Mongolian Word of the Week #1: Тэнгэр

Some people have said they wanted me to do a Mongolian word of the day. There's no way I can do this every day - maybe a Mongolian word of the week (or month) - but here it is! And why not start with the word in the title of my blog? I give you Tengri!

Cyrillic	тэнгэр
Transcription	tenger
IPA	[theŋ.ger]
Layman’s Pronunciation	TEN-geer
Translation	sky, heaven
In Genghis Khan’s time it was tenggeri.

Тэнгэр (Tenger), usually spelled Tengri in English sources, was the name of the sky, and of the nomads' God who was personified by the sky. (Another Mongolian word for God is бурхан) The word is widespread among Central Asian people and is even mentioned in Chinese texts. The equivalent Turkish word is Tanrı (and yes, you’re seeing right: there isn’t a dot on that “i” and there isn’t supposed to be), and it is used as a synonym for God. In Uzbek, the equivalent is dengiz.

Tenger in Arkhangai Province

Puffballs

Now, I’d like to introduce you to a fascinating little idiomatic expression I discovered one day while preparing for a Mongolian barbecue picnic by the river. I came upon a big fairy ring of puffballs. My Mongolian teacher told me that puffballs are known as тэнгэрийн дүлий (tengeriin dülii). That’s tenger in the genitive case plus dülii, “deaf.” This name could be literally translated into English as “The Deafness of Heaven.” Why would they call it that? Nobody could tell me. It sounds kind of sad, yet poetic, doesn’t it?

Anybody who can find an explanation for this name wins my gratitude!

Мөнх хөх тэнгэр, "Eternal Blue Sky," in Mongolian script