Publisher's Explanations.
This book, based on the Yüan-ch'ao-pi-shih published by YEH Tê-hui 葉德輝 and reproduced so faithfully after it that even its leaf numbers have been followed, consists of the Mongolian text transliterated into Chinese ideographs and of the romanized transliteration of the most probable sounds in the original given on the left-hand side of the Mongolian text.
As it is evident that leaf 35 of Bk. 8 of the YEH edition should follow leaf 37 of the same Bk., the order has been rectified, leaf 36 of the YEH version being put at leaf 36, leaf 37 at leaf 36, and leaf 35 at leaf 37. Though lines 3-4, leaf 17b, Bk. 9, coincide with lines 1-2, leaf 19a, the same Bk., the former has been struck off as, because of the absence of a general translation. it must no doubt be a strayed section. By the way, these emendations had already been pointed out by Dr. NAKA who had consulted the edition by WÊN T'ing-shih on which the YEH edition was founded. The edition in the Ssǔ-pu-ts'ung-k'an does not contain these defects.
The YEH edition adopts such signs as reproduced here. （Ex. 1）.
成吉思(太祖︀)名 中᠋合中᠋罕訥皇帝的 忽札兀舌᠋兒根源
(EX. 1. BK. 1, 1a)
A double side-line is attached to a personal name,and a single one to each word, for the purpose of indicating the relations between words. The present book has struck off these signs as the romanized transliteration clarifies the relations between words.
Parentheses in the text indicate emendations or supplements. Some emendations rendered by means of omisslon, however, could not be indicated in the text; they will be pointed out in the indexes to be published in the future.
When such a sign as 中 or 舌 attached to the left-hand shoulder of the Chinese transliteration is revised, it has been found technically impossible to print it in parentheses. Such emendations will also be pointed out in the index to be published in near future.
Though this does not occur in the original text, the sign-is inserted between two words closely related to each other in meaning or grammatically.
This book has unified the use of the notations indicating the personal names, using 人名 for a man's name, 婦人名 for a woman's name, 兒名 for a child's name, and 女名 for a girl's name, respectively. And as for mei 每 in tsa-mei 咱每 （we） and an-mei 俺每 （we）, it has been struck off because tsa 咱 and an 俺 already signify the plural number. They all read 咱 and 俺. The particle i in the Mongolian language is represented by 宜 or 宜, and in by 囙 or 因, but only 冝 and 因 have been adopted here.
In representing an original sound in the Mongolian language, the system generally adopted in transliterating literary Mongolian has been used The provisions for transliterating the original sounds into Chinese ideographs are as follows:
The seven Mongolian vowels: a, e, i, o, u, ö, ü are divided into three genders--male, female, and neuter:
Male vowels （posterior vowels） a, o, u,
Female vowels （anterior vowels） e, ö, ü,
Neuter vowels （anterior vowels） i,
As every one knows, the general rule is not to use a male and a female vowel in one word ; if the initial vowel is a male, the vowels occurring after it in the word should be male ; likewise in the case of the initial female vowel; but in the case of the initial neuter vowel either a male or a female may follow in the word.
Though a consonant is neuter in Mongolian a q or γ sound may occur only with a male vowel, and a k or g sound only with a female vowel. In differentiating a q or γ sound from a k or g sound. the original text placed the sign 中 on the left- hand shoulder of the Chinese ideograph representing the sound. （Ex. 2）
中᠋合撒舌᠋兒狗名Qasar 那中᠋孩狗noγai
(EX. 2. BK. 2, 1/a)
It may be supposed that as a q or γ sound in Mongolian contained a breathing h sound which did not exist in the Chinese language of that time and was heard to be a middle sound located
