DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.36954#0196
tribal or family names). HUMBACH's reading in 50-3
(= Nr. 7) and his comparison of this name with that of the
Hephthalite Toramana are quite uncertain.^
The occurrence of names such as those just mentioned provides
only the most general of chronological hints, pointing towards
the Sasanian period. Since none of the Iranian inscriptions is
dated, the chief hope of defining their date with rather greater
precision would seem to lie in palaeographic analysis. As HUM-
BACH has rightly observed,^ the style of writing — at least of
the clearest and most carefully written inscriptions — is very
close to that of the Sogdian "Ancient Letters", for which W.B.
HENNING's date of ca. 312 A.D. has been confirmed by the
most recent study. ^ Some inscriptions display a more cursive
or irregular style, which may indicate that they are not the work
of professional scribes, not necessarily that they are later in date.
Palaeographically, there is nothing to suggest that any of the
inscriptions are as late as the documents from Mt. Mug (early
eighth century), the next major group of Sogdian manuscripts
after the "Ancient Letters". On this basis, the inscriptions seem
most likely to belong to the fourth to sixth centuries A.D., or to
some part of that period, although it must be emphasized that
this is only a preliminary and tentative conclusion.
Despite the formulaic nature of the inscriptions, they are not
without linguistic interest. The texts contain a number of pre-
viously unknown Sogdian words, of which ^pzymyS "day before
yesterday"(?) (cf. zyy wy5 "yesterday" in the "Ancient Let-
ters")^ and ptyst "begged" (past stem of Buddhist Sogdian
pfy5 "to beg") have already been cited. New items of vocabulary
occurring as personal names or name-elements include wy572
"dwelling" (inprM^y$M, 31-46 and 31-51, cf. Avestan??2%6?#%%%-
etc.),*6 "army-leader" (31-59 and 34-87, ultimately a
12 HUMBACH, 1980: 205.
13 M.: 201.
14 HENNING, 1948; GRENET and SIMS-WILLIAMS, 1987.
15 See HENNING, 1948: 606 n. 4.
16 Cf. the Sogdian place-name *pr^wy5w (in Arabic script /wiyfM), in-
directly attested in the Mug document A5, line 13, in the phrase
pwwy$Mcy "woman from (the village) Farn-methan" (BOGOL-
JUBOV and SMIRNOVA, 1963= 107).
134
(= Nr. 7) and his comparison of this name with that of the
Hephthalite Toramana are quite uncertain.^
The occurrence of names such as those just mentioned provides
only the most general of chronological hints, pointing towards
the Sasanian period. Since none of the Iranian inscriptions is
dated, the chief hope of defining their date with rather greater
precision would seem to lie in palaeographic analysis. As HUM-
BACH has rightly observed,^ the style of writing — at least of
the clearest and most carefully written inscriptions — is very
close to that of the Sogdian "Ancient Letters", for which W.B.
HENNING's date of ca. 312 A.D. has been confirmed by the
most recent study. ^ Some inscriptions display a more cursive
or irregular style, which may indicate that they are not the work
of professional scribes, not necessarily that they are later in date.
Palaeographically, there is nothing to suggest that any of the
inscriptions are as late as the documents from Mt. Mug (early
eighth century), the next major group of Sogdian manuscripts
after the "Ancient Letters". On this basis, the inscriptions seem
most likely to belong to the fourth to sixth centuries A.D., or to
some part of that period, although it must be emphasized that
this is only a preliminary and tentative conclusion.
Despite the formulaic nature of the inscriptions, they are not
without linguistic interest. The texts contain a number of pre-
viously unknown Sogdian words, of which ^pzymyS "day before
yesterday"(?) (cf. zyy wy5 "yesterday" in the "Ancient Let-
ters")^ and ptyst "begged" (past stem of Buddhist Sogdian
pfy5 "to beg") have already been cited. New items of vocabulary
occurring as personal names or name-elements include wy572
"dwelling" (inprM^y$M, 31-46 and 31-51, cf. Avestan??2%6?#%%%-
etc.),*6 "army-leader" (31-59 and 34-87, ultimately a
12 HUMBACH, 1980: 205.
13 M.: 201.
14 HENNING, 1948; GRENET and SIMS-WILLIAMS, 1987.
15 See HENNING, 1948: 606 n. 4.
16 Cf. the Sogdian place-name *pr^wy5w (in Arabic script /wiyfM), in-
directly attested in the Mug document A5, line 13, in the phrase
pwwy$Mcy "woman from (the village) Farn-methan" (BOGOL-
JUBOV and SMIRNOVA, 1963= 107).
134