Dingling
Encyclopedia
The Dingling were an ancient Siberia
n people. They originally lived on the bank of the Lena River
in the area west of Lake Baikal
, gradually moving southward to Mongolia
and northern China. They were subsequently part of the Xiongnu
Empire.
Around the 3rd century they were assimilated into the Tiele
(鐵勒, Die Lei), also named Gaoche (高車, Go Ke) or Chile (敕勒, Chul Luk)), who gradually expanded westward into Central Asia
.
. Chinese records do not mention the physical appearance of the Dingling, suggesting general homogeneity with people of the Asiatic region, and their name appears rarely.
They might have been correlated with the Guifang (鬼方), a northern tribe that appears in the oracle bone
inscriptions from Yinxu
during the 1st millennium BCE.
According to the History of the Gaoche of Wei Shou
(6th c.), the origin of the Dingling can be traced to the fabled Chidi (赤狄), who lived in northern China during the Spring and Autumn period. The Mozi
mentions a total of eight Di groups related to the Chidi, of whom only the Chidi and two others were known.
To the north of the Xiongnu
empire and Dingling territories, at the headwaters of the Yenisei around Tannu Uriankhai
, lived the Gekun (鬲昆), also known as the Yenisei Kirghiz
in later records. Further to the west near the Irtysh
river lived the Hujie (呼揭). Other tribes living north of the Xiongnu, such as the Hunyu (浑庾), Qushe (屈射), and Xinli (薪犁), are only mentioneed once in Chinese records, and their exact location is unknown.
During the 2nd century BCE, the Dingling became subjects of Modu Chanyu along with 26 other tribes, including the Yuezhi
and Wusun
.
, but these gradually weakened. In 71 BCE, after numerous conflicts between the Chinese and the Xiongnu, the Dingling, with help from neighboring tribes, took the opportunity to revolt. From 60 to 63 BCE, during a split within the Xiongnu ruling clan of Luanti (挛鞮), the Dingling attacked the Xiongnu, together with the Wusun
, supported by the Chinese, from the west and the Wuhuan
from the southeast.
In 51 BCE, they were, together with the Hujie and Gekun, defeated by the Xiongnu under Zhizhi Chanyu
, on his way to Kangju
. Over the next century there may have been more uprisings, but the only recorded one was in the year 85, when together with the Xianbei
they made their final attack on the Xiongnu. After that, the Dingling were assimilated into the remaining northern Xiongnu and the Tuoba
under the confederacy of Xianbei chief Tanshihuai (檀石槐). After his death in 181, the Xianbei moved south and the Dingling took their place on the steppe.
confederacy in 181 and the foundation of the Rouran
Qaghanate in 402, there was a long period without a tribal confederacy on the steppe. During this period, a part of the Dingling were assimilated to the northern Xiongnu by permanently settling further to the south. Another group, documented as about 450,000, moved southeast and merged into the Xianbei.
After the defeat of Northern Shanyu (1st century), deduced from the number of casualties and immigrants, an estimated figure of 200,000 is given for the Xiongnu still remaining on the northern steppe. Remnants of the Xiongnu managed to keep their identity until the early 5th century, living on the Orkhon River under the tribal name Bayeqi (拔也稽) before being eliminated by the Rouran
.
Some groups of Dingling settled in China during Wang Mang
's reign. According to the Weilüe
, another group of Dingling escaped to the western steppe in Kazakhstan. Around the 3rd century, Dinglings living in China began to adopt family names such as Zhai, Xianyu (鲜于), Luo (洛) and Yan (严). These Dingling became part of the southern Xiongnu tribes known as Chile
(赤勒) during the 3rd century, from which the name Chile (敕勒) originated.
During the Sixteen Kingdoms
period the Dingling founded the Wei state under Zhai Liao
. A branch of people descended from the Tiele in central Asia, mixing with Indo-European
people, would later emerge as the Uyghur
group.
About one-quarter of the Tuoba clans show similar names as found among the later Gaoche and Tiele tribes. Among them, the Hegu (紇骨) and Yizhan (乙旃) clans kept their high status and were forbidden to intermarry with the rest.
Between the 4th and 7th century, the name "Dingling" slowly disappeared from Chinese records.
The burial finds were divided into three groups by Trever:
The objects of Chinese origin are more or less well known, as W.P. Yetts mentioned them in his article. Some of the objects contain Taoist elements and ideographs, from silk embroidered with scrolled clouds and horsemen, and a lacquered bowl decorated with birds. On a damask design, a horseman holds an object from which ascends a cloud of vapour. The Chinese ideographs read:
"hsin shen ling kuang ch'eng shou wan nien" (新神灵广成寿万年) meaning "renews spirituality and extends longevity to a myriad years". An accompanying inscriptions dispels all doubts as to their identity, for they are called "hsien jen" (仙境), Taoist illuminates or fairies. Yetts adds that the philosopher "Guang Cheng" is a prominent figure in Taoist myth, who had been regarded as an early incarnation of Laozi
.
The lacquered cup has an incised inscription too, which was deciphered by Prof. Otto Kümmel and Umehara Sueji:
"September of the 5th year of the Chein-p'ing (2 BCE)". The manufacturer is "Wang-t'an-ching", the painter of the decoration "Huo", another manufacturer "I'", superintended by "Pien Wu" (建平五年九月工王潭经画工获壶大武省). Two other signs on the bottom of the cup are according to Yetts to be read as "Shang lin" (上林, which is the name of a park to the west of Chang'an
, capital of Western Han) The identity of the buried is not known.
The "western" objects reached the Xiongnu through trade along the Silk Road
, being the result of the commercial capital of the ancient world having penetrated into the remotest regions of the East. From countries producing articles of luxury, such as Bactria, impregnated as it was with Hellenistic culture, merchants imported goods into the land of the Xiongnu. This is probably what called into life the remarkable local art of wool embroidery destined for the use of the princes. In Chinese style and with the use of local dyes made of plants, Hellenistic plant motives and realistic images of the chiefs, with all the details of clothing, way of hair dressing and horsegear are depicted.
From literary sources we have some knowledge of the upper classes' daily life: the dead princes are buried in two coffins, an outer and inner one. Their clothes are of gold and silver brocade and fur. Nothing is known about the burial customs of the ordinary people.
peoples (Arin
, Assan
, Yugh
, Ket
, Kott
, and Pumpokol
), the Na-Dene Indians, and the Dingling of Chinese chronicles to Proto-Dingling. The linguistic comparison of Na-Dene and Yeniseian shows that the quantity and character of the correspondences points to a possible common origin. According to Russian linguistic experts, they likely spoke a polysynthetic
or synthetic language
with an active typology
, exhibiting a linguistically and culturally unified community.
The name Dingling can be seen to resemble both:
Although the Dené–Yeniseian language family is now widely accepted, the same cannot be said about his inclusion of the Dingling.
History of Siberia
The early history of Siberia is greatly influenced by the sophisticated nomadic civilizations of the Scythians and Xiongnu , both flourishing before the Christian era. The steppes of South Siberia saw a succession of nomadic empires, including the Turkic Empire and the Mongol Empire...
n people. They originally lived on the bank of the Lena River
Lena River
The Lena is the easternmost of the three great Siberian rivers that flow into the Arctic Ocean . It is the 11th longest river in the world and has the 9th largest watershed...
in the area west of Lake Baikal
Lake Baikal
Lake Baikal is the world's oldest at 30 million years old and deepest lake with an average depth of 744.4 metres.Located in the south of the Russian region of Siberia, between Irkutsk Oblast to the northwest and the Buryat Republic to the southeast, it is the most voluminous freshwater lake in the...
, gradually moving southward to Mongolia
Mongolia
Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...
and northern China. They were subsequently part of the Xiongnu
Xiongnu
The Xiongnu were ancient nomadic-based people that formed a state or confederation north of the agriculture-based empire of the Han Dynasty. Most of the information on the Xiongnu comes from Chinese sources...
Empire.
Around the 3rd century they were assimilated into the Tiele
Tiele people
The Tiele or Tele , were a confederation of nine Turkic peoples living to the north of China and in Central Asia, emerging after the disintegration of the Xiongnu confederacy...
(鐵勒, Die Lei), also named Gaoche (高車, Go Ke) or Chile (敕勒, Chul Luk)), who gradually expanded westward into Central Asia
Central Asia
Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
.
Naming and etymology
Although the words Dingling, Gaoche, Chile and Tiele are often used interchangeably, this usage is erroneous as pointed out by modern academia.- Dingling refers to an extinct ancient ethnic group, whose original constituents mainly assimilated into the XiongnuXiongnuThe Xiongnu were ancient nomadic-based people that formed a state or confederation north of the agriculture-based empire of the Han Dynasty. Most of the information on the Xiongnu comes from Chinese sources...
and XianbeiXianbeiThe Xianbei were a significant Mongolic nomadic people residing in Manchuria, Inner Mongolia and eastern Mongolia. The title “Khan” was first used among the Xianbei.-Origins:...
groups. - The GaocheTiele peopleThe Tiele or Tele , were a confederation of nine Turkic peoples living to the north of China and in Central Asia, emerging after the disintegration of the Xiongnu confederacy...
, later Chile, were a tribe, descended in part from the Dingling, that was expelled from MongoliaMongoliaMongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...
by the RouranRouranRouran , Mongolia name Jujan or Nirun Ruanruan/Ruru , Tan Tan , Juan-Juan or Zhu-Zhuwas the name of a confederation of nomadic tribes on the northern borders of Inner China from the late 4th century until the middle 6th century...
and founded a state (487-541) at Turpan. - The TieleTiele peopleThe Tiele or Tele , were a confederation of nine Turkic peoples living to the north of China and in Central Asia, emerging after the disintegration of the Xiongnu confederacy...
were a collection of tribes of different TurkicTurkic peoplesThe Turkic peoples are peoples residing in northern, central and western Asia, southern Siberia and northwestern China and parts of eastern Europe. They speak languages belonging to the Turkic language family. They share, to varying degrees, certain cultural traits and historical backgrounds...
ethnic origins, largely descended from the Chile.
Origin and migration
The Dingling were a warlike group of hunters, fishers, and gatherers of the southern Siberian mountain taiga region from Lake Baikal to northern MongoliaMongolia
Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...
. Chinese records do not mention the physical appearance of the Dingling, suggesting general homogeneity with people of the Asiatic region, and their name appears rarely.
They might have been correlated with the Guifang (鬼方), a northern tribe that appears in the oracle bone
Oracle bone
Oracle bones are pieces of bone normally from ox scapula or turtle plastron which were used for divination chiefly during the late Shang Dynasty. The bones were first inscribed with divination in oracle bone script by using a bronze pin, and then heated until crack lines appeared in which the...
inscriptions from Yinxu
Yinxu
Yinxu is the ruins of the last capital of China's Shang Dynasty. The capital served 255 years for 12 kings in 8 generations.Rediscovered in 1899, it is one of the oldest and largest archeological sites in China and is one of the historical capitals of China and a UNESCO World Heritage Site...
during the 1st millennium BCE.
According to the History of the Gaoche of Wei Shou
Wei Shou
Wei Shou , born in Xingtai, Hebei, was a Chinese author. He wrote the Book of Wei, composed in 554, an important Chinese historical text.-References:*Cao, Daoheng, . Encyclopedia of China, 1st ed....
(6th c.), the origin of the Dingling can be traced to the fabled Chidi (赤狄), who lived in northern China during the Spring and Autumn period. The Mozi
Mozi
Mozi |Lat.]] as Micius, ca. 470 BC – ca. 391 BC), original name Mo Di , was a Chinese philosopher during the Hundred Schools of Thought period . Born in Tengzhou, Shandong Province, China, he founded the school of Mohism, and argued strongly against Confucianism and Daoism...
mentions a total of eight Di groups related to the Chidi, of whom only the Chidi and two others were known.
To the north of the Xiongnu
Xiongnu
The Xiongnu were ancient nomadic-based people that formed a state or confederation north of the agriculture-based empire of the Han Dynasty. Most of the information on the Xiongnu comes from Chinese sources...
empire and Dingling territories, at the headwaters of the Yenisei around Tannu Uriankhai
Tannu Uriankhai
Tannu Uriankhai is a historic region of the Mongol Empire and, later, the Qing Dynasty. The realms of Tannu Uriankhai largely correspond to the Tuva Republic of the Russian Federation, neighboring areas in Russia, and a part of the modern state of Mongolia....
, lived the Gekun (鬲昆), also known as the Yenisei Kirghiz
Yenisei Kirghiz
The Yenisei Kirghiz, also known as the Khyagas or Khakas, were an ancient people that dwelled along the upper Yenisei River in the southern portion of the Minusinsk Depression from the 3rd century BCE to the 13th century CE...
in later records. Further to the west near the Irtysh
Irtysh
The Irtysh River is a river in Siberia and is the chief tributary of the Ob River. Its name means White River. Irtysh's main affluent is the Tobol River...
river lived the Hujie (呼揭). Other tribes living north of the Xiongnu, such as the Hunyu (浑庾), Qushe (屈射), and Xinli (薪犁), are only mentioneed once in Chinese records, and their exact location is unknown.
During the 2nd century BCE, the Dingling became subjects of Modu Chanyu along with 26 other tribes, including the Yuezhi
Yuezhi
The Yuezhi, or Rouzhi , also known as the Da Yuezhi or Da Rouzhi , were an ancient Central Asian people....
and Wusun
Wusun
The Wūsūn were a nomadic steppe people who, according to the Chinese histories, originally lived in western Gansu in northwest China west of the Yuezhi people...
.
Dingling and Xiongnu
The Dingling were first subjugated by the XiongnuXiongnu
The Xiongnu were ancient nomadic-based people that formed a state or confederation north of the agriculture-based empire of the Han Dynasty. Most of the information on the Xiongnu comes from Chinese sources...
, but these gradually weakened. In 71 BCE, after numerous conflicts between the Chinese and the Xiongnu, the Dingling, with help from neighboring tribes, took the opportunity to revolt. From 60 to 63 BCE, during a split within the Xiongnu ruling clan of Luanti (挛鞮), the Dingling attacked the Xiongnu, together with the Wusun
Wusun
The Wūsūn were a nomadic steppe people who, according to the Chinese histories, originally lived in western Gansu in northwest China west of the Yuezhi people...
, supported by the Chinese, from the west and the Wuhuan
Wuhuan
The Wuhuan were a proto-Mongolic nomadic people who inhabited northern China, in what is now the provinces of Hebei, Liaoning, Shanxi, the municipality of Beijing and the autonomous region of Inner Mongolia....
from the southeast.
In 51 BCE, they were, together with the Hujie and Gekun, defeated by the Xiongnu under Zhizhi Chanyu
Zhizhi Chanyu
Zhizhi Chanyu was a Chanyu of the Xiongnu at the time of the first Xiongnu civil war, who held the north and west in contention with his younger brother Huhanye who held the south. His original name in Chinese transcription was Luanti Hutuwusi, i.e...
, on his way to Kangju
Kangju
Kangju was the name of an ancient people and kingdom in Central Asia. It was a nomadic federation of unknown ethnic and linguistic origin which became for a couple of centuries the second greatest power in Transoxiana after the Yuezhi....
. Over the next century there may have been more uprisings, but the only recorded one was in the year 85, when together with the Xianbei
Xianbei
The Xianbei were a significant Mongolic nomadic people residing in Manchuria, Inner Mongolia and eastern Mongolia. The title “Khan” was first used among the Xianbei.-Origins:...
they made their final attack on the Xiongnu. After that, the Dingling were assimilated into the remaining northern Xiongnu and the Tuoba
Tuoba
Tuoba, or Tabgach, were a clan of Xianbei people of ancient China.-Xianbei Tuoba:Tuoba was a clan of the Xianbei people in the early centuries of the 1st millennium AD. They established the State of Dai from 310 to 376 AD, and the Northern Wei Dynasty from 386 to 536 AD...
under the confederacy of Xianbei chief Tanshihuai (檀石槐). After his death in 181, the Xianbei moved south and the Dingling took their place on the steppe.
Assimilation
Between the short-lived XianbeiXianbei
The Xianbei were a significant Mongolic nomadic people residing in Manchuria, Inner Mongolia and eastern Mongolia. The title “Khan” was first used among the Xianbei.-Origins:...
confederacy in 181 and the foundation of the Rouran
Rouran
Rouran , Mongolia name Jujan or Nirun Ruanruan/Ruru , Tan Tan , Juan-Juan or Zhu-Zhuwas the name of a confederation of nomadic tribes on the northern borders of Inner China from the late 4th century until the middle 6th century...
Qaghanate in 402, there was a long period without a tribal confederacy on the steppe. During this period, a part of the Dingling were assimilated to the northern Xiongnu by permanently settling further to the south. Another group, documented as about 450,000, moved southeast and merged into the Xianbei.
After the defeat of Northern Shanyu (1st century), deduced from the number of casualties and immigrants, an estimated figure of 200,000 is given for the Xiongnu still remaining on the northern steppe. Remnants of the Xiongnu managed to keep their identity until the early 5th century, living on the Orkhon River under the tribal name Bayeqi (拔也稽) before being eliminated by the Rouran
Rouran
Rouran , Mongolia name Jujan or Nirun Ruanruan/Ruru , Tan Tan , Juan-Juan or Zhu-Zhuwas the name of a confederation of nomadic tribes on the northern borders of Inner China from the late 4th century until the middle 6th century...
.
Some groups of Dingling settled in China during Wang Mang
Wang Mang
Wang Mang , courtesy name Jujun , was a Han Dynasty official who seized the throne from the Liu family and founded the Xin Dynasty , ruling AD 9–23. The Han dynasty was restored after his overthrow and his rule marks the separation between the Western Han Dynasty and Eastern Han Dynasty...
's reign. According to the Weilüe
Weilüe
The Weilüe written by Yu Huan between CE 239, the end of Emperor Ming’s reign, and 265 CE, the end of the Cao Wei . Although not an "official historian," Yu Huan has always been held in high regard amongst Chinese scholars....
, another group of Dingling escaped to the western steppe in Kazakhstan. Around the 3rd century, Dinglings living in China began to adopt family names such as Zhai, Xianyu (鲜于), Luo (洛) and Yan (严). These Dingling became part of the southern Xiongnu tribes known as Chile
Tiele people
The Tiele or Tele , were a confederation of nine Turkic peoples living to the north of China and in Central Asia, emerging after the disintegration of the Xiongnu confederacy...
(赤勒) during the 3rd century, from which the name Chile (敕勒) originated.
During the Sixteen Kingdoms
Sixteen Kingdoms
The Sixteen Kingdoms, or less commonly the Sixteen States, were a collection of numerous short-lived sovereign states in China proper and its neighboring areas from 304 to 439 AD after the retreat of the Jin Dynasty to South China and before the establishment of the Northern Dynasties...
period the Dingling founded the Wei state under Zhai Liao
Zhai Liao
Zhao Liao was the founder of the Chinese/Dingling state Wei. During his reign, he used the title "Heavenly Prince" , roughly equivalent to emperor.-Early career:...
. A branch of people descended from the Tiele in central Asia, mixing with Indo-European
Indo-European
Indo-European may refer to:* Indo-European languages** Aryan race, a 19th century and early 20th century term for those peoples who are the native speakers of Indo-European languages...
people, would later emerge as the Uyghur
Uyghur people
The Uyghur are a Turkic ethnic group living in Eastern and Central Asia. Today, Uyghurs live primarily in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China...
group.
About one-quarter of the Tuoba clans show similar names as found among the later Gaoche and Tiele tribes. Among them, the Hegu (紇骨) and Yizhan (乙旃) clans kept their high status and were forbidden to intermarry with the rest.
Between the 4th and 7th century, the name "Dingling" slowly disappeared from Chinese records.
Religious beliefs and culture
The cultural aspects of the Dingling can be observed from the Noin-Ula excavations in northern Mongolia. There were a total of 212 tumuli. the Noin-Ula mountains, called Tzun-Mode by the local population, are chiefly grown with pine, their higher zones with larch and cedar.The burial finds were divided into three groups by Trever:
- Imported Chinese objects, such as silk embroidery
- Objects coming from the West, not from GreeceAncient GreeceAncient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
and her Near Eastern coloniesHellenistic periodThe Hellenistic period or Hellenistic era describes the time which followed the conquests of Alexander the Great. It was so named by the historian J. G. Droysen. During this time, Greek cultural influence and power was at its zenith in Europe and Asia...
, but belonging to the culture of the BactriaBactriaBactria and also appears in the Zend Avesta as Bukhdi. It is the ancient name of a historical region located between south of the Amu Darya and west of the Indus River...
n upper classes and ParthiaParthiaParthia is a region of north-eastern Iran, best known for having been the political and cultural base of the Arsacid dynasty, rulers of the Parthian Empire....
n Iran, both impregnated with HellenisticHellenistic civilizationHellenistic civilization represents the zenith of Greek influence in the ancient world from 323 BCE to about 146 BCE...
culture - Objects of local workmanship
The objects of Chinese origin are more or less well known, as W.P. Yetts mentioned them in his article. Some of the objects contain Taoist elements and ideographs, from silk embroidered with scrolled clouds and horsemen, and a lacquered bowl decorated with birds. On a damask design, a horseman holds an object from which ascends a cloud of vapour. The Chinese ideographs read:
"hsin shen ling kuang ch'eng shou wan nien" (新神灵广成寿万年) meaning "renews spirituality and extends longevity to a myriad years". An accompanying inscriptions dispels all doubts as to their identity, for they are called "hsien jen" (仙境), Taoist illuminates or fairies. Yetts adds that the philosopher "Guang Cheng" is a prominent figure in Taoist myth, who had been regarded as an early incarnation of Laozi
Laozi
Laozi was a mystic philosopher of ancient China, best known as the author of the Tao Te Ching . His association with the Tao Te Ching has led him to be traditionally considered the founder of Taoism...
.
The lacquered cup has an incised inscription too, which was deciphered by Prof. Otto Kümmel and Umehara Sueji:
"September of the 5th year of the Chein-p'ing (2 BCE)". The manufacturer is "Wang-t'an-ching", the painter of the decoration "Huo", another manufacturer "I'", superintended by "Pien Wu" (建平五年九月工王潭经画工获壶大武省). Two other signs on the bottom of the cup are according to Yetts to be read as "Shang lin" (上林, which is the name of a park to the west of Chang'an
Chang'an
Chang'an is an ancient capital of more than ten dynasties in Chinese history, today known as Xi'an. Chang'an literally means "Perpetual Peace" in Classical Chinese. During the short-lived Xin Dynasty, the city was renamed "Constant Peace" ; yet after its fall in AD 23, the old name was restored...
, capital of Western Han) The identity of the buried is not known.
The "western" objects reached the Xiongnu through trade along the Silk Road
Silk Road
The Silk Road or Silk Route refers to a historical network of interlinking trade routes across the Afro-Eurasian landmass that connected East, South, and Western Asia with the Mediterranean and European world, as well as parts of North and East Africa...
, being the result of the commercial capital of the ancient world having penetrated into the remotest regions of the East. From countries producing articles of luxury, such as Bactria, impregnated as it was with Hellenistic culture, merchants imported goods into the land of the Xiongnu. This is probably what called into life the remarkable local art of wool embroidery destined for the use of the princes. In Chinese style and with the use of local dyes made of plants, Hellenistic plant motives and realistic images of the chiefs, with all the details of clothing, way of hair dressing and horsegear are depicted.
From literary sources we have some knowledge of the upper classes' daily life: the dead princes are buried in two coffins, an outer and inner one. Their clothes are of gold and silver brocade and fur. Nothing is known about the burial customs of the ordinary people.
Yeniseian theory
In Zur jenissejisch-indianischen Urverwandtschaft (Concerning Yeniseian-Indian Primal Relationship), the German scholar, Heinrich Werner developed a new language family which he termed Baikal–Siberic. By extension, he groups together the YeniseianYeniseian languages
The Yeniseian language family is spoken in central Siberia.-Family division:0. Proto-Yeniseian...
peoples (Arin
Arin language
Arin was a Yeniseian language spoken in Russia along the Yenisei River between Yeniseysk and Krasnoyarsk. It is classified as a Southern Yeniseian language, along with Kott and Assan....
, Assan
Assan language
Assan was a Yeniseian language which became extinct in the 19th century. It was closely related to the Kott language.-External links:*...
, Yugh
Yugh language
Yugh is a Yeniseian language, closely related to Ket, formerly spoken by the Yugh people, one of the southern groups along the Yenisei River in central Siberia. In the past it was regarded as a dialect of the Ket language, which was considered to be a language isolate...
, Ket
Ket language
The Ket language, formerly known as Yenisei Ostyak, is a Siberian language long thought to be an isolate, the sole surviving language of a Yeniseian language family...
, Kott
Kott language
The Kott language is an extinct Yeniseian language that was formerly spoken in central Siberia by the banks of Mana River, a tributary of the Yenisei river. It became extinct in the 1850s. Some linguists believe the Assan language was a dialect of Kott...
, and Pumpokol
Pumpokol language
Pumpokol is one of the Yeniseian languages. It has been extinct since the 18th century....
), the Na-Dene Indians, and the Dingling of Chinese chronicles to Proto-Dingling. The linguistic comparison of Na-Dene and Yeniseian shows that the quantity and character of the correspondences points to a possible common origin. According to Russian linguistic experts, they likely spoke a polysynthetic
Polysynthetic language
In linguistic typology, polysynthetic languages are highly synthetic languages, i.e., languages in which words are composed of many morphemes. Whereas isolating languages have a low morpheme-to-word ratio, polysynthetic languages have extremely high morpheme-to-word ratios.Not all languages can be...
or synthetic language
Synthetic language
In linguistic typology, a synthetic language is a language with a high morpheme-per-word ratio, as opposed to a low morpheme-per-word ratio in what is described as an isolating language...
with an active typology
Linguistic typology
Linguistic typology is a subfield of linguistics that studies and classifies languages according to their structural features. Its aim is to describe and explain the common properties and the structural diversity of the world's languages...
, exhibiting a linguistically and culturally unified community.
The name Dingling can be seen to resemble both:
- the Yeniseian word *dzheng people > Ket de?ng, Yug dyeng, Kott cheang
- the Na-Dene word *ling or *hling people, i.e. as manifested in the name of the Tlingit (properly hling-git son of man, child of the people).
Although the Dené–Yeniseian language family is now widely accepted, the same cannot be said about his inclusion of the Dingling.
See also
- Wei (Dingling)
- TieleTiele peopleThe Tiele or Tele , were a confederation of nine Turkic peoples living to the north of China and in Central Asia, emerging after the disintegration of the Xiongnu confederacy...
- List of indigenous peoples of Russia