A STUDY OF FRENCH TRANSLATIONS OF QUATRAINS IN THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS

АННОТАЦИЯ

Данное исследование представляет сравнительный анализ четверостиший « Сокровенного сказания монголов » в их французских переводах с акцентом на передачу поэтического языка, образности, смысла и культурной специфики. Рассматриваются переводы Поля Пеллио и Мари-Доминик Эвен в сопоставлении с оригиналом с целью выявления их методов, стратегий и стилистических особенностей. Также четверостишия были переведены с использованием программ искусственного интеллекта и сопоставлены с переводами, выполненными человеком. Результаты показывают, что при переводе на французский язык метр, образность и символика частично трансформируются: в человеческих переводах преобладает художественная реконструкция, тогда как машинные переводы более прямо передают смысл. Исследование вносит вклад в теорию и практику перевода монгольской поэзии на французский язык и выявляет возможности и ограничения ИИ-перевода.

ABSTRACT

This study presents a comparative analysis of quatrains from The Secret History of the Mongols in their French translations, focusing on the transmission of poetic language, imagery, meaning, and cultural features. It examines the translations by Paul Pelliot and Marie-Dominique Even in comparison with the original Mongolian text in order to identify their methods, strategies, and stylistic characteristics. Additionally, the quatrains were translated using an artificial intelligence–based system and compared with human translations. The findings indicate that meter, imagery, and symbolic meaning undergo certain transformations in French translation: human translations tend to emphasize artistic reconstruction, whereas AI-based translations tend to convey meaning more directly. This study contributes to the theory and practice of translating Mongolian poetry into French and highlights both the potential and the limitations of AI-assisted translation.

Ключевые слова: «Сокровенное сказание монголов», четверостишия, французский перевод

Keywords: The Secret History of the Mongols, quatrains, French translation     

The Secret History of the Mongols is an unparalleled work that embodies the history, culture,  worldview, and literary traditions of the Mongolian people. It is also widely recognized as a valuable monument of world literature. This chronicle is not limited to historical narration; it also conveys the distinctive features of Mongolian thought through the rich forms of oral tradition and poetic expression, particularly in its quatrains. These quatrains are characterized by tightly structured imagery, symbolism, and linguistic composition, as well as profound semantic content, making them a significant subject for translation studies.

In his study Translation and Commentary on The SHM, academician Damdinsuren Tserensodnom defines quatrains as follows:

"Quatrains are considered the poetic sections that are embedded within the narrative text, highlighting and expressing the meaning of the events."

The Secret History comprises over 1,200 lines, each consisting of 2–5 words, and encompasses rich poetic and literary expressions. [5, p. 3]

Among the various translations of that source, those rendered into French have played a crucial role in introducing Mongolian history and culture to European readers. However, relatively few studies have systematically examined how the poetic language, imagery, and cultural characteristics of the original text are conveyed in the French translations of the quatrains. Since the translator’s choices and strategies directly affect the aesthetic qualities of the source text during the process of recreating poetry in a different linguistic and cultural context, a comparative analysis of these translations holds both theoretical and practical significance.

Since its publication and subsequent scholarly attention, The Secret History of the Mongols has been extensively studied across multiple disciplines, including history, linguistics, literature, and cultural studies. Researchers have primarily focused on the chronicle’s origin, period of composition, historical content, linguistic and stylistic features, and issues related to the source text, with a prevailing tendency to regard The Secret History of the Mongols not only as a historical document but also as a significant literary monument.

Mongolian scholars have examined the artistic features of The SHM, including its oral tradition, poetic elements, repetition, meter, and imagery, in relation to the distinctive characteristics of Mongolian thought. However, these studies have largely focused on the original Mongolian text, and comparative analyses with translations into foreign languages remain relatively limited.

Foreign scholars have examined The Secret History of the Mongols primarily as a historical and linguistic source, and it has been translated into several languages, including English, French, and Russian. However, within the scope of French translations, systematic studies focusing on the poetic sections - particularly the quatrains - and the transmission of their artistic expression remain scarce. Therefore, a comparative analysis of the quatrains in French translation alongside the original text represents a research direction of both theoretical and practical necessity.         

The modern French translation of The Secret History of the Mongols was undertaken by the Mongolian-French scholar Paul Pelliot, who translated Chapters I-VI, encompassing up to section 185. This translation was published in Paris in 1949. As the first French rendition of The Secret History of the Mongols, it made a significant contribution to Mongolian studies, notably by providing explanatory footnotes for the meanings of certain words.

Additionally, the complete French translation of The Secret History of the Mongols by Mongolian scholars Marie-Dominique Even and Rodica Pop was published in Paris in 1994.

This translation was carried out within the framework of UNESCO’s project on the corpus of East Asian works. In translating The Secret History of the Mongols into French, the translators primarily relied on Paul Pelliot’s 1949 transliteration and B.Sumiyabaatar’s 1990 edition of The Secret History of the Mongols, while the works of Ts.Damdinsuren (1975), D.Tserensodnom (1990), and Sh.Gaadamba were used as supplementary references. [4, pp. 10-11]

In this study, a selected quatrain from The Secret History of the Mongols was analyzed by comparing two French translations with the original Mongolian text. The analysis focused on the quatrain’s semantic content, stylistic and descriptive features, culturally specific expressions, and the translation of terms for which no direct equivalents exist. Additionally, the quatrain was rendered using an artificial intelligence–based translation system, and a comparative assessment was conducted to determine the fidelity of meaning and the translation strategies employed by human and machine translations.

In section 124 of The Secret History of the Mongols, it is recounted that Chinggis Khan, together with Boorchi’s son Ügelen Cherbi, Khachiun-Tokhuraun, and the brothers Jetey and Dogolhu, prepared to strike at the four of them, when Degé, who had come from the Besud clan, narrated the following.

French translations of the selected quatrain: Marie-Dominique Even and Paul Pelliot.

Marie-Dominique Even

Paul Pelliot

Using the example of the artificial intelligence translation (ChatGPT):

• Shudlen Irge — (A male sheep castrated at three to four years of age is referred to as an irge.) [1, p. 38]

(Sheep or goats that have reached two years of age are called shudlen.) [1, p. 37]

This line is transliterated as Silegü irge, where Silegü refers to a shulge, a three-year-old male sheep. [3]  Rendering it as shudlen is considered semantically inaccurate.

  However, Marie-Dominique Even rendered it as troisième année (“three years old”), which accurately conveys the age category of the animal.

Paul Pelliot rendered it as deux ans (“two years old”), which deviates from the actual age category of the animal. Nevertheless, since the original text uses shudlen, this translation can be considered acceptable in context. The term irge was rendered as châtré (“castrated”), which constitutes a fully accurate translation.

The ChatGPT program rendered it as un an (“one year old”), which constitutes an inaccurate translation with respect to the actual age category of the animal.

• Managar - In Classical Mongolian, managar means “the next day” or “morning.” [6, p. 73]

Marie-Dominique Even and Paul Pelliot rendered it as matin (“morning”), which constitutes an accurate translation.

When translated using the ChatGPT program, it was rendered as large visage, literally “broad face,” which deviates from the original meaning. When queried about the term managar, the program defined it as “large, broad, round (usually describing the facial features),” indicating a semantic shift in this context.

• Alag - (In Mongolian, alag refers to a patch or mixture of different colors rather than a single color.) [1, p. 71]

Marie-Dominique Even rendered this term as pie, which literally means “magpie” and, as an adjective, conveys the sense of “speckled” or “multicolored.” [2, p. 543]  Therefore, this translation corresponds accurately to the meaning of the original term.

Paul Pelliot rendered this term as tachetés (“spotted”), which does not fully correspond to the original meaning.

The AI rendered this term as tachetés (“spotted”), which does not fully correspond to the original meaning.

• Alam - (Refers to a hollow or depression in the landscape.) [6, p. 73]

Marie-Dominique Even rendered it directly as vallon (“valley”), which accurately conveys the meaning of the original term.

Paul Pelliot rendered as le bas de tes charrettes, which, taken literally, means “the bottom of your cart.” The translator may have misunderstood the other sense of alam – (a large dug hole in the ground, a scarred depression.) [3] However, this rendering can be interpreted descriptively, as the passage of carts over the land naturally creates ruts, depressions, or hollows, which aligns with the intended depiction.

  The ChatGPT translated as les creux et les bas-fonds, meaning “hollows and low-lying areas.

• Khongogch Sheep - (Refers to a female sheep (khongor) [6, p. 73] (Refers to khongor, a coat color combination yellow and white tones) [1, p. 75]

Marie-Dominique Even rendered the color of this animal as les moutons roux. The term roux denotes “reddish-brown” which does not fully correspond to the original meaning, and is therefore considered a deviation from the source text.

Paul Pelliot rendered the color of this animal as moutons beiges. The term beige denotes “pale yellow” and is considered a fully accurate translation of the original term.

The ChatGPT program translated the coat color of the animal as moutons au pelage brun (“brown-coated sheep”), which does not precisely correspond to the actual color of the animal.

• Khoolontsor muu bulgee, bi - The line conveys the meaning of “from the very beginning, from birth, I have been inherently gluttonous.”

Marie-Dominique Even rendered as Moi qui gourmand trop étais, where étais (“was”) places the verb in the past tense. This past-tense rendering is considered a deviation from the original meaning, which expresses an inherent or habitual characteristic rather than a completed action.

Paul Pelliot rendered as Et comme je suis gourmand à l’excès, which literally means “and because I am excessively gluttonous.”

The AI translated as Moi, pauvre de maigre pitance (“I, poor with meager food”), which deviates from the original meaning, as the phrase “Khoolontsor muu” was interpreted as “lacking food” rather than conveying its intended nuance.

• Qonjiyasun - (Refers to the tail, “coccyx”, and white fat of the sheep.) [6, p. 73]

Marie-Dominique Even rendered as tripe (“stomach, entrails”), which does not fully correspond to the original meaning.

Paul Pelliot rendered as boyaux blancs (“white entrails”), which does not fully correspond to the original meaning.

This line was translated as Et me nourrirai de ce qui me revient (“I will live off what is allotted to me”). The ChatGPT program interpreted the term Qonjiyasun as “found object, portion received, sometimes even something acquired by chance or as a share,” which reflects a semantic shift from the original meaning.

When the two translations above are compared side by side,

When the translations by Marie-Dominique Even and Paul Pelliot are examined comparatively, clear differences can be observed in terms of translation strategies, stylistic features, and the transmission of meaning.

First, in terms of stylistic form, Marie-Dominique Even’s translation is characterized by short lines, an effort to preserve the poetic structure, and a predominance of artistic expression. Her translation aims to retain the rhythm, repetition, and poetic tone of the original as much as possible, making it more accessible and easier for readers to engage with. In contrast, Paul Pelliot’s translation features longer sentences and a more continuous, prose-like style, with a stronger emphasis on narrating events. While this approach seeks to convey the content of the source text with greater precision, it results in a certain loss of poetic rhythm and artistic form.

Second, in terms of meaning transfer, Marie-Dominique Even’s translation shows a tendency toward generalization or a reduction in the precision of imagery in certain cases. For instance, the term “Khongogch sheep” is rendered as moutons roux, which does not fully correspond to the original meaning. In contrast, Pelliot translates this term as moutons beiges, which more closely reflects the actual color. Similarly, the term alam is translated by Marie-Dominique Even as vallon (“valley”), providing a direct equivalent, whereas Pelliot renders it as le bas de tes charrettes, a more descriptive and interpretive translation that results in a certain shift in meaning.

Third, in the translation of culturally specific expressions, the two translators adopt different approaches. Marie-Dominique Even tends to preserve the original meaning and render it as directly as possible, whereas Pelliot, in some cases, interprets and adapts the meaning to make it more accessible to French readers. This difference is evident in the translation of terms such as alam and Qonjiyasun.

Fourth, in terms of tense and grammatical form, Marie-Dominique Even renders certain lines in the past tense (étais), which deviates from the original meaning, whereas Pelliot uses the present tense (je suis gourmand), which more closely aligns with the sense of the source text.

Thus, a comparative analysis of the two translations suggests that Marie-Dominique Even places greater emphasis on poetic form and artistic expression, whereas Paul Pelliot prioritizes semantic accuracy and the precise transmission of information.

Conclusion. In this study, a selected quatrain from The Secret History of the Mongols was analyzed through a comparative examination of two French translations alongside the original Mongolian text. In addition, the quatrain was compared with an artificial intelligence–based translation for further analysis.

The results of the study indicate that, in the process of translation into French, the meaning, imagery, cultural features, and poetic rhythm of the original quatrain undergo certain transformations. Marie-Dominique Even’s translation seeks to preserve poetic form and artistic expression, whereas Paul Pelliot’s translation focuses more on semantic accuracy and the transmission of information.

In contrast, the AI-based translation demonstrates a tendency to generalize meanings, misinterpret culturally specific expressions, and lose subtle distinctions in imagery. In particular, the translation of terms such as managar and Qonjiyasun reveals the limitations of AI in terms of contextual understanding and cultural sensitivity.

Therefore, translating the quatrains of The Secret History of the Mongols requires not only linguistic competence but also cultural understanding, historical knowledge, and poetic sensitivity. Combining human translation with AI-based translation may offer a promising approach to improving translation quality.

References:

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