fifteenth centuries, we find both country and people alluded to under the name of Jatah—a name that, in translating, has been made to assume several unnecessary forms. Thus Pétis de la Croix, who put the Zafar-Náma into French, as far back as the end of the seventeenth century, transliterated the word Geta, and many subsequent authors followed his example. From the name mis-spelled in this way, much speculation arose among European writers, some of whom were able to derive from it the designation of the Jats of India, and others to recognise the Getæ, or Masagetæ, of classical authors. It is fair to say that most modern Orientalists have hesitated to accept these speculative conjectures, though the meaning and origin of the name have been hidden from them. Mirza Haidar now (and he is the first to do so) clears the matter up by informing his readers, parenthetically, in a number of places, that Moghulistan and Jatah were one and the same country. In the passages from the Zafar-Náma, which he cites in the First Part of his history, he interpolates this definition repeatedly, while in the closing chapter of that Part, he adds the further explanation that the Chaghatais called the Moghuls Jatah, on account of their enmity towards them, and by way of depreciation. Thus it was merely a nickname—a term of contempt or reproach—and when, with this clue, the word is sought in a Mongol dictionary, it is found to mean a 'worthless person,' a 'ne'er-do-well,' or 'rascal.'[1] It has therefore no racial significance, but like such names as Kazák, Kalmák, etc., was probably applied to the Moghuls by their more cultivated neighbours, on account of their barbarous manners, lawless character, and unsettled habits generally.[2] This being the sense, it need not be used except in translating from the texts; explained once for all, the Jatahs who have haunted the works of historians and commentators for two
- ↑ My attention has been called to a Mongol word jété, chété, or chata, having the meanings of 'margin,' 'border,' or 'a march;' but these are significations which could scarcely have been applied as a term of reproach or depreciation.
- ↑ Quatremère, though unaware of the meaning of the word, sagaciously inferred, from the numerous authors he had read, that it was employed to designate a nation composed of Mongol tribes and others, and was not in reality a race name. He tells us also that the term Jatah is of very recent origin. It is not to be found in the works of authors previous to the fifteenth century, and is about contemporaneous with the birth of such denominations as Kazák, Sart, Sirr, Kalmák, and others. On the other hand, the word could not be traced by Quatremère in any book subsequent to that of Abdur Razzák (the Matla i Saadain), who died 1482. (See Not. et Extraits, xiii, p. 231.)
