NOTE ON NAMES OF PEAKS IN HUNZA

Sir George Cockerill, Colonel R. C. F. Schomberg, Colonel D. L. R. Lorimer

As mentioned on p. 88, above, I received a most interesting letter from Brigadier-General Sir George Gockerill on the subject of this peak in Hunza. General Gockerill, as a young officer in the In¬telligence Branch, was specially selected to report on Ghitral, Yasin, Hunza, and Nagar. During the years 1892-5 he explored and mapped a very large area of country extending from the Dorah pass on the west to the Shimshal pass on the east, and was the first European to note the existence of this bold massif and to fix its approximate position. As Colonel Schomberg had recently spent several seasons in the same area, studying the people and the ground with the latest maps, I asked him for his views on Sir George Cockerill's suggestions. In his book, Unknown Karakoram, he had given the results of his investigation into Shimshali names. I then sent Sir George Cockerill's and Colonel Schomberg's letters to Colonel D. L. R. Lorimer for his views. Colonel Lorimer has been Political Agent at Gilgit and is a recognized authority on the languages spoken in the Agency, particularly Burushaski and Shina, and has worked at the Wakhi language, which forms the basis of Shimshali, though he modestly does not claim to have a very extensive knowledge of it, and states that he has no acquaintance with any modified form of Wakhi that may be in use in Shimshal. There is, however, no doubt that he is the best authority on the subject available for this purpose, and his views should be given very great weight. I have not printed my own letters in this discussion, for they were only seeking the solution, and add nothing of interest to it.

1. FROM BRIGADIER-GENERAL SIR GEORGE COCKERILL, C.B.¹
2. FROM Colonel R. C. F. Schomberg, c.i.e., d.s.o.
3. FROM LIEUT.-COLONEL D. L. R. LORIMER, C.I.E.
4. A NOTE ON VARIOUS HUNZA AND SHlMSHALI NAMES

 

(1) FROM BRIGADIER-GENERAL SIR GEORGE COCKERILL, C.B.¹

MY DEAR MASON,

You may remember that about ten years ago we had some correspondence regarding the Review you were writing of Mrs. Visser-Hooft's book, Among the Karakorum Glaciers. I then raised the question of the proper naming of Pk. 20/42 P of the Indo-Russian Link. I have now received the February number of the Geographical Journal containing the recommendations of the Karakoram Conference, together with a note by you on Karakoram nomen¬clature. I observe that these recommendations have been accepted by the Council of the Royal Geographical Society and approved by the Surveyor- General of India and you make a personal appeal for their acceptance. This makes it difficult for me to write what I feel ought to be written.

When, in 1892, I discovered this peak during my exploration of the Shingshal⁵ valley I wrote: 'Looking up the valley from which it [the great Malungutti glacier] issues, one sees a great double-headed mountain, extraordinarily bold and massive, which the natives call Malungi Dias. The two peaks, whose altitude can scarcely be less than 24,000 feet, are connected by a ridge, in height hardly inferior. For grandeur of form and prominence of position, there is no feature in the whole Shingshal valley more striking than this magnificent mountain.'

More than thirty years elapsed before the Shingshal valley was again perpetrated by a European,⁶ and Mrs. Visser-Hooft in her book, Among the Karakorum Glaciers, describes her first view of the mountain. 'Above the peaks', she wrote, 'which formed the background of the glacier, the clouds had partly drifted away suddenly revealing a vision of ethereal beauty: a great snow mountain of incredible height. It looked so unearthly, so sub¬lime, wreathed by the veils of mist, so translucent in its rose and golden glory of the setting sun, that we could hardly believe that it was a real mountain.

'The peaks in the foreground seemed suddenly dwarfed now that the eye could compare their proportions to the masses of snow towering above them: they who had first so proudly reared their heads, that we had i magined one among their number to be the Malangi Dias itself, now were humbled before the monarch of mountains and crouched at its foot in the attitude of insignificant courtiers bowing low before the true majesty of the highest of all.

'Only for a few minutes the veil was rent asunder, and as suddenly as they had dispersed the drifting clouds were massed together, obscuring the radiant vision which we had greeted in amazed silence.

'But the momentary glimpse, short though it had been, had sufficed to reveal to us the true "Malangi Dias".' She added that 'Khan Sahib [the surveyor] had also seen the peak and, pointing it out to the coolies, had heard the name by which it was known in Shingshal which is Dasto Ghil. This in their language signifies the stone wall which they build to protect their flocks and the mountain is thus named because it was the same shape.' She then went on to explain that the glacier is called Malangutti and Taz means ice, and that I probably pointed up the glacier when I asked the name of the mountain and was given the name of the glacier.

 

I hasten to admit that this surmise is quite correct. I suggest, however, that the mountain has no name and that the Khan Sahib, too, pointed up the glacier and was given the name, not of the mountain, but of a sheepfold on the left bank of the glacier. Mrs. Visser-Hooft relates that 'Franz had already from afar espied a small green patch on the rocks above the glacier ... a suitable site for an encampment. We had now detected a tree. . . . A rather risky passage up a steep ice-slope . . . brought us to the foot of the cliff which we speedily climbed, emerging on to a kind of little grassy plateau. The sun had become unbearably hot and we fled into the welcome shade of a solitary rose-bush which we still found growing at this height.' There the tents were pitched and the coolies slept behind 'a wall made of heaped stones surrounding an enclosure', or, in other words, in a sheep-fold. The spot is marked in the Khan Sahib's plane-table survey. It is called by him Dastoghil. It was towards this that he had been pointing when he asked the name of the mountain and was told that the name was Dastoghil and that 'it signifies the stone wall which they build to protect their flocks'. Such, indeed, it was; and it is called not dastoghil but Dasht-i-gul. Wakhi, the language spoken in Shingshal, is a dialect of Persian, and Dasht in Persian means a waterless plain and in Shingshal is applied to every little grassy plateau where men can camp and sheep be folded. Gul means a rose- tree, and Dasht-i-gul simply means 'the plateau of the lone rose-tree'. It, therefore, describes most aptly the spot so named. It can scarcely be held to describe with equal aptitude a mountain 25,868 feet in height!

Since our correspondence in 1927 I have had the pleasure of meeting Georg Morgenstierne who has very kindly given me a copy of some of his works. I have studied Shaw, Grierson, and Lorimer, and have read Colonel Schomberg's appendix of place-names and also Morris's. Morris gives Dastogil as the Wakhi for a 'sheep-fold' and Schomberg Disteghil as meaning 'the sheep-fold in the hill' and explains that Dest or Dist is 'the level surface against the side of a valley' where a shepherd would choose to 'build his sheep-fold, a circular pile of stones, against the hill-side for shelter', and that ghil means 'the round circle of stones of a sheep-fold'.

I do not, therefore, understand why the Conference should have given to the important massif discovered by me at the head of the Malungutti glacier the name 'Disteghil Group' nor why they accepted Schomberg's spelling in preference to the Vissers'. I agree with them that the Vissers' spelling of Malangutti Yaz is to be preferred to my phonetic rendering but, according to both Shaw and Grierson, it should be Malungutti, since malung means 'middle'.

You may wonder why I take all this trouble about what might seem so small a point, but, after all, Pk. 20/42 P is a very remarkable mountain and probably the highest peak in the Karakoram west of K⁷. It deserves to have a name which is above reproach and not, like 'Disteghil', a mere corruption. I accept without reservation the Surveyor General's views on the principles to be adopted in naming peaks. It is admissible, therefore, to name this peak after a local pasturage or after an adjacent glacier as in 'Yazghil group' and 'Virjerab group'. Everybody agrees that Malungutti is the name of the great glacier that descends from this peak and I suggest, therefore, that the group be called 'Malungutti group' and the peak 'Malungutti Sar', i.e. 'The head of the middle glacier'.

Surely it is not too late to make this correction? If, however, the other name is kept, it should surely be spelt Dashtigul Sar.

 

Yours very sincerely
GEORGE COCKERILL.

19 Knightsbridge, S.W. 1.
14th February 1938.

PS. Under the heading¹ 'Yazghil group', Yazghil is said to mean the 'sheep-fold in the snow' or according to Schomberg the 'curving ice'. Schomberg wrote 'the curving glacier\ Ghil, however, means a narrow ravine, such as is called in the north of England a 'ghyll'. It is the same word, and is of the same root, as gully, gullet, and a number of similar words in many languages.

 

 

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(2) FROM Colonel R. C. F. Schomberg, c.i.e., d.s.o.

 My dear Mason,

Your letter of the 14th with CockerilPs conundrums has just arrived. The man who knows most about Wakhi is Colonel Lorimer, c.i.e., 32 Park¬way, Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire.

 

Ghil is, I believe, the same as aghil or oghil, 'a sheep-fold'; and so inter¬preted by extension from the circle of stones which are put up as a protec¬tion. The word is a very common Turki place-name. It has the idea of a curve or circle.

I am quite ready to agree that Disteghil is a meaningless corruption. I took an infinity of trouble to try and find the correct transliteration as well as the meaning. I am ready to admit that I may have been wrong.

Dasht is a very common word and means what Cockerill says it does, but I do not know that it is the same as dest or dist, which is the contention.

In his postscript your correspondent seems to query the double transla¬tion of the word yaz> This means both 'ice' and 'glacier'. The Yazghil glacier does come curving down in a great sweep.

Undoubtedly Cockerill is right to raise this point, as it would be a calamity to give so magnificent a mountain the wrong name, and I should be eternally regretful if I had any part, though an indirect one, in a mala¬droit baptism. I presume that my interpretation of the word was a better one, as my native tongue happens to be English, and it is not the mother tongue of the Vissers. Wakhi is as much like Persian as Italian is like Latin, or perhaps as Anglo-Saxon is like modern English. Also the dialect in the Shimshal is not nearly so pure as that in Wakhan proper, and in the west of Hunza. There is a mongrel population in the Shimshal, and intercourse with non-Wakhis has much altered it. I hope that whatever happens will result in the right solution, but certainly you should ask Lorimer to be the arbiter.

Yours ever,
REGINALD SCHOMBERG.

Ross, Herefordshire.
 16th February 1938.

 

 

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FROM LIEUT.-COLONEL D. L. R. LORIMER, C.I.E.

 My dear Mason,

Your letter of February 17 with its enclosures (herewith returned).

I have neither been in Shingshal (or, Shimshal) nor talked to Shingshalls. My only qualification for joining in this discussion is that I have worked a little at the Wakhi language, though I do not claim to have a very practical nor extensive knowledge of it; and have no acquaintance with any modified form of it that may be in use in Shingshal.

I have, however, offered below a few comments on the linguistic side which will, I hope, serve to clarify the situation.

I have further added a few remarks of a similar character regarding names in other parts of the Hunza-Nagar area. If they can be placed on record now, they may lead to improved nomenclature at some time in the future.

I have spoken once or twice of the possible use of the word Chish=mown- tain. It exists both in Burushaski and Shina, and has already been sanctified by use in Kinechish (.Shina, ki-ne chi-s = Black Mountain), the name of a mountain on the divide between the valleys of the Gilgit river and t he Indus, S. by E. of Gilgit, about Long. 730 45', Lat. 350 52', in the 'Sketch Map of Chitral and Surrounding Countries' No. 1,797-1, 1901. It docs not, however, appear in Sheet 43, 4th Ed. 1930.⁸

With kind regards,
Yours sincerely,
D. L. R. LORIMER.

32 Parkway,
Welwyn Garden City, Herts.
22nd February 1938.

 

 

 

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A NOTE ON VARIOUS HUNZA AND SHlMSHALI NAMES

1. MALUNGIDIAZ (in Cockerill's letter MALUNGI DIAS) V. MALANGUTTI YAZ. There is little doubt that the name consists of
   mulung (mulugg) = middle
   yaz (yAz) = ice, glacier
   There are variant forms of mulung. I have recorded:
   mulug, mAlugg, malugg, malugg, milurjg,
   but mulugg much preponderates.
   The trouble is about the -(g)utti- part.
   The only possible basis for it known to me is:
   (Wakhi) gutu; (Burushaski) guti = 'hut', 'shelter' (a parallel form goto is conceivable). This would give:
   MULUNGUTTI YAZ (mulugg guti yAz) = 'the glacier of the middle hut' or 'the hut-in-the-middle glacier'. This is merely a possibility.
2. DISTEGHIL V. DASTO GHIL, DASTOGIL V. DASHT-I-GUL.
   SOMETHING LIKE
   Disteghil (disteyil, destiyil, &c.)
   appears to me very likely to be correct.
   Schomberg's local 'Disteril' would be a not unnatural way of hearing it, some of the various voiced guttural spirants of the gh (y) type found in different places may often sound like a kind of-r-. Possibly in some people's speech they are such.
   'dest' is the ordinary, everyday Wakhi post-position = 'under', 'below',
   but, placed before the noun it functions as an adjective — 'lower'. (I have two examples of this:
   dsstE wurt = 'lower mill-stone'
   dssti bildi = 'lower porch', or 'verandah'.)
   Again I have recorded:
   ghel (yd) = 'big cattle house' (but it may quite likely be an unroofed enclosure).
   This may very probably be, as Schomberg surmises, the Turkish aghil == 'a fold', 'a pen' (Redhouse).
   In Wakhi unstressed vowels vary much, within limits, e.g. z || I. I have recorded the word in Burushaski as
   aghel (ayel) = 'sheep and goat pen (?)'.
   It therefore seems to me extremely probable that the name of the locality is something like:
   Dssteyd, Disteyil (i.e. Schomberg's Disteghil), meaning the 'Lower Cattle-Enclosure' or 'Sheep-and-Goat-Fold'.
   I personally have no evidence for attributing the sense of 'round', 'curved', 'bent' to any form like yil, yel, ayd, &c., in Wakhi or Turkish, as Schomberg does.
   'DASTO GHIL' would represent a comparatively slight variation in hearing and recording. (An Indian will not usually recognize e (e) as a separate sound or know how to record it.) The same applies to Morris's 'DASTOGIL', and the average Englishman's inability to pronounce gh (y) probably accounts for the g.
   'DASHT-I-GUL' seems to me very improbable. In association with Shim¬shal it sounds extremely exotic.
   First of all, Wakhi is not what General Cockerill calls it, a 'dialect of Persian'. It is a separate Iranian language. Like all the neighbouring languages it has of course borrowed from Tajiki Persian as a language of superior culture.
   I have recorded dasht in Wakhi as 'plain', 'desert', probably any uncul¬tivated, comparatively level, space. It is very probably an independent Wakhi word, identical in origin with the Persian dasht, but not borrowed from Persian.
   The Persian gul, 'flower' (in general), 'rose' (chiefly in literature), I have not myself recorded in Wakhi. It would be known probably to any Wakhi- of-the-World, but not necessarily to a Wakhi of Shimshal. The ordinary Wakhi for 'flower' is sprs-y. For 'rose' I have Wakhi gulo-v (i.e. Persian gula-b, the ordinary word in modern Persian for a 'rose'). That probably applies chiefly to garden roses (as in Burushaski, Shina, and Khowar). Various kinds of wild roses would probably have specific names of their own which, if any, would be used in place-names.
   This makes a 'Dasht-i-gul' in Shimshal improbable. More decisive is the fact that in Wakhi the Genitive or Adjective precedes the noun it qualifies, and one would therefore expect in Wakhi, not 'Dasht-i-gul', but 'Gul£ Dasht' (guls dAst).
   (Compare also the names quoted by Cockerill from Schomberg in all of which dasht is the last element.)
   If there were a 'Dasht-i-Gul in Shimshal I should guess it to be the creation of some Persian-speaking outsider (General Cockerill is quite pos¬sibly the only such person who has been in Shimshal!). If I were told that it had been adopted and naturalized in that form by the local people, I think I should be incredulous.
   As regards my views on the naming of the peak (Pk. 20/42 P) : They are not worth much as I haven't seen the locality, but I should say that either
   'Disteghil' or 'Malungutti Yaz'
   would be suitable as a foundation. As both are the names of definite entities which are not the mountain, some addition to indicate the latter would be necessary.
   Sar, sar (sa-r, SAr), suggested by your conference, would be a suitable word. It is quite good Wakhi, as apart from Persian, with the meaning 'head', 'top' (kuhe sa-r, or SAr = 'mountain-peak').
   Of the two bases 'Malungutti' represents the more important and more permanent feature, and one which is in actual contact with the mountain.
   If the name 'Malungutti Yaz' (Mulugguti ?) is well established and unique, and if the peak in question dominates this glacier more than any other peak does, then I should be inclined to call it
   Malungutti Yaze Sar.
   If that is too long, I should hesitate to shorten it by omitting the 'Yaz' as I do not know if the word Malungutti is used alone, nor with any cer¬tainty its exact meaning. I should therefore in that case incline to call the peak
   Disteghil (e) Sar.
   In his PS. General Cockerill states that ghil means 'a narrow ravine' and relates the word to New English 'ghyll' (a fantasy of Wordsworth's (?) for the vernacular 'gill'), and English 'gully', and 'gullet'. I should be in¬terested to know his authority for these statements.
3. Other points to which I may briefly refer are:
   (a) Geographical Journal, vol. xci, no. 2, Feb. 1938, p. 132: 'BOIOHAGHUR DUANASIR'.⁹
   During my recent visit to Hunza (1934-5) I failed to obtain local recogni¬tion of any name resembling this or any explanation of the words, nor could I discover that the peak possesses any local name at all. It is of no practical interest to the local population. Parts of the mountain which have signi¬ficance in regard to water-supply and grazing have names. Oltar (Bar) (u-ltar bar), the great gorge in the north face of the mountain, is a name that is known to every one and is in constant use.
   Generally speaking, in this region any spot or locality that is in any way connected with the life of the people has a name, especially all places with any economic significance, such as sources of water-supply and grazing- grounds. Peaks as a rule are of no importance. A few names may be due to, and kept alive by, legends and tales.
   Personally I do not believe that 'Boiohaghur Duanasir' represents a name at all. It may be a garbled form of statement from some legend perhaps. There is an inclined snow-field high up on the mountain which is called 'Boyo Shabarin' = 'the Boyo's Polo-ground', but I could get no story about it. 'Duanasir' really cannot be made into anything in Burushaski. 'Haghur' of course means horse.
   Something like Cltar(£) Chi§h would probably be the most suitable name. 'Chish' (chH) is the general word in Burushaski for 'mountain'. 'Sar' is not suitable for use as 'peak' in central Hunza. The Persian word is not known there. There are, however, two words sar in Burushaski, one meaning 'hare' and the other 'thread', so that the use of that form might create curious effects.
   However, I am not going to make myself responsible for inventing a name. On these grounds I would keep 'Boiohaghur Duanasir', as it stands, until the matter can be gone into by a competent person on the spot.
   Incidentally, I think that if the person who wrote that 'the Burushaski language ... is little known' will master my Burushaski Language, vols, i and ii, 1935, and vol. iii, the Vocabulary, which is due to appear any day, he will feel that he knows quite a lot about it, however much may still remain.¹
   (b) Geographical Journal, vol. xci, Feb. 1938, p. 133: MOMHIL.²
   The pronunciation of these words that I am familiar with is: Mum Hel (mu*m he-1), an illustration of the vowel-variation already referred to. I do not know who gave the interpretation depending on the correlation of 'old woman' and 'old fool'. It sounds a psychological improbability to me.
   Schomberg is wrong in giving mom = 'mother'. It means 'grandmother'.
   DISTEGHIL. See above.
   YAZGHIL. I think the meaning would be 'the glacier-sheepfold', 'the sheepfold at the glacier'. I know nothing to support 'the curving ice', or 'the curving glacier'.
   KANJUT SAR does not seem to me a good name for any mountain. When possible, a namedepending on some local feature should be obtained.
   (1c) Geographical Journal, vol. xci, Feb. 1938, p. 146.³
   I agree as regards retention of Rakaposhi, and the recording of Dumani.
   1 I was personally responsible for this statement in the report, and apologize for my ignorance.—Ed.
   (d) Geographical Journal, vol. xci, Feb. 1938, p. 147: YENGUTZ HAR.¹
   Yengutz: this represents yai.inguts (yaeiguts, ya-igots) and is the plural of Burushaski yai.ing (yae.ig, ya-ig) = 'mill*.
   Har (har) — 'nullah' (usually sunk in comparatively open ground, not a precipitous gorge in a mountain-side, which is 'bar' (bar). Here it is probably applied more or less correctly to the lower end of the nullah).
   As regards the mills, see Conway's remark, quoted by you in Geographical Journal, vol. Ixxxv, no. 1, Jan. 1935, p. 31, where 'fair fields' implying fairly open ground (?) are also spoken of. See also native account on p. 32.
   'Yengutz Har' therefore means the 'mills-nullah' and is not alone a suitable appellation for a mountain peak.²
   If 'Ghenish Chlsh' (yenis chi-s), = 'Gold Mountain', is authentic, and not an invention of Conway's, then it seems very desirable to retain and establish it. Otherwise,
   'Yenguts Har(e) Chlsh' would do.
   As regards the form 'Yengutz', the e (E) may perhaps pass, but I would remark that -tz is a practically impossible phonetic combination. The ending ought to be -uts (-uts), a common plural suffix in Burushaski.
   (e) Geographical Journal, vol. xci, Feb. 1938, p. 148.
   Afraz Guls names should be checked whenever an opportunity occurs.³
   'GURPALTIG' is uncommonly like gurpalting (gurpAltig), the Nagari form of the Burushaski word for 'trousers', a curious name for a mountain.
   'CHANDERSHISH' looks like 'chandar', which suggests nothing to me, + chish (chi-s) = 'mountain'.

D. L. R. LORIMER.

 

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