KHONGS and Its Grammaticized Usage
in Modern Written Tibetan
ELiMiL SedlIöek, Prostßjov
SIGNS AND ABBREVIATIONS
( ) words in round brackets may be let out in the English translation
[ ] words in square brackets are inserted in the English translation
< meaning evolving from
> meaning evolving into C. Chinese
T. Tibetan
The last ten years have seen a rapid development in the word stock
of the Modern Written Language of Tibet. The Chinese penetration into
this Buddhist country has brought with it a large number of modern
terms, which were unknown in Tibetan before, and which embrace all
branches of social, cultural, scientific and technical life. These new
Tibetan terms were either coined according to Chinese patterns mostly
in the form of translational loans, or they were adopted as sinicismi by
Tibetan, or they exist as a combination of both methods of word coinage,
as the following examples show :
[a] agvl-Sugs "motive force"
döng-ü
rlung-'gvl 'dzor-ring "air-powered hammer"
feng-gäo
[b] hphu-hre "radiation"
fii-shi
zang-mo "citronella grass"
xiäng-mdo
[c] le-dbar "kilometre"
gö7ig-U
nus-6hen rdul-phran dngos-gSia rig-pa "high energy particle
gäo-ning ll-zf wü-U physics" etc.
The rich comparative linguistic material for Tibetan and Chinese
which is to be found in newspapers, periodicals, monthly magazines,
popidar and scientific books in Hsin-Hua Bookstores throughout China*,
* Mostly they are translations from Chinese into Tibetan.
368 Kamil SediACee
has been of great value in investigating thoroughly the present language
of the Tibetan Press (henceforward LTP only)*.
Prom a study of bilingual texts it was possible firstly to acquire
fxuther detaUs of the use of various Tibetan grammatical determinants,
which have been incompletely defined in older granunatical works in the
past. We have here in mind e.g. the determinants of time and of direct¬
ion -bjung and -song, cf.
rgjug-nas bjung, shi. .. .päo-ldi-di "[she] has run here"
rgjugs-vas song, päo-qü-lalle "[they] ran away".
It was also observed that some monemes with a purely lexical mean¬
ing in older Written Tibetan, have now acquired a grammatical usage
in LTP, cf.
1. -rigs, C. Ui "a kind, class, category, sort" and its use as a determinant
of plurality in LTP :
skjur-mo-rigs suän-lki "acids"
spra-riga yudn-Ui "apes", etc.
2. -stabs, C. fäng-fä "method, manner, way, process" whicb when suffiixed
to verbal stems and usually followed by auxiliaries -jod and -jin,
introduces sentences of reason or cause, translated as "as, because,
since, seeing" — C. yin-wii, cf.
nags-khul-du gnam-gSis dro-grang snoms-pa dang, sa-gSis gSin-po jod-
stabs,
"As there is a mild climate and fertile soil in [this] area".
Finally, some grammatical determinants typical of Colloquial Tibetan,
have come to be used in LTP, cf. here the use of the determinant of
pliuality -cho in
nga-cho wö-men "we"
khjod-cho nl-men ' 'you"
khjed-cho nin-men "you" — ^resp., etc.
The lexeme khongs, C. nhi, U, zhong, i.e. "centre, middle, is another
example of a new grammatical usage in LTP. Its chief meanings are
"the middle" acc. to JTED, p. 44, DTED, p. 153,
STRD, p. 62,
"the innermost" acc. to DTED, p. 153,
* Cf. the four vols of the same author's "Tibetan Newspaper Reader",
which contains 63 texts in Tibetan, their translation short, grammatical
notes, a Tibetan-English Glossary (with Chinese equivalents of modem
terms), and Tibetan texts written in the Dim-Can Script — in all about
1,200 pp. — which are ready for pubhcation.
KHONGS and Its Grammaticized Usage in Modem Written Tibetan 369
"the midst" acc. to JTED, p. 44,
"the middle part" acc. to STRD, p. 62,
"district, territory" acc. to TTCD, p. 35,— C. qü-yü,
"a part" acc. to TTCD, p. 35,— C. bk-j^n,
"a sort, kind, class" acc. to TTCD, p. 35,— C. zhöng-Ui,
"to belong (to), to relate (to)" acc. to STRD, p. 62.
Its further meanings are not relevant for our grammatical observations,
and therefore they are not cited here.
The lexeme khongs is widely used in combination with -su, -na (not
found in the texts of our TNR), -la, and -nas to form adverbs or post¬
positions (± G.), cf.
khongs-su "in, inside":
khjad-par-du phu'u-kra'u grong-khjer khongs-su
"particularly in the city of Fü-Zhöu"
ko'ang-Sis zing-6hen khongs-su gser thon-khungs gu4ng-xi sMng-di
jln-kuäng
"gold mines in (C.=of) Guäng-Xl Province"
rang-re'i rgjal-khahs-kji khongs-su zdi wö-guö
"in owe country"
khongs-la "in, inside" :
skad-jig sde-chan khongs-la skad-rigs-khag 20-ji slob-chan jod-pa'i
nang
"Among the twenty language courses which are [opened] in the
Department of Languages"
khongs-nas "from the inside of, from, out of":
rdzong khongs-nas thon-pa'i ka-ma-ru-pa
"the marble quarried in the county ..." < lit. "the marble, originating from the county ..."
or
khongs occurs in disyllabic nouns, cf.
khongs-mi {yi-)yudn "a member (ofa society)":
nags-las thon-skjed mmim-las-khung-gi khongs-mi-rnams-kjis
"by the members of the Timber Industry Co-operative"
zing-khar ngal-rcol bjed-pa'i khongs-mi-rnams
"the [Co-operative's) members working in the fields"
khongs-mi-rnams-kjis zing lud rgjag-la 'brel-ba dang,
"the [Co-operative's] members came together [in order] to manure
the ground and ..."
370 Kamtl SedlAöbk
mnga'-khongs ling-tü "territory":
also mngä-ris, where kfumgs and ris mean bü, bü-ßn in Chmese,
hencefrom Che-Tak's suggestion of its meaning "district, territory"
in his TTCD, p. 35. Cf. rang-rgjal mnga'-khongs "the territory of
our country", etc.
But let us note the following uses of khongs in a few instances borrow¬
ed from the author's TNR which is based on the material excerpted
from the Mi-Dmangs Brnan-Dpar (C. Rin-Min Huä-Bäo) or "People's
Pictorial" and from other magazines appearing in Tibetan in China :
[1] mi-rigs skad-jig mdzvb-'khrid u-jon lhan-khang khongs mtn-zu yü-
win zM-dao wei-yudn-hui-di
"of the Committee for Instruction in Nationality Languages"
[2a] krung-go'i jul-rdzas phjir-'dren kung-si'i khongs thi'an-6in sman-sna
bdag-gner kung-si
[2 b] krung-go'i jul-rdzas phjir-'dren spji-gner-khang khongs thi'an-tin
sman-sna'i rgju-6ha'i spji-gOer-khang
zhöng-guö tü-chän chü-köu göng-si + zero genitive -f- tiän-jin ydo-cdi
göng-si
"Tiän-Jin Medicine and Drugs (Trading) Corporation of the China
National [Native] Produce Export Corporation"
[3] tis-ling zing-ihen khongs
ji-lin sheng-di
"of Ji-Lhi (Kirin) Provmce"
[4] de-khongs tä-di
"of it, its"
[5] jo-rob-gling khongs rgjal-khab-khag-tu
"to European countries"
[6] krung-go chan-rig-khang khongs skad-rigs brtag-dpjad-khang zhöng-
guö ke-xui-yudn -f- zero genitive + yit-ydn ydn-jiü-suö
"the Linguistics Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of
Sciences"
[7] krung-dbjang mi-rigs slob-grva'i skad-jig chan-khag khongs, bod-kji
skad-jig slob-dpjod-khang
zhöng-yäng min-zü xui.-yuän yü-win x\ + zero genitive -f zäng-yü
jiäo-ydn-sM
"Chair of tbe Tibetan Language of (> a<?) the Philological Faculty of the Central Institute of Nationalities", etc.
Prom these instances showing the use of the lexeme khongs in LTP
(occasionally still preceded by the nominal referent marker or by the
KHONGS and Its Grammaticized Usage in Modern Written Tibetan 371
structural auxiliary word -kji, -gji, -gi, -'i, -ji as in case No. 2a) it can
be seen that it has passed from a purely substantival use "middle,
centre" to being used as an adverb or postposition and as a nominal
referent marker or a structural auxiliary word^. It is often used for
translating the equivalent auxiliary word -di in Modern Chinese, as in
instances No. 1, 3, 4, and 5, or it may be found in the type of word
combination, where Chinese uses the so-called "zero genitive", cf. the
instances No. 2a, 2b, 6, and 7.
The grammaticized usage of khongs as a structural auxiliary word,
corresponding to the Chinese -di or zero genitive, refers only to own¬
ership or appurtenance (i. e. Genitivvs possessivus in older terminology).
This relation of ownership or appurtenance of kfumgs is corroborated
by the existence of another disyllabic expression khongs-gtogs (to be
found occasionally in LTP) which is probably a shortened form of
khongs-su gtogs-pa "annexed to, united, incorporated with"
as the later phrase is rendered in JTED, p. 44 into English. But the
Chinese rendering of khongs-gtogs as .... U-di seems to be a more exact
translation of this Tibetan expression, i.e. "belonging to, including sth.
in, included in" > "of", cf.
(king-ta'o-ji rgja-mcho-nas thon-pa'i dngos-rigs 'grems-ston-khang-gi
khongs-gtogs / C. qing-ddo hdi-chdn hö-wü guan-li-di
"belonging to ... or of the Qing-Däo Aquatic Museum".
The linguistic material of our TNR does not provide any instances of
other 'genitive' type relations for the word khongs.
It also seems to be likely that another Tibetan lexeme khong* "the
interior of anything, the inside" (hence khong-du, khong-na "inside,
within", khong-nas "out of", ± G. khong-du, khong-na, [postpositions]
"into, within") occurring e.g. in the verbal phrase
khong{-du) or khongs-su 'chud-pa or 6hud-pa "to comprehend or get
into the mmd fully" (s. DTED, p. 422, 1043, JTED, p. 44)
may be etymologically connected with khongs "the middle, the inner¬
most, the midst", since the final fricative -s helps, in addition to its
main use as the instrumental or agentive case marker denoting that the
action of verbs proceeds from the subject of the clause (e.g. in ngas
khres-po-zig 'khur-gji-jod "I am carrying a load") — to differentiate or to
derive words in Tibetan, as in
* C. ji6-gdu-cl, German: Strukturhüfswort, in older terminology: the
genitive case marker.
* Cf. Archaic Chinese (KGSR, 1007a): Hiong / iiung / pfung, which means
"naiddle" and also "interior".
372 Kamjx SbdiACek, KHONGS and Its Grammaticized Usage
nas "from" < *na "in, on, at, to ..." -f *s
las "from" < *la "to, at, in, on ..." + *a
mus "within the limits of ... > continuously"
< *mu "border, limit" + *s
IdSags (resp.) "tongue" — compare to Mag "to lick"
stegs "a stand" — compare to theg "to stand", etc.
CONCLUSIONS:
In this short article, the author examines the plerematic and gram¬
maticized usage of the Tibetan word khongs in the present language of
the Tibetan Press and comes to the conclusions that khongs (used in its
simple form) can be used
1. substantivelly as "middle, centre", 2. adverbially as "in, inside",
3. postpositionally (± G.) as "in, inside ",
from which the grammaticized usage of khongs as a structural auxiliary
word (or nominal referent marker of genitive case marker) — its aspect
of possession, ownership or appurtenance — has evolved in LTP. It is
used in LTP to translate the equivalent auxiliary word -di, or the zero
genitive of Modern Chinese.
LTP Language of the Present Tibetan Press
resp. respectfully
TNR "Tibetan Newspaper Reader"—M.S.
LITERATURE
DTED Dis, S. Gh., A Tibetan-English Dictionary with Sanskrit Synonyms
(reprinted in China, 1951), pp. i — xxxii, 1—1353.
JTED Jäschke, H. A., A Tibetan-English Dictionary (London, 1934), pp.
i — xxii, 1—671.
STED Semiöov, B. V., Pabfionoviö, Ju. M., and Dandabon, B. D.,
Kratkij tibStsko-russki/j slovar' [A Concise Tibetan-Russian Dictionary]
(Moscow, 1963), pp. 1—581.
TTCD Cai-Dan Xia-Rong, Zang-Han Ci-Hui [A Tibetan-Chinese Glossary]
(Xi-Ning, 1955), Part I, pp. 1—604.
Bücherbesprechungen
Andkeas Lommel : Vorgeschichte und Naturvölker. Höhlenmalereien, Totems,
Schmuck, Masken, Keramik, Waffen. C. Bertelsmann "Verlag Gütersloh
1967. 176 S., 209 Abb., großenteUs m Farben. DM 9,75 (ab 1. 1. 1969
DM 24,—) (= Schätze der Weltkunst Band 1).
Nachdem das Schamanismus-Buch des gleichen Autors in dieser Zeit¬
schrift angezeigt wurde (ZDMG 117, S. 168), kann unseren Lesern jetzt das
Erscheinen eines weiteren Werkes aus der Feder des Direktors des Museums
für Völkerkunde in München mitgeteUt werden. Es behandelt die Kimst-
übimg der vorgeschichtlichen Zeit imd der Naturvölker von den französischen
Höhlenzeichnungen und -plastiken bis zu den Erzeugnissen der afrikanischen
und polynesischen Völker. Gelegentlich, wie bei China, sind auch die frühen
Stadien der Hochkultur in die DarsteUung einbezogen worden, also diejeni¬
gen Zeitabschnitte, zu denen auch der Ethnologe auf Grund seiner Kenntnis
des Parallelmaterials etwas zu sagen hat. Die Darstellung ist, der Gesamtan¬
lage der Reihe „Schätze der Weltkunst" entsprechend, allgemein faßlich,
verfällt jedoch nirgends ins Unwissenschaftliche. Der Band ist außerordent¬
lich reich bebildert ; insbesondere die vielen (rund hundert) Farbtafeln machen
das Buch zu einer Augenweide. Es gibt gegenwärtig kein Werk, welches einen
so breiten und anschaulichen Überblick über die Kunst der Vorzeit und der
Naturvölker bietet, so daß es jedem Orientalisten, der sich für die Frühzeit
und die sehriftlosen Kulturen interessiert, zumal auch wegen seines geringen
Preises zu empfehlen ist. Aber auch Liebhaber schöner Bücher seien nach¬
drückUch auf LoMMELS neue Arbeit aufmerksam gemacht — sie werden auch
bei hohen Ansprüchen nicht enttäuscht sein.
Hebbebt Fbanke, München
Lea S. de SoAzzocomo, Lengua y civilizacion micenicas, y eZ mundo de Homero.
Montevideo 1966. 71 S.
Mit der Entzifferung der Linear-B-Tafeln hat die mykenisohe Welt, die
bisher nur durch archäologische Zeugnisse zu uns sprach, Stimme gewonnen.
Handelt es sieh bei den Tafeln auch nur um trockene Registrierungen im
Rahmen der Palastbuchfühnmg, so geben sie uns doch unschätzbare Ein-
bUcke in das Leben der Zeit und aueh in die griechische Sprache des 2. Jahr¬
tausends. Neues Licht fiel auch auf das Verhältnis der mykenischen Kultur
zum ionischen Epos. Schon die ärehäologischen Funde seit Schliemann
hatten gezeigt, wieviel bei Homeb noch aus der Welt des 2. Jahrtausends
fortlebt — aus den Tafeln bestätigt sich das nun : vor aUem der Wortschatz
bietet eine Reihe von Parallelen, auch Indizien für die Herkunft homerischer
Wörter aus mykeniseher Zeit.
Der Darstellung dieser Probleme güt die vorliegende Schrift; es handelt
sich um die hektographierte Wiedergabe zweier Vorträge, die im August 1954
im Centro linguistico von Montevideo gehalten wurden. Sie trägt vorwiegend
26 ZDMG II8/2
