Gāndhārī light on Eastern Middle Iranian and vice versa: three new examples
- Editor(s):
- Ching, C.; Peyrot, M.
Abstract
This paper aims to illustrate with three new examples that crossing the disciplinary
boundaries between Indology and Iranian studies benefits both fields, especially where
Gāndhārī and Eastern Middle Iranian languages are concerned. The following proposals
will be made: (i) MSogd. krmšwhn ‘absolution’ is a loan from Gandh. *karma-śohana- ‘purification/removal of (bad) karma’ < OIA *karma-śodhana-, and MBactr. śwwh- ‘avoid, escape’ a loan from Gandh. *śoh(e)- < OIA śodhaya- ‘purify, remove (something noxious), clear off, exculpate’; (ii) the sequence πιδοβισταρο in Doc kd, a Bactrian birchbark letter, must be read as two words, i.e. the preposition πιδο ‘in, on, with, etc.’ and βισταρο ‘detail’, the latter borrowed from Gandh. (less likely Skt.) vistara- ‘idem’; (iii) the sequence divinajanami in the Gāndhārī silk fragment CKM 430 conceals an administrative formula divi na janami ‘I do not witness the document’, cognate with Bactr. λιβο να ζανινδο ‘they do not witness the document’. An annotated translation of CKM 430 is appended to the article.
