Preliminary Notes on the Dada guan zazi, a Sino-Mongol Glossary from the Ming Period

Abstract

The article presents an introduction to the study of the Dada guan zazi, a Sino-Mongol glossary from the Ming period, dating back presumably to the late 15th century. A brief overview of the content and internal division of the text, as well as its main copies, is provided in the general context of the study of foreign languages in China under the Ming. As a supplement, the reconstruction of the Mongolian text of the section ‘Astronomy’ (entries Nos. 1–19) is published for the first time. Refs 42. Fig 1.