Detail of Khitan small script on the epitaph of Yelü Dilie (1026–1092)
The list of Khitan inscriptions comprises a list of the corpus of known inscriptions written in the Khitan large script and the Khitan small script. These two scripts were used by the Khitan people in northern China during the 10th through 12th centuries for writing the extinct Khitan language. The Khitan language was in use during the Liao dynasty (916–1125), the Western Liao dynasty (1124–1218) and the Jin dynasty (1115–1234), but the last recorded Khitan speaker, Yelü Chucai, died in 1243, and the language probably became extinct soon afterwards.[1]
There are no surviving examples of printed texts in the Khitan language, and aside from five example Khitan large characters with Chinese glosses in a book on calligraphy, Shūshǐ Huìyào (書史會要), written by Tao Zongyi (陶宗儀) in the mid 14th century, there are no Chinese glossaries or dictionaries of Khitan.[2] The Khitan language is therefore little understood, and the two Khitan writing systems are only partially deciphered.[3]
The main source of Khitan texts are monumental inscriptions, mostly comprising memorial tablets buried in the tombs of Khitan nobility.[1] Only one monument in a Khitan script was known before the 20th century, the Record of the Journey of the Younger Brother of the Emperor of the Great Jin Dynasty (Langjun xingji 郎君行記), which is engraved on the 'wordless stele' for Empress Wu Zetian which stands at the Qianling Mausoleum. Until the 1920s it was believed to be written in the Jurchen script. Only after the discovery of the memorial tablets of the Emperor Xingzong of Liao and his consort was it realized that the Record of the Younger Brother of the Emperor and the Liao-dynasty memorial tablets were both written in a Khitan script.[4] Several more memorial tablets in the same script were discovered during the 1930s, including memorials for the Emperor Daozong of Liao and his consort. Initially it was not clear whether the script inscribed on these memorial tablets was the Khitan large script, recorded to have been devised in 920, or the Khitan small script, recorded to have been devised about 925. A different, unknown script, which appeared more similar to Chinese (incorporating many characters borrowed directly from Chinese), had been discovered on a temple monument in 1935, as well as on a memorial to Xiao Xiaozhong in 1951; and in 1962 Jin Guangping suggested that these two monuments were written using the Khitan large script, and that the Record of the Younger Brother of the Emperor and the imperial memorial tablets were written using the Khitan small script.[5] This identification of the two Khitan scripts is now widely accepted.
There are about 15 known monuments with inscriptions in the Khitan large script, ranging in date from 986 to 1176, and about 40 known monuments with inscriptions in the Khitan small script, ranging in date from 1053 to 1171.[6] The two scripts are mutually exclusive (never occurring together on the same monument), but it is not known why the Khitan people used two different scripts, or what determined the choice of which script to use.
In addition to monumental inscriptions, short inscriptions in both Khitan scripts have also been found on tomb murals and rock paintings, and on various portable artefacts such as mirrors, amulets, paiza (tablets of authority given to officials and envoys), and special non-circulation coins. A number of bronze official seals with the seal face inscribed in the Khitan large script are also known. The Khitan characters on these seals are engraved in a convoluted calligraphic style that imitates the Chinese "nine-fold" seal script style of calligraphy.
Chinese inscription (天賜成吉思皇帝聖旨疾 "Bestowed by Heaven, the imperial edict of Emperor Chinggis. Urgent.") on one side, and two Khitan large characters meaning "running horse" (Chinese 走馬) on the back.[28]
Seal face inscription is in Chinese ("Seal of the Prince of Qian" 汧王之印), but the upper surface of the seal has two lines of Khitan large characters that have been interpreted as meaning Yixin Ning Dawang 乙辛寧大王 ("Prince Yixinning") and Liao Da'an Shinian 遼大安十年 (10th year of the Liao dynasty Da'an era").[30][31]
Five seal script characters. The inscription on the face of the seal is repeated on the side as a single column of ordinary Khitan characters engraved in outline.[8][32][34]
Engraved near the top of the 'wordless stele' for Empress Wu Zetian, comprising 5 columns of Khitan text on the right side, and a translation into Chinese in smaller characters on the left side, and a heading in Chinese seal script characters at the top (this is the only known bilingual Chinese-Khitan text).[42][52]
Record of the Journey of the Younger Brother of the Emperor of the Great Jin Dynasty (fragment)
The broken top right part of a stele, engraved with the same Record of the Journey of the Younger Brother of the Emperor of the Great Jin Dynasty as found on the 'wordless stele', but only part of the seal script heading and the upper part of the Khitan text survives.[52]
4 characters on the reverse, interpreted as meaning 壽昌.[54]
Fish-shaped bronze tally
Originally in the collection of Stephen Wootton Bushell (1844–1908); current whereabouts unknown.
Chinese character tóng 同, with one line of Khitan small characters.[54]
Fish-shaped bronze tally
Chinese character tóng 同, with two lines of Khitan small characters.[54]
Jade cup
Originally in the Qing dynasty imperial collection, later acquired by John Calvin Ferguson, who donated it to Nanjing University Museum in 1934 where it is still held.
2 lines, 11 Khitan small characters on the base of the cup. Inscription by the Qianlong Emperor dated 1760 engraved on the inside bottom of the cup; this gives Qianlong's analysis of the Khitan characters and interpretation of the inscription, which Qianlong believed was a cryptic Chinese poem which could be revealed by deconstructing the mysterious characters.[56]
Nova N 176, an undeciphered manuscript codex written in the Khitan large script
Notes
^This monument was previously known as the Yingli period monument (Yingli bei 應歷碑), but the characters that were originally interpreted as meaning the Yingli 應歷 period (951–969) are now interpreted as meaning the Dading 大定 period (1161–1189), so what was once thought to be the earliest Khitan memorial in now thought to be the latest in date.[12]
^Kane 2009 lists Khitan small script memorials for both Lord Yelü Yongning and a Lord Yelü, but the latter is not recorded in any other sources, and appears to be a synonym for the former.
^The memorials for the Prince of Liang and his wife, the Imperial Consort of the State of Liang (梁國太妃), were found together, and although the memorial for the Imperial Consort is in Chinese, Kane 2009 incorrectly lists it as being in the Khitan small script.
^The name of the official commemorated by this inscriptions has been variously given as Yelü Guiyexi 耶律貴也稀, Yelü Gui 耶律貴, Yelü Diligu 耶律迪里姑, Yelü Gui-Diligu 耶律貴·迪里姑 and Yelü Yiliyan 耶律夷里衍.
^Liu Fengzhu 劉鳳翥; Ding Yong 丁勇; Kong Qun 孔群; Bai Yu 白玉 (2006). 兩件契丹大字木牍之研究 [Research into two wooden boards with Khitan large script inscriptions]. Minzu Yuwen 民族語文 (in Chinese) (5): 62–66. ISSN0257-5779.
^Han Shiming 韩世明; Yoshimoto Chieko 吉本智慧子 (Aisin-Gioro Ulhicun) (2007). "梁國王墓誌銘文初釋" [Initial study of the memorial of the Prince of Liang]. Minzu Yanjiu 民族研究 (2). ISSN0256-1891.
Liu Fengzhu 劉鳳翥; Yu Baolin 于寶林 (1990), "契丹字" [Khitan large characters], in Fu Maoli 傅懋栗 (ed.), 中國民族古文字圖錄 [Illustrations of ancient writing systems of Chinese nationalities] (in Chinese), Zhongguo Shehui Kexue Chubanshe, pp. 247–395, ISBN978-7-5004-0296-1
Liu Pujiang 劉浦江 (2003), 近20年出土契丹大小字石刻綜錄 [Summary of Khitan large and small script inscriptions unearthed over the last 20 years], Wenxian 文獻 (in Chinese) (3), ISSN1000-0437
Yu Baolin 于寶林 (1985), 契丹文字文獻論著解題 [Bibliography of Khitan documents and research (Part 1)], Wenxian 文獻 (in Chinese) (1): 198–224, ISSN1000-0437
Wu Yingzhe; Juha, Janhunen (2010). New Materials on the Khitan Small Script: A Critical Edition of Xiao Dilu and Yelü Xiangwen. Folkestone, Kent: Global Oriental.
Wu Yingzhe 吴英哲 (23 March 2012), Organization of the Khitan Materials Kept in Inner Mongolia
