[3.1][qarču-yin köbegün borjighidai-mergen]
This is the same construction found in §2 that is, ‘A was the son of B’ with use of the genitive case and an omitted copula.
[mergen] This word has a number of meanings, one being ‘wise’ and another being ‘a good marksman’, it is thought to have been a title taken by those Mongols who excelled themselves in hunting.
Translation: Qarču’s son borjighidai-mergen
Gloss: and the son of Qarču was Borjigidai-Mergen
[3.2][monggholjin-ghuu-a gergeitu ajughu]
The construction NOUN+tu/tü a+TENSE is one way of indicating possession, in the same way as the English verb ‘to have’. The reason for this elaborate construction is that Mongolian lacks a specific verb for ‘to have’. This is the case in many languages. Arabic and Welsh, for example must resort to the use of prepositions to express ownership, for example S. Welsh ‘gyda’ (with) / N. Welsh ‘gan’ (with) and ‘li’ (to) in Arabic.
Translation: Mongoljin-Ghuu-a wife-having was
Gloss: His wife was Mongoljun the Beautiful
[3.3][borjighidai-mergen-u köbegün toroghuljin-bayan]
Translation: Borjigidai the Wise son Toroguljin the Rich (was)
[3.4] This is the same construction as [3.2] but with the copula omitted for stylistic reasons.
[3.5] This is the same construction as in [3.2] and [3.4], again with copula omitted, although in this case gergei (wife) has been replaced by jalaghu (youth). This is used in the sense of ‘manservant’ or ‘slave’.
[3.6] [dair boro qoyar] the numeral qoyar is used here as the connective ‘and’. It is quite common to see numerals employed in this way, but remember that the numeral must match the number of items being connected. For example if there had been three horses it would be rendered dair boro cagha ghurban etc. In reality though forms of this construction involving more than three elements are extremely rare. See also the same construction used in [3.7]. With respect to the etymology of dair and boro, it can safely be said that boro is a pre-classical form for boru related to börte and meaning ‘grey’ or ‘brown’/’bay’. However the case is not so clear with dair, this could be the old form of daghari meaning ‘saddle sore’ or ‘abrasion’ which could be an affectionate name for a horse based on it’s speed, i.e. a horse so fast it causes ‘saddle sores’ or a horse which is favoured to such a degree that the rider gains saddle-sores due to how the amount of time spent with the said horse. In any case, these are proper names and do not necessarily need further interpretation.
[külüt aqtas] this is a plural phrase. Plurals are seen with relative regularity in the pre-classical language of the Secret History, but their use is much more limited in Classical Mongolian.
The verb bülüge ‘there was’ or ‘there were’ can also be used in the sense of ‘to have’
[3.7] The grammar of this sentence should now be familiar.
Section Translation:
And the son of Qarcu was Borjigidai the Wise, whose wife was Mongoljin the Beautiful, Borjigidai the Wise had a son called Toroguljin the Rich, who had a wife called Borogjin the Beautiful, a manservant named Boroldai Suyalbi, and two swift horses, Dair and Boro. Toroguljin had two sons, Duwa the Blind, and Dobun the Wise.
