Xunyu

The Xunyu (Chinese: 獯鬻; Wade–Giles: Hsünyü; Old Chinese: (ZS) *qʰun-lug, (Schuessler): *hun-juk[1]) is the name of an ancient nomadic tribe which invaded China during legendary times. They are traditionally identified with the Guifang, the Xianyun and the Xiongnu.[2][3]

For Cao Cao's advisor, see Xun Yu.

Identification

Chinese annals contain a number of references to the Xunyu. The earliest authors were Sima Qian (c. 145 or 135 BC – 86 BC), Ying Shao (AD 140-206), Wei Zhao (204-273), and Jin Zhuo (c. late 3rd or 4th century).[4]They claimed that Xunyu or Xianyun were names that designated nomadic people who during the Han dynasty were called Xiongnu (匈奴). That view was also held by the Tang dynasty commentator Sima Zhen (c. 8th century):[5] Sima Zhen quoted Zhang Yan (張晏) as saying that “Chunwei, during the Yin era, fled to the northern borders.”; immediately after, Sima Zhen stated that Yue Chan (樂產) wrote in the now-lost Guadipu (括地譜) "Register of the Encompassing Lands" that: “Jie, (ruler of) the House of Xia lived an immoral life. Tang exiled him to Mingtiao, he died there three years later. His son Xunyu 獯粥 married his concubines and they wandered far away to the northern wilderness in search of pasture lands, and then in the Middle Kingdom they were mentioned as Xiongnu 匈奴.”; [6]

Based on phonetical studies and comparisons of inscriptions on bronze and the structure of the characters, Wang Guowei (1877–1927) came to the conclusion that the tribal names Guifang (鬼方), Xunyu, Xianyu (鮮虞), Xianyun (獫狁), Rong, Di, and Hu in the old annals designated one and the same people, who later entered Chinese history under the name Xiongnu,[7][8][9]

The exact time period when the nomads' ethnonym had the Old Chinese phonetizations ancestral to standard Chinese Xunyu remains determined only vaguely. They were mentioned in legends involving legendary Zhou ruler Old Duke Father Dan (古公亶父; Gǔgōng Dǎnfù): in the book Mencius (published c. 300 BCE) as 獯鬻 Xunyu,[10] and in Records of the Grand Historian (published c. 91 BC) as Hunyu 葷粥[11] or Xunyu 薰育.[12]

Using Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian and other sources, Vsevolod Taskin proposes that in the earlier pre-historic period (i.e. the time of the legendary Yellow Emperor) the Xiongnu were called Hunyu; and in the late pre-historic period (i.e. the time of the legendary Emperor Yao and Emperor Shun) they were called Rong; in the literate period starting with the Shang dynasty (1600–1046 BC) they were called Guifang, in the Zhou period (1045–256 BC) they were called Xianyun, and starting from the Qin period (221–206 BC) the Chinese annalists called them Xiongnu.[13][14][15]

Even so, Paul R. Goldin (2011) reconstructs the Old Chinese pronunciations of 葷粥 ~ 獯鬻 ~ 獯鬻 ~ 薰育 as *xur-luk, 獫狁 as hram′-lun′, and 匈奴 as *xoŋ-NA; and comments all three names are "manifestly unrelated". He further states that sound changes made the names more superficially similar than they really had been, and prompted later commentators to conclude that those names must have referred to one same people in different epochs, even though people during the Warring States period would never have been thus misled.[16]

See also

References
  1. Schuessler, A. (2014) "Phonological Notes on Hàn Period Transcriptions of Foreign Names and Words" (PDF). Studies in Chinese and Sino-Tibetan Linguistics: Dialect, Phonology, Transcription and Text. Language and Linguistics Monograph Series (53). Taipei, Taiwan: Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica. p. 264
  2. Guangyun "Level Tone A - 文 - 薰" quote: "獯：北方胡名夏曰獯鬻周曰獫狁漢曰匈奴。"
  3. Guangyun "Entering Tone - 物 - 𠀔" quote: "厥：夏曰獯鬻殷曰鬼方周曰獫狁漢曰匈奴魏曰突厥"
  4. Sima Qian, "Shiji", Bo-na, 1958, Ch. 110, p. 1a
  5. Taskin V.S., "Materials on history of nomadic tribes in China 3rd-5th cc", Issue 3 "Mujuns", "Science", Moscow, 1992, p. 276, ISBN 5-02-016746-0
  6. Sima Zhen. Suoyin, chapter 24
  7. Wang Guowei, "Guantang Jilin" (觀堂集林, Wang Guowei collection of works), Ch.2, Ch. 13
  8. Taskin V.S., "Materials on history of nomadic tribes in China 3rd-5th cc", Issue 3 "Mujuns", p. 276
  9. Taskin V.S., 1968, "Materials on history of Sünnu", "Science", Moscow, p.10
  10. Mencius, "King Hui of Liang B" quote: "故大王事獯鬻，句踐事吳。", translation: "As King Tai served the Hunyu, Gou Jian served Wu."
  11. Shiji, "Annals of the Five Emperors" quote: "北逐葷粥"
  12. Shiji, "Annals of Zhou" quote: "薰育戎狄攻之，欲得財物，予之。" translation: "The Xunyu, Rong, Di attacked him, demanding wealth and livestock; he gave those away to them".
  13. in Taskin V.S., "Materials on history of Sünnu", p.10
  14. Sima Qian, Shiji, Ch. 1, l. 4b; Ch. 110, l. 1a, notes
  15. Classic of Poetry "Major Hymns - Decade of Dang - Dang" quote: "文王曰咨、咨女殷商。……內奰于中國、覃及鬼方。" Legge's translation: "King Wen said, 'Alas! Alas! you [sovereign of] Yin-shang, [...] Indignation is rife against you here in the Middle kingdom, and extends to the demon regions."
  16. Goldin, Paul R. "Steppe Nomads as a Philosophical Problem in Classical China" in Mapping Mongolia: Situating Mongolia in the World from Geologic Time to the Present. Penn Museum International Research Conferences, vol. 2. Ed. Paula L.W. Sabloff. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania. 2011. p. 225-226; p. 237, n.22
  • Zhonghan Wang, "Outlines of Ethnic Groups in China", Taiyuan, Shanxi Education Press, 2004, p. 133, ISBN 7-5440-2660-4
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.