<p>In his paper, Implications of the Soviet Dungan Script for Chinese Language Reform, on page A-10 Victor Mair writes:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Numerous expressions used in the daily life of Peking Muslims are still considered by many of them to be irreducible to fixed tetragraphic segments (sab [&quot;thanks&quot;], wubair [&quot;congratulations&quot;], niyaht [&quot;alms&quot;], koufan [&quot;vow&quot;], wus [&quot;bath, shampoo&quot;], and dozens of others) (Jin; Hu; also see Wexler [1976] for a study of Persian, Arabic, and other borrowings in various Chinese languages and dialects).</p>
</blockquote>
<hr />
<p>All of these expressions seem fascinating but:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>sab [&quot;thanks&quot;]</p>
</blockquote>
<p>feels the most practical to look into.</p>
<hr />
<p>There are three references mentioned:</p>
<p>Jin Xiuhong. 1988-1989. Author's interviews with and letters from former member of the Evergreen Commune outside Peking and daughter of the late ahong of its Muslim community.</p>
<p>Hu Zhenhua. &quot;Huizu yu Hanyu (The Hui Nationality and Han (Chinese) Language).&quot; Minzu Yuwen [Nationality Languages], 5 (October, 1989), 37-44.</p>
<p>Wexler, Paul. &quot;Research Frontiers in Sino-Islamic Linguistics.&quot; Journul of Chinese Linguistics, 4.1 (1976), 47-82.</p>
<hr />
<ul>
<li><p>Wexler and Hu's papers don't seem to touch on this.</p>
</li>
<li><p>There is very little info on the Jin reference.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<p>My uneducated guess for a spelling of &quot;sab&quot; would be either 赛布 or 沙布, but those don't seem to return much either.</p>
<p>Any ideas?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-07-15T20:01:49.983Z
"Tetragraph" is Mair's translation of 方塊字 (i.e. 漢字), so I think the paragraph is saying that those Dungan words *won't* be spelled in Chinese Characters - it'll be exceedingly unlikely that you'll find any rendition into characters. My guess is that "sab" is some kind of colloquial rendition of a word from a descendant of [Old East Slavic съпаси богъ](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Reconstruction:Old_East_Slavic/съпаси_богъ) - notably the first segment **съп**. It might be from a language like Uzbek or Tajik.
dROOOze
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-07-15T21:47:55.083Z
@dROOOze In 胡振华's paper there is a spattering of words all rendered along with Chinese character spellings. For instance: 赛俩目 (salam，问安，敬礼) & 台格底尔 (teqdir，命运，前定) & 都士蛮 (dušman, 敌人). Wexler is more worried about if whether, "Muslim scribes ever attempted to select characters with an eye to cross-dialectal comprehension." Perhaps something is hidden in Jin Xiuhong's work?
Mou某
<topolect>
Evidence for "sab" meaning "thanks"?
# Evidence for "sab" meaning "thanks"?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2024-07-15)

In his paper, Implications of the Soviet Dungan Script for Chinese Language Reform, on page A-10 Victor Mair writes:

> Numerous expressions used in the daily life of Peking Muslims are still considered by many of them to be irreducible to fixed tetragraphic segments (sab ["thanks"], wubair ["congratulations"], niyaht ["alms"], koufan ["vow"], wus ["bath, shampoo"], and dozens of others) (Jin; Hu; also see Wexler [1976] for a study of Persian, Arabic, and other borrowings in various Chinese languages and dialects).

---

All of these expressions seem fascinating but:

> sab ["thanks"]

feels the most practical to look into.

---

There are three references mentioned:

Jin Xiuhong. 1988-1989. Author's interviews with and letters from former member of the Evergreen Commune outside Peking and daughter of the late ahong of its Muslim community.

Hu Zhenhua. "Huizu yu Hanyu (The Hui Nationality and Han (Chinese) Language)." Minzu Yuwen [Nationality Languages], 5 (October, 1989), 37-44.

Wexler, Paul. "Research Frontiers in Sino-Islamic Linguistics." Journul of Chinese Linguistics, 4.1 (1976), 47-82.

---

* Wexler and Hu's papers don't seem to touch on this.
* There is very little info on the Jin reference.

---

My uneducated guess for a spelling of "sab" would be either 赛布 or 沙布, but those don't seem to return much either.

Any ideas?

**Tags:** topolect

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: "Tetragraph" is Mair's translation of 方塊字 (i.e. 漢字), so I think the paragraph is saying that those Dungan words *won't* be spelled in Chinese Characters - it'll be exceedingly unlikely that you'll find any rendition into characters. My guess is that "sab" is some kind of colloquial rendition of a word from a descendant of [Old East Slavic съпаси богъ](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Reconstruction:Old_East_Slavic/съпаси_богъ) - notably the first segment **съп**. It might be from a language like Uzbek or Tajik.  
> **username_0**: @username_1 In 胡振华's paper there is a spattering of words all rendered along with Chinese character spellings. For instance: 赛俩目 (salam，问安，敬礼) & 台格底尔 (teqdir，命运，前定) & 都士蛮 (dušman, 敌人). Wexler is more worried about if whether, "Muslim scribes ever attempted to select characters with an eye to cross-dialectal comprehension." Perhaps something is hidden in Jin Xiuhong's work?  

---

## 0 answers

