Kunlun

See also: K'un-lun and Kūnlún

English

A peak in the Kunlun range (1871)

Alternative forms

Kun Lun, K'un-lun, Kuen Lun, Kwenlun

Etymology

From the Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 崑崙／昆仑 (Kūnlún) and 崑崙山／昆仑山 (Kūnlún Shān), with the character 山 being an ambiguous reference to any raised place, inclusive of islands, hills, mountains, and mountain ranges. The characters 崑崙／昆仑 are phono-semantic compounds adding the sense 山 to the characters 昆 (kūn) and 侖／仑 (lún), which were presumably also homophones for Kunlun in Old Chinese—Zhengzhang's reconstructed pronunciation being /*kuːn.run/—but leaving its further development or original meaning uncertain. See also the Name section of the Wikipedia entry on the mythological Kunlun.

Pronunciation

enPR: ko͝onʹlo͝onʹ

Proper noun

Kunlun

A mountain range in China forming the border between the Tarim Basin to its north and the Tibetan Plateau to its south, extending across the Chinese provinces of Xinjiang, Tibet, and Qinghai.
- [1625, Samuel Purchas, Pvrchas His Pilgrimes‎, volume III, London, OCLC 219967499, page 340:
  That Riuer of Nanquin which I called (Yamſu or) Ianſu, the ſonne of the Sea, goeth Northward to Nanquin, and then returning ſomewhat Southward, runneth into the Sea with great force ; fortie myles from which it paſſeth by Nanquin. And that from hence to Pequin there might bee paſſage by Riuers, the Kings of China haue deriued a large Channell from this to another Riuer, called the Yellow Riuer, ſuch being the colour of that troubled water. This is the other famous Riuer of that Kingdome, in greatneſſe and note, which ariſesth without the Kingdome to the Weſt, out of the Hill Cunlun, conjectured * to bee the ſame whence Ganges ariſeth, or one neere to it.]
- 1822, C. Bernard Rutley, “Zong”, in The Forbidden Land‎, Blackie & Son, OCLC 605997989, page 90:
  Crossing the Altyn Tagh had proved hard enough, but no sooner had the travellers left those mountains behind and crossed the border into Tibet than they had plunged into the recesses of the Kunlun Mountains.
- 1944, Haurwitz, Bernhard; James M. Austin, “Asia (Including Russia)”, in Climatology‎, McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., OCLC 348535, page 269:
  Between the Himalaya and the Kunlun to the north lies the very high plateau of Tibet, which is traversed by a number of smaller mountain chains.
- 1978, Hugh McLeave, A Borderline Case‎, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, →ISBN, LCCN 78-11576, OCLC 4498058, page 148:
  Brodie lent only half an ear. He was eying the wall map, comparing it with what he had seen from the chopper. He picked out the three nearest towns—Yarkand, Karghalik, and Kokyar—running north to south. Everything inside a huge semicircle bounded on the west by the Yarkand River and the southeast by the Kunlun Mountains was shaded. That must be the barbed-wire zone guarded by the army.
- For more quotations using this term, see Citations:Kunlun.
(Chinese mythology) A mountain or mountain range somewhere west of the North China Plain believed to be the home of Xiwangmu and the Peaches of Immortality, as well as other gods and Taoist immortals, and previously believed to help support the dome of the sky.
- 1625, Samuel Purchas, Pvrchas His Pilgrimes‎, volume III, London, OCLC 219967499, page 340:
  ...the Yellow Riuer... is the other famous Riuer of that Kingdome, in greatneſſe and note, which ariſesth without the Kingdome to the Weſt, out of the HillCunlun, conjectured to bee the ſame whence Ganges ariſeth, or one neere to it.
- For more quotations using this term, see Citations:Kunlun.

Translations

Chinese mountain range

Chinese:
Mandarin: 崑崙／昆仑 (zh) (Kūnlún), 崑崙山／昆仑山 (zh) (Kūnlúnshān)

Mythological Chinese mountain or mountain range

Chinese:
Mandarin: 崑崙／昆仑 (zh) (Kūnlún), 崑崙山／昆仑山 (zh) (Kūnlúnshān)