.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 2046 | 575 | 74 |
| Full Text Views | 463 | 6 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 665 | 15 | 0 |
The Etymology of “Manchu”: A Critical Evaluation of the Riverside Hypothesis
In: International Journal of Eurasian LinguisticsSFB 1287 – Limits of Variability in Language, Project C08 – Consequences of Head Argument Order for Syntax (CHAOS)
Search for other papers by Andreas Hölzl in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Abstract
Manchu is the name of a people that has an important place in world history. While the list of etymologies of the name already encompasses several dozen proposals, none is widely accepted. The most promising etymology from a linguistic perspective can be characterized as the “riverside hypothesis”. It states that the name is that of the lower Amur that was later used for peoples living along that river. This paper takes a fresh look at this hypothesis, discussing previous approaches, rejecting earlier arguments against it, and evaluating the plausibility of the hypothesis by establishing a detailed semantic model and a list of sound laws. It concludes that, despite minor phonological issues, the hypothesis is very likely the correct one.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 2046 | 575 | 74 |
| Full Text Views | 463 | 6 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 665 | 15 | 0 |
