Translation and Multilingualism in Mongol and Post-Mongol Eurasia
The conquests of Chinggis Khan in the thirteenth century marked the beginning of the establishment of the Mongol Empire in Eurasia. As rulers, the Mongols became known for their adaptability and openness to the customs and practices of most of the people they governed, and this played a pivotal role in shaping the linguistic and cultural landscapes of Eurasia. The empire’s administration and communication systems required the translation of texts, the use of multiple languages, and the navigation of varied traditions and knowledge systems, which led to the development and institutionalisation of translation practices that were not only practical but also transformative, shaping the very fabric of Eurasian societies during and after the Mongol period. These linguistic and cultural dynamics did not disappear with the decline of the Mongol Empire but rather continued to flourish and evolve in successor states such as the Ottoman Empire, Timurid Central Asia, and Mughal India, as well as other regions influenced by the Mongols, including China and Korea.
This workshop investigates the intricacies of translation and multilingualism in Mongol and post-Mongol Eurasia from the thirteenth to seventeenth centuries, analysing how texts, concepts, and knowledge traversed linguistic and cultural divides, as well as identifying the mechanisms that enabled effective communication and comprehension within a multilingual sphere. Viewing translation as an embodiment of knowledge transmission, it delves deeper into the subject of translation as a notion, procedure, and outcome, debating who transferred knowledge, when, and in what settings. Our investigation focuses on identifying what texts were translated and the contexts in which the translations occurred. We are also particularly interested in the functions performed by various languages when composing texts and their reciprocal influence within Eurasia’s culturally diverse setting.
Organising Committee
- Prof. Dr. Philip Bockholt (University of Münster)
- Dr. Bruno De Nicola (Austrian Academy of Sciences)
Programme
Wednesday, 4 June
14.30 Welcoming Address & Introduction
- Marco Schöller (Institute of Arabic and Islamic Studies, Münster)
- Philip Bockholt (Münster) & Bruno De Nicola (Vienna)
15.00 Project Presentations
- Bruno De Nicola (Vienna): Presentation of NoMansLand
- Philip Bockholt (Münster): Presentation of TRANSLAPT
16:00 Coffee break
16:30 | Chair: Andrew Peacock
Panel I: Between Xīng and Yıldız: Astrology and Astronomy across Eurasia
- Kristof D’hulster (Münster): A Star Travelling the Sky and a Concept Traversing Languages: Exploring Some New Arabic, Persian and Turkish Manuscripts Dealing with Şigir Yulduz
- Lingli Li (Göttingen): Tarjuma-yi Kitāb-i Bārāhī and Its Early Indo-Islamic Tradition
- Qiao Yang (Jerusalem): Beyond Textual Translation: Transmission of Islamicate Astral Sciences to 13th–15th Century China
18:00 Reception
Thursday, 5 June
09:00 | Chair: Bruno De Nicola
Panel II: Multilingual Chancery Practices 1: Mongols and Ilkhans
- András Barati (Vienna): Facilitating Governance across Languages: The Role of Multilingualism in the Ilkhanid Chancery
- Márton Vér (Hamburg): Translating Power: Central Asian Multilingual Practices and the Mongol Chancery Tradition
10:00 Coffee break
10:30 | Chair: Sara Mirahmadi
Panel III: Turko-Persian Encounters in Iran
- Jaimee Comstock-Skipp (Oxford): Turco-Persianate Linguistic Performativity in the Abū’l-Khayrid Dynasty
- Ferenc Csirkés (Birmingham): Translating Shiite Ritual into Turkic in Safavid Iran
11:30 Coffee break
12:00 | Chair: Nefeli Papoutsakis
Panel IV: Bringing the World to the Ottoman Court
- John Curry (Las Vegas): Speaking Chinese, Translating Persian: Strategies of the Autograph Manuscript of ʿAlī Akbar Khaṭāyī’s Book of China
- Andrew Peacock (St Andrews): A Compilation of Translations for a Sultan: Cenābī’s Cevāhirü’l-Ġarāʾib
13:00 Lunch
14:00 | Chair: Kerstin Storm
Panel V: The Buddha Leaving India
- Chia-Wei Lin (Lausanne): Multilingual Encounters in the Buddha Biography in Rashīd al-Dīn’s Compendium of Chronicles
- Yihao Qiu (Shanghai): When Sweet Dew Fluttered Down, Heavenly Flowers Danced: Of a Panegyric on the Buddhist Miracles Written in Persian
15:00 Coffee break
15:30 | Chair: Sacha Alsancakli
Panel VI: Philosophical Encounters across Language Barriers
- Godefroid De Callataÿ (Louvain-la-Neuve) & Laura Tribuzio (Louvain-la-Neuve): Translating Wisdom. Revisiting the Mujmal al-Ḥikma and its Role in the Multilingual Dynamics of Medieval Eurasia
- Aslisho Qurboniev (London): The Ismaili Translation Movement and the Fate of the Alamut Library
19:00 Dinner
Friday, 6 June
09:00 | Chair: Ahmet Aytep
Panel VII: To Edify/Rectify/Stupefy: Why Translate Classics?
- Sara Mirahmadi (Vienna): Tarjuma as a Rhetorical Figure during the Reigns of the Seljuqs and the Ilkhans
- Benedek Péri (Budapest): Saʿdī’s Gulistān and Its Three Turkic Translations
- Alberto Tiburcio (Munich): A Mysterious Translation of a Late Shii Classic: The Patna Translation of Qāżī Nūrallāh Shūshtarī’s (d. 1610) Iḥqāq al-Ḥaqq
10:30 Coffee break
11:00 | Chair: Marco Schöller
Panel VIII: Multilingual Chancery Practices 2: Yuan and Ming China
- Carol Fan (Bonn): Knowledge Transmission through Translation: Persian-Chinese Glossaries and Textual Practices in Post-Mongol China
- Yoshiyuki Funada (Hiroshima): Types and Functions of the Multilingual Official Documents under the Mongol-Yuan Empire: Mongolian and Chinese Bilingual Forms
12:00
- Kristof D’hulster (Münster): Concluding remarks
13:00 Lunch
15:00 City tour
19:00 Dinner