In the late 1950s, a number of manuscripts were discovered in Odisha. They contained one of the oldest collections of Vedic texts, the Atharvaveda, dating to the late second millenium BC, in a... Show moreIn the late 1950s, a number of manuscripts were discovered in Odisha. They contained one of the oldest collections of Vedic texts, the Atharvaveda, dating to the late second millenium BC, in a recension, the Paippalāda, that was thought to have survived only in a very corrupt Kashmirian manuscript. Given the importance and antiquity of the text, this discovery sparked the enthusiasm of Indologists, historians, anthropologists and linguists eager to dive into the new material. This, however, hinged on the production of a philologically reliable edition of the text. Selva’s dissertation is a further step in this direction: it focuses on the 17th book of the collection, containing a variety of material in both poetry and prose: magical spells to exorcise demons who threaten women and children, curses against enemies, and remedies against nightmares. One section illustrates a ritual observance consisting in the imitation of the behaviour of a bull, a practice that can be traced back to prehistoric Indo-European cultural models and that was re-elaborated by the Pāśupatas, the earliest-known ascetic sect devoted to the god Śiva. The edition is equipped with a critical apparatus, a translation and a commentary that discusess philological problems and attempts at an interpretation. Show less
In this study, the formation of the Tocharian subjunctive is described, its use and meaning are analysed and its origins are investigated. The two Tocharian languages A and B are known to us... Show moreIn this study, the formation of the Tocharian subjunctive is described, its use and meaning are analysed and its origins are investigated. The two Tocharian languages A and B are known to us through Buddhist manuscripts from ca. 400-1200 CE that were found along the Northern Silk Road in Xīnjiāng, China. Tocharian A and B are closely related, and they belong to the Indo-European language family. It is argued that the Tocharian subjunctive is closest to the present as far as the endings are concerned, while the formation of its stem is rather parallel to the preterite. Thus, the subjunctive is essentially a kind of "second present" formed from the preterite stem. In main clauses, the basic meaning of the subjunctive is future: different kinds of modal readings are often possible, but they are the result of inference. In subclauses, a variety of uses is found, for instance conditionality, iterativity, uncertainty, finality and indefiniteness. The Tocharian subjunctive is derived from the Proto-Indo-European aorist stem, a perfective stem next to the imperfective present stem. The meaning of the subjunctive can be derived from that of a "perfective present", which it still is morphologically on the synchronic level. Show less
