1,720,980 research outputs found
You can’t teach an old dog new tricks. Khotanese ysare ‘old age’, śve ‘dog’ and the development of *-uāh
No full textThe aim of this article is to demonstrate that Khotanese ysare ‘old age’ is derived from the n-stem noun *zaru ̯ an- and thus results from a reconstructed nom.sg. *zaru ̯ āh, with recharacterisation of the nom.sg. marker *-h on the expected outcome *zaru ̯ ā < *-ōn < pre-PIE *-on-s. The article also discusses other nouns that testify the development of Proto-Iranian *-u ̯ āh in word-final position and argues that, in postconsonantal position, *-u ̯ āh first evolved into long *-ē [eː], preserved as such in accented monosyllables, and then developed into short -e in polysyllabic words
Avestan -ā ̊ ŋhō, Young Avestan -ā ̊ , Old Khotanese -e and the development of the Old Iranian i- and u-stems in Khotanese
No full textThe aim of this article is to trace the origin and the evolution of a group of Khotanese nouns whose historical analysis has always been a matter of debate. These nouns are well represented in Old Khotanese texts. They are masculine in gender and display an inflection partially merging with that of the masculine a-stems with the relevant exception of the nominative-accusative plural, which ends in -e. This ending is at odds with the regular nominative-accusative plural -a of the a-declension. Similarly, the secondary aa- and ua-declensions also have a few words showing the deviating ending -e in the nominative-accusative plural. Through a new collection of the members of these inflectional classes and an etymological recognition of the relevant endings and forms, it is argued that four Old Iranian stem-types merged their inflections in pre-Khotanese: (i) the Old Iranian thematic neuter (neuter a-stems), (ii) a few Old Iranian thematic masculine nouns (masculine a-stems), (iii) the Old Iranian masculine i-stems, and, possibly, (iv) the Old Iranian masculine u-stems
The Tocharian gender system. A diachronic study in nominal morphology
No full textThis book investigates archaisms and innovations in Tocharian nominal morphology: it provides a comprehensive treatment of the morphology of Tocharian grammatical gender, describing how it historically derived from the Indo-European proto-language and why it typologically deviates from most of the other Indo-European languages. The approach is both synchronic and diachronic, with a heavier focus on diachrony. The volume features a thorough study of a large number of nominal classes and pronominal forms, which are analysed from a derivational and an inflectional point of view in order to clarify their origin and development from the perspective of Indo-European comparative reconstruction. With its wide coverage of intricate phonological and morphological patterns, The Tocharian Gender System is an important contribution to the study of Tocharian nominal morphology as a whole
A note on the verbal forms in Mycenaean sealings
No full textThe aim of this article is to bring the evidence of inscribed Mycenaean nodules and labels into the debate about the aspect-tense opposition of the Mycenaean verbal system. After a brief introduction to the Mycenaean language and literacy, the paper reviews all conjugated verbal forms attested in inscribed sealings (nodules and labels), analysing them within the context in which they occur and in relation to the typology of the devices on which they have been inscribed. It then discusses the values of these verbal forms with specific regard to the verbal categories of tense and aspect. The article provides further evidence in support of the traditional model, according to which the Mycenaean verbal system was primarily aspect-based
Ronald I. Kim, The Dual in Tocharian. From Typology to Auslautgesetz
No full textA recent innovative study on the nominal category of the Tocharian dual is reviewed and discussed from the point of view of a reader with a background in Tocharian philology and linguistics and Indo-European studies
Variation and change in the formal marking of Khotanese (II). The genitive-dative singular and related problems in Late Khotanese
No full textIn the transition from Old to Late Khotanese, several modifications took place which deeply modified the structure of the language. The substantial phonological changes that affected Late Khotanese word-finally had an obvious impact on morphology and syntax. Building on my previous study on variation and change in the formal marking of the genitive-dative singular in Old Khotanese (Del Tomba 2022), the aim of the present article is to analyse the development of the genitivedative singular endings in a selection of Late Khotanese texts. Although the a- and aa-declensions constitute the main focus of the article, other inflectional types are also considered in order to make preliminary suggestions as to the linguistic drift undergone by Late Khotanese from the synthetic to the analytic type
Bibliography of Mauro Maggi’s works (1986–2024)
No full textBibliography of books, article, and reviews by Mauro Maggi from 1986 to 2024
Recensione di Melanie Malzahn, Michaël Peyrot, Hannes A. Fellner, Theresa-Susanna Illés (eds.), Tocharian Texts in Context. International Conference on Tocharian Manuscripts and Silk Road Culture, June 25-29th, 2013, Bremen, Hempen, 2015, pp. 344.
No full textIl presente contributo è una recensione di un volume edito da Melanie Malzahn, Michaël Peyrot (et al.) e pubblicato nel 2013 presso Hempen Verlag. Il volume raccoglie gli atti di una Conferenza internazionale di stampo prettamente interdisciplinare, tenutasi a Vienna nel mese di giugno 2013 e sovvenzionata dalla Austrian Science Fund (Fonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichenForschung). Fine ultimo è stato quello di analizzare vari aspetti connessi alla linguistica, alla filologia e alla letteratura del tocario, lingua indoeuropea antica attestata nelle zone limitrofe del bacino del Tarim, nell’attuale regione autonoma uyghur dello Xīnjāng (uy. Šinǰaŋ). La conferenza ha riunito alcuni tra i maggiori esperti non solo della lingua in questione, ma anche delle civiltà perdute della Via della Seta, giacché in anni passati l’intera regione ha rappresentato un crocevia di popoli culturalmente anche molto diversi tra loro
Genus Alternans in Khotanese? A synchronic analysis of the agreement classes
No full textL’articolo dimostra che, in cotanese, la categoria del genere grammaticale presenta un'opposizione tra due soli generi, giacché il neutro non può essere considerato un vero e proprio tratto di categoria. Sebbene, inoltre, possano essere individuati tre diversi controllori dell’accordo nominale, il terzo non presenta tracce di marche dedicate sul bersaglio, in quanto lo stesso combina tratti di accordo propri del maschile e del femminile. Questa terza classe d'accordo è definita, quindi, alternante e non può essere considerata un genere a sé stante, dal momento che non ne presenta le caratteristiche canoniche in termini di realizzazione morfosintattica e produttività: è un “genere senza quorum”
A Central Asian Buddhist term: remarks on Khotanese saña‐ and Tocharian B sāñ, A ṣāñ
No full textThe Khotanese masculine substantive saña- ‘artifice, expedient, means, method’ can-
not be a loanword from the Gāndhārī feminine saṃña ‘perception, idea’ (< Sanskrit
saṃjñā-), as has been recently suggested. Bilingual evidence for its meaning, its metri-
cal use, and the contexts where it occurs show unambiguously that it differs formally
and semantically from the Khotanese feminine saṃñā- ‘idea, notion, perception, etc.’,
the actual loanword from Gāndhārī saṃña. Since the meaning of Tocharian B sāñ, ṣāñ
and A ṣāñ ‘expedient, means’ agrees with that of Khotanese saña- ‘artifice etc.’, the old
view should not be abandoned that the latter is a genuine Khotanese word < Iranian
*sćandi̯ a- (to the root *sćand- ‘to appear, seem (good)’) and is the source of the corre-
sponding loanwords in Tocharian
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