Historical Geography Research >
The Pronunciation and Related Issues of Yanran Mountain
Received date: 2023-12-22
Online published: 2025-03-21
In 2017, a Sino-Mongolian joint expedition team discovered the famous ‘Yanran Mountain Inscription’ (《燕然山铭》) at the southern foot of the Delger Hangai Mountain in the Gobi Desert of the Central Gobi Province, Mongolia, thereby, the location of Yanran Mountain was determined. Maps from the Republic of China era labeled the Yanran Mountain as the ‘Yilichen Hulun Ridge’ (伊里陈·忽伦岭), meaning ‘Wild Donkey Ridge’ (野驴山). ‘Yanran’ corresponds to ‘IlTien-Ilichen’ (IlTien-伊里陈), a remnant of the Hun’s language signifying ‘donkey’. In Turkic, it is IlTien. In Mongolian, it is also IlTien. In Chinese, it translates to ‘Yanzhi’ (燕支) or ‘Yanzhijin’ (燕只斤). During the Qing Dynasty, the Yanran Mountain was known as ‘Yinier’ (衣尼尔), given by the third Dalai Lama, which is ‘Irina’ in Sanskrit. The Mongolian pronunciation reverses the phonemes to form Inria > Inir. The current name, Delger qangγai, is the Mongolian rendition of Irina or Inir, which means ‘prolonged mountain range’. In 1208, Genghis Khan built a palace on Yanran Mountain, known as the ‘Dragon Court’ (龙庭).
Key words: Yanran Mountain; Yilichen Hulun Ridge; Wild Donkey Ridge; Dragon Court
Buyandelger . The Pronunciation and Related Issues of Yanran Mountain[J]. Historical Geography Research, 2024 , 44(4) : 31 -35 . DOI: 10.20166/j.issn.2096-6822.L20230433
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