A spoken Mongol-English dictionary

Description

The Mongolian language and literature is a vast one, and I have no pretention of claiming to have compiled a comprehensive dictionary. The original plan was of compiling of dictionary a little larger in size than the present one. But adverse financial position and technical difficulties have compelled me to offer the dictionary in a more concise form than intended. This dictionary is based on the earlier ones like the Tibetan-Mongol and Mongol-Tibetan [Mongol words in Tibetan transliteration] Dictionary by Yeshe Dorj and published from Ulan Bator under the series of Corpus Scriptorum Mongolorum and the Mongol-English Practical Dictionary by the Evangelical Alliance Mission. And in fact, most of the existing Mongol dictionaries were freely consulted in connection with this work. Just as in any living language, in Mongolian also many terms and expressions pass out of current usage and become unidiomatic. There are, again, words which have changed their meaning in the course of the past hundred years. There are moreover obsolete words. Since I have intended this dictionary as an aid to studying spoken Mongolian, I have paid less attention to such words as those that have passed out of currency and are not used in modern Mongolian. And I have tried to avoid the traditional misinterpretations which occupy a good portion of the earlier bilingual Mongol dictionaries. I also have tried my best to include those new coinages and spellings which have been widely in use in spoken or modern Mongolian. Many of these are left out of even the latest Mongol dictionaries. This dictionary contains about 12000 basic Mongol words which are nearly enough for a daily use of the Mongolian language. The famous academician Professor Rinchen once told me that there were about 700,000 Mongol words. I have no doubt that what he said was true, though a Mongol dictionary of that comprehensiveness is yet to be compiled. The judgment regarding the usefulness of the present dictionary would of course be of those who will be using it. I can only say that I have spared no pains for perfecting this work. I do apologize for such technical errors as mistakes in spelling. Besides my shortcomings, the poor printing facilities available have been responsible for these, which may be corrected in later editions. The Roman transcription of Mongol words do not exactly correspond with the Mongol spelling of the words. The transcription is primarily based on the spoken pronunciation of my native place, Chahar. Such a transcription was never attempted previously. So, naturally I was diffident. Shortage of diacritically marked Roman types, besides my diffidence, has been mainly I responsible for deficient Romanization in certain cases. There was a sh6rtage of paper supply along with a high price, the entire quantity of paper required for printing the book could not be procured at one time. This will explain why the quality of printing and colour of the pages are uneven. I regret this very much. In spite of all these shortcomings, I do hope that this dictionary will indeed be helpful for anybody who has to do with the Mongolian language and care for knowing the natural meaning of a Mongol word. I shall be failing in my duty if I do not mention my indebtedness to some of my wellwishers for the various acts of kindness, encouragement, assistance and advice, during the compilation of this work, viz. to the Rev. Geshe Gelden of Drepung monastery [now in U.S.A], Shri Pavitra Roy of the Department of Philosophy, Vishva Bharati and Professor Kazuo Azuma of Tsukuba Shin University, Tokyo, formerly the Professor of Japanese at Vishva Bharati, I cannot indeed thank them enough. I should like to express my sincere appreciation of the kind and loving service rendered by my wife, Tshering Dolma, throughout the difficult years of getting this work ready. Without her help and encouragement it would not have been possible for me to have completed the project. Lama Chimpa Vishva Bharati University. Shantiniketan, India. August 15, 1975 Preface......Page 5 References......Page 8 Dictionary order......Page 9 A......Page 11 E......Page 44 I......Page 71 O......Page 82 U......Page 96 Ö......Page 115 Ü......Page 124 Na......Page 136 Ne......Page 144 Ni......Page 149 No......Page 155 Nu......Page 158 Nö......Page 159 Nü......Page 161 Ha......Page 162 He......Page 190 Hi......Page 201 Ho......Page 206 Hu......Page 222 Hö......Page 232 Hü......Page 240 Ga......Page 246 Ge......Page 254 Gi......Page 258 Go......Page 260 Gu......Page 264 Gö......Page 269 Gü......Page 270 Ba......Page 273 Be......Page 286 Bi......Page 290 Bo......Page 293 Bu......Page 301 Bö......Page 308 Bü......Page 312 Fü......Page 315 Sa......Page 316 Se......Page 327 Si......Page 334 So......Page 335 Su......Page 341 Sö......Page 346 Sü......Page 349 Sha......Page 352 She......Page 357 Shi......Page 358 Sho......Page 377 Shu......Page 379 Shö......Page 380 Ta......Page 381 Te......Page 397 Ti......Page 407 To......Page 408 Tu......Page 418 Tö......Page 423 Tü......Page 427 Da......Page 432 De......Page 444 Do......Page 453 Du......Page 460 Dö......Page 464 Dü......Page 466 La......Page 469 Le......Page 470 Lo......Page 471 Lü......Page 472 Ma......Page 473 Me......Page 480 Mi......Page 483 Mo......Page 485 Mu......Page 488 Mö......Page 490 Mü......Page 493 Cha......Page 494 Che......Page 501 Chi......Page 504 Cho......Page 514 Chu......Page 518 Chö......Page 520 Ja......Page 522 Je......Page 533 Ji......Page 535 Jo......Page 543 Ju......Page 547 Jö......Page 551 Jü......Page 553 Ya......Page 556 Ye......Page 562 Yi......Page 564 Yo......Page 565 Yu......Page 566 Va......Page 567 Galig......Page 568