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Jie
Chieh
*Kɨr/*Kjet
Native to	Later Zhao dynasty
Region	Northern China
Ethnicity	Jie people
Era	4th century
Language family	Probably Yeniseian or Turkic (If Yeniseian) Pumpokolic Jie
Writing system	transcribed with Chinese characters
Language codes
ISO 639-3	None (mis)
Glottolog	None
Map of Sixteen Kingdoms in year 338, showing the Later Zhao, a state ruled by the Jie.

Jie (simplified Chinese: 羯语; traditional Chinese: 羯語; pinyin: Jiéyǔ) is an unclassified extinct language formerly spoken in northeast China during the Later Zhao dynasty by the Jie people, who were formerly part of the Xiongnu confederation. It has been variously considered to be of either Yeniseian or Turkic affiliation.

Attestation

Only one phrase in the native language of the Jie is known. The source for this phrase was the Kuchean Buddhist monk and missionary Fotudeng. It was recorded in the Book of Jin as 秀支替戾岡，僕穀劬禿當 and said to have a connection to Shi Le's fight against Liu Yao in 328. The phrase was glossed with a Chinese translation:

Analysis

Turkic

This phrase has been analyzed in a number of publications. Shiratori (1900), Ramstedt (1922), Bazin (1948), von Gabain (1950), Shervashidze (1986), and Shimunek (2015) recognized Turkic lexicon, and gave their versions of the transcription and translation:

Yeniseian

Edwin G. Pulleyblank (1963) argued that the Turkic interpretations cannot be considered very successful because they conflict with the phonetic values of the Chinese text and with the Chinese translation. Instead, he suggested a connection with the Yeniseian languages, as well as remarking on the Yeniseian verb ending -ŋ, particularly common in Kott.

Alexander Vovin (2000) gave the following translation based on Yeniseian, corroborating Pulleyblank's findings. Vovin (2000) suggests a connection with the Southern Yeniseian branch, which has found support from other Yeniseianists.

suke

armies

t-i-r-ek-ang

PV-CM-PERF-go out-3P

bok-kok

bok-kok

k-o-t-o-kt-ang

PV-?-OBJ-CM-catch-3P

suke t-i-r-ek-ang bok-kok k-o-t-o-kt-ang

armies {PV-CM-PERF-go out-3P} bok-kok PV-?-OBJ-CM-catch-3P

Armies have gone out. will catch Bokkok.

The verbal ending -ŋ can be seen in Jie, which is a common verb ending in Yeniseian languages, particularly Kott. The cognate form of the Jie words "kot-o-kt-aŋ" 'they will catch' in Ket is "d-kas-a-qos-n", showing the characteristic of Pumpokol where the sound /t/ corresponds the Ket sound /s/, thus Jie is thought to be closely related to Pumpokol. The Arin word 'kel' 'fight' partly coincides in the second syllable of *śuke 'army', however the connection is dubious and Vovin suggested it to be a loanword, because if Pumpokolic speakers became part of Xiongnu, the word for army would have likely been loaned.

Vovin et al. (2016) revise the above translation, as well as mapping the verbs over a Ket verb template and criticizing Shimunek et al.'s interpretation of the couplet.

śuke

army/armies?

t-il-ek-ang

out-PAST-go-3ANIM.PL.SBJ

bok-kok

?

got-o-kt-aŋ

foot(?)-3MASC.SG.OBJ-take-3ANIM.PL.SBJ

śuke t-il-ek-ang bok-kok got-o-kt-aŋ

army/armies? {out-PAST-go-3ANIM.PL.SBJ} ? {foot(?)-3MASC.SG.OBJ-take-3ANIM.PL.SBJ}

Armies went out and will catch Bokkok!

Notes

1. Middle Chinese pronunciation follows Pulleyblank.

References

1. ^ Pulleyblank, Edwin George (1963). "The consonantal system of Old Chinese. Part II" (PDF). Asia Major. 9: 206–265. Retrieved 2011-02-06.
2. ^ Shimunek, Andrew; Beckwith, Christopher I.; Washington, Jonathan North; Kontovas, Nicholas; Niyaz, Kurban (2015). "The Earliest Attested Turkic Language: The Chieh (*Kir) Language of the Fourth Century A.D." Journal Asiatique. 303 (1): 143–151. doi:10.2143/JA.303.1.3085124.
3. ^ Vovin, Alexander; Vajda, Edward; de la Vaissière, Etienne (2016). "Who Were the *Kjet (羯) and What Language Did They Speak?". Journal Asiatique. 304 (1): 125–144. doi:10.2143/JA.304.1.3146838.
4. ^ Fang Xuanling, Book of Jin, ibid., Vol. 95, pp. 12b-13a
5. 张昌圣. "《晋书·佛图澄传》之羯语探源". 四川大学学报: 哲学社会科学版 3 (1995): 48-56.
6. Shiratori, Kurakichi, Uber die Sprache des Hiung-nu Stammes und der Tung-hu-Stdmme, Tokyo, 1900
7. Ramstedt G.J., "Zur Frage nach der Stellung des Tschuwassischen" (On the question of the position of the Chuvash), Journal de la Société finno-ougrienne 38, 1922, pp. 1–34
8. Bazin, Louis (1948). "Un texte proto-turc du IVe siècle: le distique hiong-nou du "Tsin-chou"". Oriens. 1 (2): 208–219. doi:10.2307/1578997. JSTOR 1578997.
9. von Gabain, Annemarie (1950). "Louis Bazin: Un texte proto-turc du IVe siècle: le distique hiong-nou du "Tsin-chou" (Besprechung)". Der Islam. 29: 244–246.
10. Shervashidze I.N. "Verb forms in the language of the Turkic runiform inscriptions", Tbilisi, 1986, pp. 3–9
11. Vovin, Alexander (2000). "Did the Xiong-nu Speak a Yeniseian Language?". Central Asiatic Journal. 44 (1): 87–104. ISSN 0008-9192. JSTOR 41928223.

v t e Turkic languages
Proto-language	Proto-Turkic
Common Turkic	Argu Argu Khalaj Karluk Western Northern Uzbek Southern Uzbek Eastern Ili Turki Uyghur Khoton Lop Äynu Old Chagatai Karakhanid Khorezmian Kipchak Bulgar Bashkir Tatar Mishar Tatar Nagaibak Old Tatar Cuman Armeno-Kipchak Crimean Tatar Cuman Karachay-Balkar Karaim Krymchak Kumyk Mamluk-Kipchak Urum Kyrgyz Fergana Kipchak Kyrgyz Pamir Kyrgyz Siberian Tatar Baraba Tom Southern Altai Telengit Teleut Nogai Dobrujan Tatar Karakalpak Kazakh Nogai Siberian Tatar Tobol-Irtysh Oghuz Salar Eastern Khorasani Turkic Turkmen Trukhmen Southern Afshari Chaharmahali Turkic Qashqai Sonqori Western Azerbaijani North Azerbaijani South Azerbaijani Ajem-Turkic Balkan Gagauz Gagauz Karapapakh Turkish Karamanli Turkish Old Anatolian Turkish Ottoman Turkish Siberian Northern Dolgan Yakut Southern Chulym Lower Chulym Sayan Steppe Tuvan Taiga Dukhan Soyot Tofa Yenisei Fuyu Kyrgyz Khakas Northern Altai Chelkan Kumandy Tuba Shor Western Yugur Old Old Uyghur Orkhon Turkic
Oghur	Bulgar Chuvash
Disputed classification	Khazar Pecheneg
Potentially Turkic languages	Di Hunnic Jie Pannonian Avar Tuoba Wusun Xiongnu
Creoles and pidgins	Hezhou Kurbet Qoqmončaq
Italics indicate extinct languages Languages between parentheses are varieties of the language on their left.

• Yeniseian languages
• Turkic languages
• Extinct languages of Asia