MWW 51: Соёмбо

The Soyombo, national symbol of Mongolia

Cyrillic	соёмбо	SoyomB
Transcription	soyombo
IPA	[ˈsɔjəmp]
Layman’s Pronunciation	SOY-ump
Meaning
In Zanabazar's time it was soyumbu or soyungbu.

The Soyombo is a national symbol of Mongolia, perhaps even the national symbol, as well as a writing system, tracing its origin to Занабазар (Zanabazar). Zanabazar (1635-1723) was the first Богд хаан (Bogd haan), the chief spiritual leader of Vajrayana Buddhism in Mongolia. Like the Dalai Lama, the position of Богд хаан passes to someone who is identified as the rebirth of the previous Богд хаан. Zanabazar was an accomplished artist who established the tradition for Mongolian Buddhist art. Nowadays, the major art museum in Ulaanbaatar is named after Zanabazar. If this wasn't enough, Zanabazar may have been a proto-conlanger, because he invented his own writing system, the Соёмбо бичиг (Soyombo bichig or Soyombo script). He didn't take full credit for it, but ascribed its invention to a vision. Because of this spontaneous appearance, he named his script svayambhu. This is composed of the Sanskrit roots sva, "self, own" and bhū, "be" [*] and can be translated as "created out of itself," "self-developed," "self-manifested" or "that which is created by its own accord." In classical Mongolian this became soyumbu or soyungbu, and finally соёмбо in the modern language.

The Soyombo symbol is one of the characters in the Soyombo alphabet. Within the script, it actually appears in two variations, a white and a black variation, which were used to divide passages and texts. This symbol is  made up of many smaller shapes with particular meanings.

The alphabet as a whole never caught on, and is usually only seen in some temple inscriptions. The Soyombo symbol, however, took on a life of its own, and has become the most prominent symbol of Mongolia. The Soyombo was placed on the flag of the new independent Mongolia in 1911, and has remained, in some form, on every flag since then. (The socialists placed a star representing socialism on it, which was removed when the country democratized in the 1990s.) The Soyombo appears on Mongolian money, the Mongolian coat of arms, and on almost every government seal and signet I've seen. Outside of official use, it's very popular to put the Soyombo on all kinds of things. As with the name Chinggis Khaan (Genghis Khan) it's popular to give the name "Soyombo" to just about anything that can be named. The Soyombo has given its name to various places and businesses, a movie theater, a brand of vodka, and lots of other things. According to the book Chinggis's Mongolia:

• The three-pointed flame symbolizes the flourishing of all people young and old, in the past present and future.
• The circle and crescent represent the sun and moon, and thus the everlasting blue sky and indestructability of Mongolia.
• The downward-pointing triangle represents a spearhead to protect against enemies.
• The rectangle represents a shield, and by extension honesty, stability, and loyalty.
• The yin-yang symbol represents two fish. In Mongolian folklore, fish are believed to never close their eyes, and to breed like rabbits. Thus it reminds people to be alert, and to "be fruitful and multiply."
• The two vertical rectangles represent walls. If Mongolians live in harmony with their motherland, they will be as strong as an iron wall.

Sentences

Соёмбо нь Занабазарын зохиосон, Монгол, Санскрит, Төвд үг бичихэд зориулагдсан бичиг юм.
The Soyombo is a script composed by Zanabazar and intended to write Mongolian, Sanskrit, and Tibetan.

Pictures

Soyombo on a truck. The Mongolian script reads: Монголын Бурханы Шашин Соёлын Соёмбо Наадам. Bonus point if you recognize the background pattern on this sticker.

Soyombo on top of a pillar

Soyombo in an insurance company's name.

Soyombo brand vodka

Soyombo on an official government document

Soyombo script at a Buddhist temple. The Soyombo symbol is on the far left.

Soyombo on the Mongolian flag

Soyombo on the fence of the parliament building

The top three shapes in a Soyombo - the flame, circle, and crescent - sometimes appear independently, perhaps as a kind of "abbreviation" of the entire Soyombo.

Flame, circle, and crescent on top of a суврага at a temple.

MWW 50: Цуйван

Cyrillic	цуйван
Transcription	tsuiwan
IPA	[ˈtshʊjwəŋ]
Layman’s Pronunciation	TSOY-wung
Meaning	a Mongolian noodle dish
In bygone days it was cuyiwing.

Цуйван is a tasty Монгол үндэсний хоол made of fried meat, vegetables, and long flat noodles. But don’t tell Mongolians that, because they will vociferously deny, “Tsuiwan is NOT noodles!” Instead they will tell you, “Tsuiwan is flour.” To the Mongolians, noodle means гоймон, which means instant-ramen-type stuff. Whereas when they say flour, they mean гурил. In Mongolian, гурил collapses three concepts that are separate in English: flour, dough (which the Mongolians call зуурсан гурил, “mixed flour”) and tsuiwan noodles. They’re all made of the same substance right? But even though the result is a a long, thin, worm-like starchy food item, Mongolians don’t see why we call it noodles, because they certainly never call it гоймон! And you can’t convince them that they’re the same thing, no matter how well it fits the English definition of noodle. The lumping of цуйван with гурил instead of гоймон continues with soup. When you add tsuiwan noodles to soup, it’s simply called гурилтай шөл, “flour soup,” and never гоймонтой шөл.

So how is tsuiwan made? Tsuiwan starts by mixing flour and water to form dough, which is rolled into a large flat sheet and baked briefly on a hot stove. When it gets solid enough, you cut the hot dough into long flat noodles. Now in a wok start frying finely sliced meat and vegetables (in some places, this may be no more than potatoes and onions) in a wok and flavor them with lots of salt (and Vigora, and anything else if you can get). Finally add the noodles (er, flour) and stir it together with the meat and veggies. Yum!

Цуйван бол гурилаас хийдэг.

Tsuivan is made from flour/dough/noodles.

Цуйван хамгийн амттай Монгол үндэсний хоол бөгөөд хийхэд үр чадвар их шаарддаг.

Tsuiwan is the most delicious Mongolian dish but making it requires a lot of skill.

MWW 49: Тэмээ

Cyrillic	тэмээ
Transcription	temee
IPA	[theˈme:]
Layman’s Pronunciation	teh-MAY
Meaning	camel
In Genghis Khan’s time it was temege.

I’ve already used a particular type of camel, the ингэ, for a word before, so how about a more detailed treatment? Bactrian (two-humped) camels are the largest animals that Mongolians herd, but they are the least common. Camels are desert animals, so naturally they are herded primarily in the Gobi. However, they do appear much farther north as well, and Mongolia is a dry country overall. There are some camels in my area (as you may have guessed from my pictures from Tsagaan Sar 2012), but I live on about the northern limit of camel country. In my сум, the prize for most camels went to a man with 33. In the Gobi, I hear there are guys with over 200.

Being adapted for extreme conditions, camels have the best endurance of the herd animals. They can go days without drinking water, and then drink superhuman amounts in a single session. To conserve water, they produce dung that’s dry enough to use as fuel immediately (as I mentioned before), and their urine is a thick syrup. Camels produce milk, but due to the composition of the milk, it can’t be made into normal yogurt - only a very runny, drinkable kind. You can eat camels too, but camel meat tastes pretty much indistinguishable from Mongolian beef to me. Although they may seem slow initially, camels can run very fast when they want, and can kick in every direction, making them formidable enemies. Camels are more sensible than other livestock, and while you can work a horse to death, you can’t a camel; the camel will lay down and quit before you push it that far. A small ger can be loaded onto the backs of two camels. Camel wool is considered especially warm.

Of all livestock, the camel is the most valuable. The respect Mongolians afford camels is so great that it is considered taboo to insult them. When I once formed the sentence, “Camels smell bad” in Mongolian class, I was advised, “We don’t say bad things about camels.”

ботго	baby camel
ботголох	to make baby camels
тором	two-year-old camel
буйлт	three-year-old camel (“one with a буйл”?)
тайлаг	four or five-year old male camel
гунж	four or five-year old female camel (or cow)
буур	adult male camel
ингэ	adult female camel
ат	castrated camel
буйллах	for a camel to bellow
зогдор	long hair on the throat of a camel
буйл	wooden peg in a camel’s nose, to which a rope is fastened
хоормог	fermented camel milk
сөг	command to make a camel kneel

MWW 48: Хөөрөг

Cyrillic	хөөрөг
Transcription	höörög
IPA	[ˈxө:rək]
Layman’s Pronunciation	HOH-ruck
Meaning	snuff bottle
In Genghis Khan’s time it was kögürge.

An essential accessory at any Tsagaan Sar dinner, the хөөрөг is a small stone bottle filled with тамхи (tamhi - smoke, tobacco). It’s usually carried in a colorfully embroidered pouch (даалин, daalin). In bygone days this pouch would have been like a wallet. When you open the bottle, the cap (толгой / tolgoi, “head”) has a long, thin халбага (halbaga, spoon) attached, which fits inside the bottle and is used for scooping out the snuff. The tobacco is finely powdered and must have been mixed with something else, because it has a very pungent, spicy smell like incense that makes your nostrils flare up. Хөөргүүд (höörgüüd) are often intricately carved and made of colorful stone. A really nice one may be carved out of translucent stone. They are considered works of art and people are very proud to have a nice one. A drunk man once boasted to me that he spent 4,000,000 төгргөг (= $3,076.92?) on a snuff bottle once owned by the Dalai Lama.

A хөөрөг on its даалин.

Тамхилах

Тамхилах (tamhilah, verb from the noun тамхи) is a custom of exchanging snuff which remains important at Tsagaan Sar. When people meet for the first time during or after Tsagaan Sar, they offer each other their snuffbottles, preferably while they ask each other “Сайхан шинэлж байна уу?” The хөөрөг (and most other important objects) should be passed with the right hand, while the left hand is held under the right arm. Men who both have хөөрөг have perfected a kind of handshake where they both put their хөөрөг into each others’ hands at the same time. Then they scoop out a pinch of snuff from their friend’s stash and rub it under their noses. If, like me, you don’t to inhale the tobacco it, it’s acceptable to simply stick your nose on the bottle in a gesture of smelling, and hand it back.

Just as I mentioned before that айраг is not treated the same as other kinds of alcohol and is given to children, a хөөрөг is not treated the same as янжуур (yanjuur, cigarettes) or other kinds of tobacco. Smoking is extremely common among men in the countryside (I don’t know to what degree, but I estimate 2/3) but almost unheard of among women (but some of them smoke secretly, as female volunteers have told me). The хөөрөг, however, is universal and women aren’t embarrassed to own or use them. Хөөрөг tobacco is also used as a cold remedy, and possibly as a remedy for some other ailments. This doesn’t mean it can’t be addictive, as one volunteer discovered who spent his living allowance on snuff and used it in place of breakfast. But it might be less so, comparing its pattern of use with cigarette smoking in my community.

Би	дээл	-ээ	бүс	-лэ	-ж	хөөрөг	зөр	-үүл	-эх
I	deel	(reflexive suffix)	belt	(verbalizer)	(and simultaneously)	snuff bottle	exchange	(transitive)	(infinitive)

дээшээ	хий	морь	-той	Монгол	эр	хүн	дээ
upward	wind	horse	with	Mongolia(n)	male	person	(emphatic particle)

“I’m a deel-wearing, snuff-swapping, high-spirited Mongolian man!” (lyric from the song БиМонгол Эр Хүн Дээ, “I am a Mongolian Man,” my translation)

“A snuff bottle is passed with the right hand, while the left hand is held under the right arm.”

Хөөргө нь Монголчуудын баяр болох Цагаан Сар Наадамаар өргөн хэрэглэгддэг.

MWW 47: Шагай

Cyrillic	шагай
Transcription	šagai
IPA	[ʃaˈɢæ:]
Layman’s Pronunciation	shah-GAA
Meaning	ankle bone
In Genghis Khan’s time it was šaγai.

A шагай is an anklebone, and anklebones from sheep are used as pieces in a variety of games that are also called шагай. When animal anklebones are dropped, they can fall on one of four sides. Each of these sides is named after a major herd animal - sheep (хонь), goat (ямаа), horse (морь), and camel (тэмээ). (On uneven ground, a bone can land lopsided, and this is known as an үнээ “cow”). Rules vary, but however you play шагай, the object is to flick a bone with your finger and hit another bone of the same kind. So if you see a “sheep,” you want to flick it so it hits another sheep. If you do so successfully, you can collect the piece and keep playing. If you miss, someone else gets a turn. You keep going until there are no pieces left to hit, and the person with the most pieces wins.

The four animals of shagai - in this case, gilded shagai

Another kind of game you can play is a simulated horse race. The “track” is made of a long line of шагай one after the other. Players put a “horse” at one end of the track. They roll 4 шагай and for each “horse” that comes up, they move their piece one bone further along the track.

Шагай бол Монгол үндэсний наадам.

MWW 46: Ес

Cyrillic	ес
Transcription	yes
IPA	[jөs]
Layman’s Pronunciation	YOOCE
Meaning	nine
In Genghis Khan’s time it was yisü.

9 is an important number in Mongolian culture. 3 itself is an important number, and as the square of 3, nine is also important. On account of the importance of 9, its multiples 81 and 99 also have some symbolic significance. All of these are generally considered “good” numbers. 9 is found throughout Mongolian culture, for example:

• Chinggis Khaan had nine white banners (есөн цагаан сүлд) and nine black banners (есөн хар сүлд).
• There are nine white gifts (есөн цагааны бэлэг) - considered the most respected form of gift, traditionally consisting of eight white horses and a white camel.
• A tsatsal (ritual sprinkler) has nine spouts.

Nine treasures

There are Есөн Эрдэнэ (nine jewels or nine treasures). These nine items are considered especially valuable in Mongolian culture and small pieces of them are supposed to be embedded in ovoos and other ritually significant things.

Cyrillic	Transcription	Translation
алт	alt	gold
ган	gan	steel
зэс	zes	copper
мөнгө	möngö	silver
номин	nomin	azure
оюу	oyuu	turquoise
сувд	suvd	pearl
тана	tana	mother-of-pearl
шүр	shür	coral

Nine nines

Mongolians have a traditional way of tracking the progress of winter known as the “nine nines” (Есөн Ес). Winter is considered to consist of 81 days, begin on the winter solstice, and they are grouped into nine groups of nine days each, each one based on a characteristic sign that the temperature is getting colder or warmer.

Which 9?	What dates?	What happens?
1st	Dec 22 - 31	Нэрмэл архи хөлдөнө.
		Homemade vodka freezes.
2nd	Jan 1 - 9	Хорз архи хөлдөнө.
		Thrice-distilled vodka freezes.
3rd	Jan 10 - 18	Гунан үхрийн эвэр хуга хөлдөнө.
		Three-year-old cattle’s horns freeze and break off.
4th	Jan 19 - 27	Дөнөн үхрийн эвэр хуга хөлдөнө.
		Four-year-old cattle’s horns freeze and break off.
5th	Jan 28 - Feb 5	Тарьсан будаа хөлдөхгүй.
		Set rice no longer freezes.
6th	Feb 6 - 14	Зурайсан зам гарна.
		The roads become nice and thin.
7th	Feb 15 - 23	Довийн толгой борлоно.
		The tops of hills become brown.
8th	Feb 24 - Mar 4	Нал шал болно.
		Everything gets wet.
9th	Mar 5 - 13	Ерийн дулаан болно.
		It becomes generally warm.

So as you can see, we’re already long past the last nine and winter is over.