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The Pentaglot Dictionary [1] [2] (Chinese: 御製五體清文鑑, Yuzhi Wuti Qing Wenjian; the term 清文, Qingwen, "Qing language", was another name for the Manchu language in Chinese), also known as the Manchu Polyglot Dictionary, [3] [4] was a dictionary of major imperial languages compiled in the late Qianlong era of the Qing dynasty (also said to be compiled in 1794).
Manchu began as a primary language of the Qing dynasty Imperial court, but as Manchu officials became increasingly sinicized, many started losing the language. Trying to preserve the Manchu identity, the imperial government instituted Manchu language classes and examinations for the bannermen , offering rewards to those who excelled in the ...
In English-language publications, the latter is often incorrectly [citation needed] credited with being the inventor of the system, probably because his Manchu Grammar (1892) was the first book in English to use it. Thus Norman himself refers to "the Möllendorff system of romanization". [4]
Currently, Manchu proper is a dying language spoken by a dozen or so elderly people in Qiqihar, China. However, the closely related Xibe language spoken in Xinjiang , which historically was treated as a divergent dialect of Jurchen-Manchu, maintains the literary tradition of the script, and has around 30,000 speakers.
The Jurchen language (Chinese: 女真語; pinyin: Nǚzhēn yǔ) was the Tungusic language of the Jurchen people of eastern Manchuria, the rulers of the Jin dynasty in northern China of the 12th and 13th centuries. It is ancestral to the Manchu language. In 1635 Hong Taiji renamed the Jurchen ethnicity and language to "Manchu".
Qing emperors were Manchu, and the Manchu group has largely been sinicized (the Manchu language being moribund, with 20 native speakers reported as of 2007 [11]). The Sibe were possibly a Tungusic-speaking section of the (Mongolic) Shiwei and have been conquered by the expanding Manchu (Jurchen). Their language is mutually intelligible with Manchu.
The Manchu alphabet (Manchu: ᠮᠠᠨᠵᡠ ᡥᡝᡵᡤᡝᠨ, Möllendorff: manju hergen, Abkai: manju hergen) is the alphabet used to write the now critically endangered Manchu language. A similar script called Xibe script is used today by the Xibe people , whose language is considered either a dialect of Manchu or a closely related ...
Jurchen script was based on the Khitan script, inspired in turn by Chinese characters.Apparently, both semantic and phonetic borrowing took place. Many Jurchen characters can be described as copies, or distorted copies, of Chinese and/or large-script Khitan characters with similar meaning; others apparently were derived from Chinese characters whose sound was similar to that of Jurchen words ...