Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae

Omotic lexicon in its Afro-Asiatic setting IX

Gábor Takács — 2023-12-21

The paper constitutes part of a long-range series aiming, step by step, to identify the inherited Afro-Asiatic stock in the etymologically little explored lexicon of the Omotic (West Ethiopia) branch of the Afro-Asiatic family displaying the least of shared traits among the six branches of this macrofamily, which suggests a most ancient Omotic desintegration reaching far back to the age of post-Natufian neolithic.

An example of Old Uyghur’s use of Chinese: Interpretation of a colophon to the Qianziwen in the Berlin Turfan Collection

Abdurishid Yakup — 2023-12-21

Ancient Turfan was an important crossroad of languages and scripts on the Northern Silk Road. This point is strongly supported by the diversity of languages and scripts attested in the texts discovered in the region and the complex relation between languages and scripts as well as the language use. This paper tries to illustrate some aspects of Old Uyghur’s use of Chinese in medieval Turfan through the interpretation of a colophon to the Chinese premier Qianziwen 千字文 kept in the Berlin Turfan Collection with shelf number Ch 3716 (T II Y 62), which clearly followed the syntax of Old Uyghur and are assumed to be read in Old Uyghur. It also briefly addresses some aspects of Old Uyghur’s use of the Qianziwen and provides notes to another colophon in the same manuscript.

On the Armenian – Kartvelian Loan Contacts: Words with Initial *γw-

Zsolt Simon — 2023-12-21

Four Proto-Kartvelian words with initial *γw- are traditionally held to be borrowings from either Proto-Indo-European or Proto-Armenian. Based on recent progress in Indo-European and Kartvelian linguistics, this paper argues that all four proposed PIE loanwords in PK are untenable; three out of these cannot be Proto-Armenian loanwords either. The fourth one, the word for ‘wine’, could be a Proto-Armenian loan in PK, but it has a phonological problem and the alternative proposed here, a Proto-Zan loan in Proto-Armenian, provides a phonologically more regular solution. Combined with another case (the word for ‘juniper’), which also receives a phonologically regular solution only as a Proto-Zan loan, we have two Proto-Zan loans in Proto-Armenian instead of PIE/Proto-Armenian loans in Proto-Kartvelian.

On kings who drove back the sea

Roland Ferenczi — 2023-12-21

This study aims to answer the question of whether the ancient Cēra kings sailed the seas and, if so, whether their technology was suitable for crossing the Indian Ocean, while it tries to summarize what we know about shipbuilding in ancient Southwest India. In the following pages, an attempt is made to introduce the most important passages of the Old Tamil Caṅkam literary sources in order to analyse their data in the light of Greek and Latin sources, of Indian and Mediterranean inscriptions. It can be concluded that although inscriptions of Tamil traders can be found from Egypt to Thailand, and the Cēra kings built a maritime fleet probably first time in the history of ancient South India in order to punishe their enemy called the kaṭampu-tribe by sailing on the seas, their nautical contribution to long-distance trade of the Arabian Sea as well as their engagement in coastal shipping can be classified as moderate and incidental in the antiquity.

Some Remarks on the Proto-Middle Persian Inscription Persis 2 and the Oblique Case

Marco Fattori — 2023-12-21

This article deals with a pre-Sasanian inscription written in Middle Persian script recently published by N. Sims-Williams, who named it “Persis 2”. First, some observations on the reading and interpretation of the text are proposed. Then, it is argued that the instances of final -y in this inscription could correspond to a phonetic notation of the oblique singular ending -ē, hitherto only reconstructed for proto-Middle Persian. Finally, a discussion on the origin of heterographic writing with respect to the graphical representation of Iranian morphological endings is proposed, in the attempt to explain why a final -y for the ending -ē is not regularly noted in all the comparable documents from the middle Arsacid period.

A Plea for Chivalry in Hašt Bihišt VI

Mustafa Dehqan — 2023-12-21

The important role that the Hašt Bihišt VI of Idrīs Bidlīsī (1457-1520) and the detailed accounts he devoted to the reign of Murād II (1421-1444; 1446-1451) played in the development of the early modern Ottoman historiography cannot be denied. Although the work was popular in the Ottoman world and especially its court circles, where its handsomely copies were avidly produced, it was never prepared as a critical edition in its original Persian in the modern Ottoman studies departments. The following discussion concentrate on an editorial emendation that shows the carelessness of Bidlīsī in the transmission of his quotations. The formation of the Sufi and Shiite elements within the Book VI of Hašt Bihišt is only briefly discussed.

On Some Glyphs of Khitan Small Script

Daruhan Peng — 2023-12-21

Further Research on Khitan Small Script published in 2017 made a revision and summary of the phonetic value of 300 glyphs. However, due to the discovery of new materials in Khitan scripts and the increasing number of researchers, new achievements in the reconstruction of some glyphs of Khitan small script have been made. This paper intends to introduce these new research results on reconstructions of 8 glyphs of Khitan small scripts.

Tangut ???? ˑjaa1 ‘Q’ and interrogative constructions in Tangut

Yue Ji — 2023-12-21

It is generally considered that Tangut does not have a specific marker for constituent questions, as is opposed to the verbal prefix ???? ˑa⁰ and the particle ???? mo² in polar questions. This article argues that ???? ˑjaa¹ ‘yes; promise’ also functions as a sentence-final particle in constituent questions that always occurs after the verb (and its personal agreement if available). It is also claimed that the ???? ˑa⁰ should be synchronically analysed as a directional prefix, instead of an interrogative marker. Although similar interrogative constructions are found in other Tibeto-Burman languages, it is still problematic in the comparative studies.

The Old Turkic Title Buyruq Reconsidered

Hayrettin İhsan Erkoç — 2023-12-21

First attested among the administrative titles used in the Türk Qaghanate, the Old Turkic title Buyruq was used by various Eurasian steppe peoples and polities between 8^th and 13^th centuries. In this paper, examples of the title Buyruq seen in historical sources are identified and examined, while different views put forward by modern scholars until now are also brought together. Apparently, instead of showing a fixed ministerial office, this title shows an office of dignitaries generally meaning “having received an order”, which was bestowed by rulers upon people holding numerous administrative titles that were tasked with duties by their rulers.