Yugur Otoq (Administrative Divisions)
According to 17th and 18th century annals of the Qing dynasty (1644-1911), the Yugur people were divided into seven tribes, called zú (clan, nation) in Chinese. The names of these tribes were not specified.
An early 18th century annal mentions three names of Huangfan divisions, called jia (family, household, house) in Chinese: these are Wugèbàyan Huangfan (Five Bayan Yellow Barbarians), Bagèjia Huangfan (Eight Clans Yellow Barbarians) and Luórjia Huangfan (Lor Clan Yellow Barbarians). This latter division still paid tribute to the Western-Mongol confederation of the Jungar.
A late 19th century document reports that there were five Huangfan divisions in the mountains near Ganzhou, called Dàtóumùjia (Big Chieftain Clan), Wugèjia (Five Clans), Bagèjia (Eight Clans), Yánggajia (Yangga Clan) and Luórjia (Lor Clan). This source apparently did not take the Yugur living near Sùzhou into account.
These divisions called jia in Chinese were called otoq in the earliest sources on the Yugur languages. This word is an Eastern Yugur word, htoq, meaning tribe or administrative division. The word was borrowed into Western Yugur as otoq, and used beside the Turkic word uhtagh or uhltagh, tribal unit; the original meaning of this latter word is tent, temporary shelter.
Each otoq consisted of several households, ranging from just a few to more than a hundred households, and several bone clans (genealogical clans) were represented within each otoq. At least some of the otoq also took their names from these bone clans.
Each otoq was headed by a minor chieftain or zhèngtóumù, subordinate to the major chieftain or dàtóumù, who was the head of all the Yugur. The office of dàtóumù was hereditary within the Anjañ bone clan.
The otoq as a tax unit was probably established during the reign of the second Manchu emperor Kangxi (1662-1723), at the time when the Yugur were incorporated within the Chinese empire.
Although historical documents and Yugur oral traditions state that there were seven otoq, the names of the individual otoq are poorly documented. Some otoq are alternatively referred to by their Chinese and/or Eastern or Western Yugur names and thus are difficult to connect. Furthermore, several otoq may have been formed more recently. This makes it difficult to establish the exact number of otoq for a given time: recordings in the sources range between seven and eleven.
The table of the names of otoq as mentioned in the sources is shown in a separate window. The otoq which are recorded as being Western Yugur are given in orange, the ones being recorded as Eastern Yugur are given in green, and the names that are unspecified are given in blue.
Most of the sources agree that there were two Western Yugur otoq, which were called Yàlakejia (Clan of Yàlake) and Hèlángkejia (Clan of Hèlángke) in Chinese; these names derive from the names of two Western Yugur bone clans, Yaghlahqïr and Xorañqat.
The Eastern Yugur otoq are mainly referred to by their Chinese names; their number differs in the sources but most mention the names Wugèjia (Five Clans), Bagèjia (Eight Clans), Sìgèmajia (Four Horses Clan), Yánggejia and Luórjia.
The otoq of the Bagejia apparently consisted of two subsections, one Turkic speaking section called Xibagèjia (Western Eight Clans), and one Mongolic speaking section called Dongbagèjia (Eastern Eight Clans).
The otoq Sìgèmajia (Four Horses Clan) was too small to have its own zhèngtóumù.
One Eastern Yugur oral tradition mentions the bone clan names Ançañ, Lançhaq, and Çhañwan as names of otoq.
According to Potanin, who travelled the Yugur area in 1886, there were seven Yugur otoq, two Western Yugur and five Eastern Yugur ones. He recorded the names of the Western Yugur ones as Yaglaq and Xurungut; the Eastern Yugur, so he claimed, no longer knew any other names for their otoq than the Chinese ones, or Eastern Yugur translations of these.
These Chinese designations were Pa-ga-ma-ja, U-ga-ma-ja, Sï-ga-ma-ja, Shi-i-ga-ma-ja, and Shi-u-ga-ma-ja (Clan of Eight, Five, Four, Eleven and Fifteen Horses).
The Eastern Yugur translations were Naiman-gulma, Tabïn-gulma, Durman-gulma, Xarban-niga-gulma, and Xarban-tabïn-gulma (Eight, Five, Four, Eleven and Fifteen Horses). The word gulma, horse, is a Tibetan loanword, originally meaning mare.
Potanin assumed that these names indicated the number of horses each otoq was taxed for, but in fact there is no correspondence between these otoq names and the number of horses to be collected.
Incidentally, naiman, eight, occurs as a Mongol ethnonym from an early date.
Mannerheim, who travelled the Yugur area in 1907, mentions a total of ten otoq, two Western Yugur and eight Eastern Yugur ones. However, one Eastern Yugur otoq is mentioned twice under a slightly different name. It is not clear whether this difference refers to the two linguistic subsections of this otoq.
Mannerheim recorded the names of the Western Yugur otoq as Yaglaqy otók and Khurungut.
The Eastern Yugur otoq are mentioned by their Chinese names and Eastern Yugur translations of these. Mannerheim also recorded some alternative Eastern Yugur names.
The Chinese designations were Pako ma cha (Clan of Eight Horses), also recorded as Pako cha (Eight Clans), Wuko cha (Five Clans), Ssûko ma cha (Clan of Four Horses), Shih iko ma cha (Clan of Eleven Horses), Shih wuko ma cha (Clan of Fifteen Horses), and furthermore Leoko cha and Mênt'ai cha, names of unknown origin.
The Eastern Yugur equivalents of these were Neiman golma otók (Eight Horses Clan) or Neiman otóck (Eight Clans), Päyat tavyn otóck (Päyat Five Clans), Dörven kolma otóck (Four Horses Clan) or Durben golma (Four Horses), Harban niga golma (Eleven Horses), and Harban tabyn golma (Fifteen Horses), and furthermore Kurke otock for Leoko cha, and Nansö otóck for Ment'ai cha.
The name Nansö is probably a Tibetan loanword, nang-so, chief.
The name Päyat tavyn otóck could perhaps be interpreted as two names, Tavyn otóck (Five Clans) and Päyat, the name of an Eastern Yugur bone clan, and one of the three bone clans represented within this otoq.
For Harban niga golma and Harban tabyn golma, Mannerheim mentions the alternative names Shkatok otóck, probably a rendering of Eastern Yugur Shike Htoq, meaning Big Tribe, and Janga otóck, a name of unknown origin. The last name corresponds to the above mentioned Chinese name Yánggejia.
Malov, who visited the Yugur at several occasions between 1910 and 1913 did not record a list of otoq, but several names presented elsewhere can be found as bone clan names in Malov's vocabulary. Furthermore, the names Saqïs and Ïshkana are mentioned not as names of otoq, but as toponyms; also the name Yaghlaxqar Otagh occurs as a toponym in Malov. These clan names are not specified for linguistic affiliation.
According to Hermanns, who travelled the Tibetan Amdo area in the 1930s, there were three Western Yugur and eight Eastern Yugur tribes. Hermanns' list of tribal names, which he assumed to be of Tibetan etymology, consists in fact mainly of Eastern Yugur names; several names are difficult to identify.
Hermanns recorded the names of the Western Yugur tribes as Ya La ger, Hor roñ god and Ne man. The first two names clearly derive from the Western Yugur bone clan names mentioned above; the last one is an Eastern Yugur name, Naiman (Eight), probably referring to the Turkic speaking section of the Bagèjia (Eight Clans).
The eight Eastern Yugur tribal names were Ne man gol ma (Eight Horses), Ba ya ta (most likely the Päyat mentioned by Mannerheim), Yan ga (the Janga otock mentioned by Mannerheim), Shi ke tog (Big Tribe, corresponding to Mannerheim's Shkatok otóck; the element tog or tok represents a clipped form of htoq), La gu (perhaps the Leoko cha mentioned by Mannerheim), Du mun gol ma (Four Horses), Hor yor ke, also called Bor ke (perhaps corresponding to Mannerheim's Kurke otock, the b in Bor ke might be erroneous), and the Si-lig.
According to Hermanns, six of these tribes had fused and counted only as two tribes, known by their common name Öl me do go xtok (Two Eastern Tribes).
According to Tenishev, there were seven otoq, and he mentions the following names: Yaglaxkar, Xurangat, Öndön Sakïs (Eastern Eight), Art Sakïs (Western Eight), Yañkïñ Taluy, Ïshkana, and Pey. These names are not specified for linguistic affiliation.
The names Öndön Sakïs and Art Sakïs are Western Yugur translations of the names Xibagèjia and Dongbagèjia mentioned above; the names Pey and Yañkïñ Taluy perhaps correspond to the names Päyat and Janga otock, mentioned by Mannerheim. The element Taluy is unclear.
Several names of otoq, called bùluò, tribe, in Chinese, are included in the Western Yugur dictionary by Léi and Chén; these names are not specified for linguistic affiliation.
The name Shïkana is analysed as ïshkï ana, two mothers, but this may be a popular explanation. An alternative name for this otoq is Qorghey.
The otoq name Saqïs, meaning eight, also occurs as a bone clan name and a toponym.
The Chinese translation of Pey uhtagh, Wugèjia (Five Clans) is listed as a toponym, Wukïja, as well.
The encyclopedic volume on Sùnan Yugur Autonomous County by Lú Hónglì mentions three Western Yugur administrative divisions, and seven Eastern Yugur ones. Some names are accompanied by a Chinese rendering of the original Eastern Yugur name.
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