Though I Have Been Unable To Find,
As Stated By Howorth (History, I. Pt.
I. 28), that the name Meng-ku
occurs in the T'ang shu, his conclusion that the northern Shih-wei of that
time constituted the Mongol nation proper is very likely correct....
I. J.
Schmidt (Ssanang Setzen, 380) derives the name Mongol from mong,
meaning 'brave, daring, bold,' while Rashiduddin says it means 'simple,
weak' (d'Ohsson, i. 22). The Chinese characters used to transcribe the
name mean 'dull, stupid,' and 'old, ancient,' but they are used purely
phonetically.... The Mongols of the present day are commonly called by the
Chinese Ta-tzu, but this name is resented by the Mongols as opprobrious,
though it is but an abbreviated form of the name Ta-ta-tzu, in which,
according to Rubruck, they once gloried." - H. C.]
Vincent of Beauvais has got from some of his authorities a conception of
the distinction of the Tartars into two races, to which, however, he
assigns no names: "Sunt autem duo genera Tartarorum, diversa quidem
habentia idiomata, sed unicam legem ac ritum, sicut Franci et
Theutonici." But the result of his effort to find a realisation of Gog
and Magog is that he makes Guyuk Kaan into Gog, and Mangu Kaan into
Magog. Even the intelligent Friar Ricold says of the Tartars: "They say
themselves that they are descended from Gog and Magog: and on this account
they are called Mogoli, as if from a corruption of Magogoli."
(Abulfeda in Buesching, IV.
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