The Tangut Imperial Title

Guillaume Jacques (1)

1 CRLAO - Centre de Recherches Linguistiques sur l'Asie Orientale

The Imperial title ŋwər dzjwɨ in Tangut is one of the rare Tangut words attested in both Tangut texts and Chinese sources. Using data drawn from Tangut texts and modern Qiangic languages closely related to Tangut, we propose an etymology for both syllables of this compound. The first syllable ŋwər means ‘heaven', but its original meaning was ‘the blue one'. The second one, dzjwɨ ‘lord', is a deverbal noun related to a verb root meaning ‘to judge, to discriminate'. This article not only explains the etymological origin of an important Tangut title, it also illustrates how comparative linguistics should be applied to faithfully reconstruct Tangut morphological alternations.

Mots clés: Tangut; deverbal noun; tonal alternation; Rgyalrong

Domaines: Linguistique

Guillaume Jacques. The Tangut Imperial Title. Central Asiatic Journal, 2010, 54 (1), pp.60-65. ⟨halshs-00578356⟩