MWW 52: Наадам

Cyrillic	наадам	Negedo^
Transcription	naadam
IPA	[ˈna:tǝm]
Layman’s Pronunciation	NAH-dum
Meaning	game, festival
In Genghis Khan’s time it was naγadum.

Now that it’s July, it’s time for the other biggest holiday of the Mongolian year, Наадам, so in its honor this week I’ll be posting words related to Naadam, starting with Naadam itself. Наадам is held every year from July 11 to July 14, at about the hottest time of the year. Just as Цагаан Сар sort of marks the climax of winter and the coming of spring, Наадам marks the climax of summer and the coming of autumn. Naadam is the biggest sports even of the Mongolian year, and has been nicknamed “The Mongolian Olympics.” It features wrestling, archery, and horse-racing. For this reason it may also be properly called Эрийн Гурван Наадам, “The Men’s Three Naadams,” or “The Three Manly Games” (even though women compete in archery and horse-racing).

Other names for this big event are Төрийн Наадам or Улсын Наадам (state Naadam or National Naadam). This is to distinguish it from all the other little Naadams around the country. There are also сумын наадам (local naadams) and аймгийн наадам (provincial naadams). These Naadams are usually held early in July, with the winners going on to the National Naadam, but this year my sum is having its Naadam in late July, to coincide with its 90^th anniversary.

Наадам has given its name to many other kinds of events, such as багт наадам - masquerade (Naadam with masks), үгийн наадам - pun, word game (Naadam of words), галын наадам - firecracker (Naadam of fire), and жижиг галын наадам - grasshopper (little Naadam of fire). When my school put on a festival the day before the official first day of school, it was called the сургуулийн наадам. However, when one simply says Наадам by itself, it’s usually taken to mean the Улсын Наадам.

Наадах vs. Тоглох

Наадам, the noun, is derived from the verb наадах, “to play, enjoy oneself.” (This should not be confused with наадахь, “the one over here.”) Mongolian has two verbs that are normally translated as “play”: the other one is тоглох. Even though наадах has given birth to the mother of all Mongolian games, Наадам, тоглох has won out overall: it’s far more common than наадах, it is the normal verb for “play” for almost all types of game, and its derived noun, тоглоом, is the normal word for “toy” and “game” in the general, non-specific sense. Thus you would say сагсан бөмбөг тоглох, “play basketball,” not *сагсан бөмбөг наадах. Poor old наадах is hardly used at all.

However, наадах has, in its causative form наадуулах, given us a funny idiom, загас наадуулах, “to have sex” (literally “to let fish play.”)

Naadam Greetings

The proper greeting on Naadam is Сайхан наадаарай! This is сайхан, “fine, well, good,” and the verb наадах with the -аарай⁴ ending. (The superscript numeral four indicates that it has four vowel-harmony variations: -аарай, -ээрэй, -оорой, and -өөрэй.) The -аарай⁴ ending is a kind of imperative, mid-way between the abrupt, demanding verb stem and the “if you please” request -аач⁴ form. So Сайхан наадаарай could be translated as “Play well!” It falls into a group of common greetings that all take the form сайн / санхан V-аарай⁴.

Greeting	Most literal translation	English sense-translation
Сайхан амраарай!	well rest-IMPERATIVE	Good night! Enjoy your vacation!
Сайхан нойрсоорой!	well sleep-IMP	Good night!
Сайхан баярлаарай!	well enjoy-IMP	Have fun!
Сайн яваад ирээрэй!	well go-and come-IMP	Have a nice trip!
Сайхан шинэлээрэй!	well renew-IMP	Happy Tsagaan Sar!
Сайн сууж байгаарай!	well sit-and be-IMP	(said by someone leaving on a trip, to the people who are staying)
Сайхан хооллоорой!	well meal-VERBALIZER-IMP	Bon appetit!

Сайхан наадаарай, everyone!