The poetic parts of the Secret History are the earliest Mongol poetry still extant. Some have claimed that the entire Secret History is a epic poetic fiction rather than a historical record, but most of the poeticisms are come from the mouths of characters in the story, and the narrator's voice is mostly prosaic, factual and secular, with supernatural elements minimized or unmentioned. While considerable sections, especially from the earliest periods, have evidently been adapted from oral tradition, to a large degree the epic has been revised to produce a more historical narrative.  Chinggis Qan was a founder or lawgiver, and both his rule and this record of his rule were innovative rather than traditional. (Kahn's and Cleaves' translations are blemished by their attempts to force the work into inappropriate literary forms.)

The Secret History was put together no earlier than 1228 AD, and the killing of Bekter took place at least 45 years earlier than that, after almost all contemporaries had died. Thus, it is highly unlikely that "Hoelün's Lament" is an actual transcription of Hoelün's words. At the same time, the poem, which relies on parallelism, alliteration, and the citation of proverbs, is not terribly intricate (the way Beowulf or the Norse Eddas often are), and in my opinion does not exceed the possible bounds of the extemporaneous eloquence for which pre-literate peoples are well-known.

My translation of this poem on the other page is not really new translation. I just try to make de Rachewiltz's translation a little more effective in English, partly by bringing it a little closer to the form of the Mongol text. In some respects my version is interpretational (or inaccurate.)

Here is the Mongol text:

Source

Mongol transliteration: de Rachewiltz, Index, p. 30, lines 1708-1719 (11a1—12b); Chinese text:   Menggu Mishu, pp. 92-4; Haenisch translation, p. 12; Cleaves translation, p. 23-4; de Rachewiltz translation, pp 21-22, 368-371.

Notes

Line 2/16 "baraqsat" / "baraba": Roughly, "Killer! .... You have killed!" The verb "bara-" , "finish", normally means "destroy", but can mean "complete", somewhat like the English "finish".

Lines 2-5: alliteration on Q

Lines 4-15 are all parallel. The parallel lines 4 -15 all consist of a participial phrase followed by a comparison to a savage beast: " X-ing like a  Y" ("....qu ....metu, giving a rhyme-like effect).   Poppe's description (p. 95) of the verbal form here (the nomen futuri or future participle) is not too helpful: “An action which will take place in the future or in any time other than future…. Frequently referred to as the infinitive of the verb, a profound error…“ (He translates an example "One who goes, going in the future, he will go”.)

Lines 10-11: alliteration on B.

Lines 14-16: alliteration on B.

Lines 17-18, 24-25: parallel proverbial phrases (italicized).

Lines 19-20, 21-22: parallel phrases.

Bibliography

Cleaves, Francis W., The Secret History of the Mongols, Harvard, 1982.

de Rachewiltz, Igor, Index to the Secret History of the Mongols, Indiana, 1972.

de Rachewiltz, Igor, The Secret History of the Mongols, 2 vol., Brill, 2004.

Haenisch, Erich, Manghol un Niuca Tobca’an, Franz Steiner, 1962.

Haenisch, Erich, Worterbuch zu Manghol un Niuca Tobca’an, Franz Steiner, 1962.

Lessing, Ferdinand, et. al, Mongolian English Dictionary, Mongolia Society, 1995.

Menggu mishi, Inner Mongolia People’s Publishing, Hohhot, 1980.

Poppe, Nicholas, Grammar of Written Mongolian, Harrassowitz, 1991.

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All original material copyright John J. Emerson 

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