Prof. Jugder Luvsandorj, Professor of Mongolian studies, Charles University, Prague: ‘The Secret History of the Mongols: Translation and Betrayal’
On June 3, 2016, Professor Jugder Luvsandorj gave a lecture at the Ashmolean Museum, as part of the workshop on the Mongol Empire. This event echoes our special Exhibition entitled 'Pax Mongolica'.
Professor Luvsandorj's talk was focused on the many mistranslations generated in reference to The Secret History of the Mongols. Of unparalleled artistic and historical importance, this text has been an object of extensive research for the past hundred years or so. Due to its provenance, however — it was composed between 1228 and 1240 — many of the words and expressions it contains pose considerable challenges for translators and researchers. In 1382 — over 150 years after the date of its composition — a transcription in Chinese characters was prepared, alongside a Chinese language 'literal translation'. In addition to this literal translation, a summary was provided at the end of each chapter.
This Ming-era text was always intended merely as a kind of language manual for civil servants who needed to communicate and read documents in Mongolian. As such, it is an extremely faulty translation. And yet —no doubt due to the deep challenges inherent to modern-day comprehension in The Secret History — translators, including some of the most prominent Altaic scholars of the 20th century, have turned to this Ming-era gloss again and again when faced with uncertainty.
In his lecture, Professor Luvsandorj outlined just a few of the mistakes that have arisen from reliance on the Ming-era gloss. One eloquent example is the word irgen. In Middle Mongolian, irgen conveyed the meaning of 'man, people.' But in The Secret History, the word irgen functions as a kind of synecdoche: it stands for 'the royal houses, the aristocracy,' and not 'all men or people.' And yet, the descriptions of Chinggis Khan as genocidal murderer — legitimated in large part through these faulty translations which depict him as eliminating entire nations — have long since passed into what is accepted as 'common knowledge.'
After his lecture (translated into English by Rachel Mikos, a doctoral student of Professor Luvsangdorj's), there were a number of questions from the audience, revealing the presence of keen interest in Professor Luvsandorj's recent book, The Secret History of the Mongols, published in Mongolian by the Antoine Mostaert Centre for Mongolian Studies in Ulaanbaatar. This monumental achievement, containing a new translation into Khalha as well as extensive ethno-linguistic and anthropological commentary on The Secret History, represents the culmination of a lifetime of research into the topic. Fortunately, plans for an English-language translation are well underway.
Between 2006 and 2016, Prof. Luvsandorj published numerous articles in different journals, especially in Mongolica Pragencia (Charles University). A selection of his articles will be soon published as a book; there is little doubt that this publication will become a ressource of great importance for future research on The Secret History of the Mongols.
We are grateful to Rachel Mikos for her excellent translation during the lecture.
J. Luvsandorj visiting the special exhibition Pax Mongolica (PDF flyer).
J. Mairat presenting J. Luvsandorj's magnum opus
J. Luvsandorj lecturing
