Papers by Federico Dragoni
The sign inventory of the Brāhmī script used to write down Khotanese, an eastern Middle Iranian l... more The sign inventory of the Brāhmī script used to write down Khotanese, an eastern Middle Iranian language once spoken in the southwest of the Tarim Basin, includes three additional diacritics. These are the two dots over an akṣara, the St. Andrew's cross, and the subscript hook. The first two diacritics have already been detected in several Kharoṣṭhī documents from the Khotan area. In Khotanese, they represent respectively [ә] and [aә]. The subscript hook, on the other hand, seems to be restricted to Khotanese Brāhmī, but its specific linguistic function, palaeographical developments, and ultimate origin are still a matter of debate among scholars. This article offers a critical overview of the relevant scientific literature and introduces the results of a preliminary palaeographical analysis of the diacritic. The analysis shows that the subscript hook used in Khotanese Brāhmī was borrowed from the Kharoṣṭhī anusvāra. The proposed borrowing trajectory sheds light on the linguistic function of the diacritic as well.
In "Patterns of writing" it is to be investigated how the Indic Brāhmī and Kharoṣṭhī scripts have... more In "Patterns of writing" it is to be investigated how the Indic Brāhmī and Kharoṣṭhī scripts have spread to the non-Indic languages of the Tarim Basin, how they had to be adapted, and how script varieties have influenced each other. The goal is to trace a web of contacts between the Tarim Basin languages based on the script that does not necessarily match the linguistic web of contacts exactly. The comparative analysis of the two scripts and their variants will also help decide several issues in the interpretation of the sound systems of the Tarim Basin languages.
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 2022
Tocharian B eñcuwo “iron” and Tocharian A añcu* have been connected to the Iranian words for “iro... more Tocharian B eñcuwo “iron” and Tocharian A añcu* have been connected to the Iranian words for “iron”, notably Khwarezmian hnčw. On the basis of insights into the patterns of borrowings from Khotanese into Tocharian, it is argued that the Tocharian words must have been borrowed from a preform of Khotanese hīśśana- “iron”. Further, a new etymology is proposed for “iron” that accounts for the variation of this word in Iranian. The fact that Tocharian borrowed the word for “iron” from Khotanese, not from the archaic steppe dialect of Iranian that is the source of many other loanwords in Tocharian, suggests that the contacts between this latter dialect and Tocharian took place before iron became widespread in the region.
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 2021
The two languages once spoken in the oases in the North of the Tarim basin, Tocharian A and B, ha... more The two languages once spoken in the oases in the North of the Tarim basin, Tocharian A and B, have preserved many Iranian loanwords. These belong to different chronological layers and are of different dialectal origins. Whereas the oldest layers are now most likely seen as belonging to an unattested Old Iranian dialect, more recent layers have not yet been studied in detail. In this respect, the vocabulary of medical texts represents an important field of enquiry. Most terms come from Middle Indian, but a significant number are of Middle Iranian origin. This component, mostly ingredients and technical vocabulary, seems to be largely of Khotanese origin. The article introduces the material and examines possible scenarios for historical transmission and contact between the North and the South of the Tarim Basin.
Building on collaborative work with Stefan Baums, Ching Chao-jung, Hannes Fellner and Georges-Jea... more Building on collaborative work with Stefan Baums, Ching Chao-jung, Hannes Fellner and Georges-Jean Pinault during a workshop at Leiden University in September 2019, tentative readings are presented from a manuscript folio (T II T 48) from the Northern Tarim Basin in Northwest China written in the thus far undeciphered Formal Kharoṣṭhī script. Unlike earlier scholarly proposals, the language of this folio cannot be Tocharian, nor can it be Sanskrit or Middle Indic (Gāndhārī). Instead, it is proposed that the folio is written in an Iranian language of the Khotanese-Tumšuqese type. Several readings are proposed, but a full transcription, let alone a full translation, is not possible at this point, and the results must consequently remain provisional.
For download, see : https://akjournals.com/view/journals/062/73/3/article-p335.xml
Citation: Dragoni, Federico, Niels Schoubben and Michaël Peyrot (2020). The Formal Kharoṣṭhī script from the Northern Tarim Basin in Northwest China may write an Iranian language. Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae, 73(3), 335–373.
The Oldest Attested Pāzand in the Bundahišn Text of the Munich Manuscript M51 An Orthographic and Phonological Analysis
Studia Iranica 47.2, 2018
The present work constitutes the first complete description of a previously neglected type of Pāz... more The present work constitutes the first complete description of a previously neglected type of Pāzand found in several passages of the Bundahišn text as contained in the Munich manuscript M51. The orthographic and phonological analysis presented here focuses on the Pāzand version of chapter 13 on animals, the longest specimen at our disposal. After a systematic description of the pāzandization system, a comparison with the already known pāzandization techniques (based mainly on the manuscripts L19 and M63) is conducted, with a view to defining the distinguishing features of the two systems. In the analysis, the importance of the Bundahišn Pāzand for the manuscript tradition of the Bundahišn and for the transmission of Zoroastrian writings in general is outlined.
The present paper consists of the first edition, translation and commentary of
a Manichaean Sogdi... more The present paper consists of the first edition, translation and commentary of
a Manichaean Sogdian bifolio, whose photos are preserved in the Nachlass of Academician
Carl H. Salemann at the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts, RAS (St. Petersburg).
The present location of the bifolio is unknown. One joining fragment has been found in
the Berlin Turfan collection during the preliminary work on this edition. Two relatively
long portions of Manichaean didactic treatises are extant and do not correspond to any
known text. The first (I) is a Lehrtext on the duties of Manichaean monks living in a
monastery. The second (II) contains the fourth and part of a fifth question, followed by
answers, of a catechetical text concerning the fate of the body and of the soul after death.
Key words: Manichaeism, Manichaean didactic literature, Sogdian language, Sogdian
manuscripts, Carl H. Salemann, Turfan texts, text edition, Iranian philology.
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Papers by Federico Dragoni
For download, see : https://akjournals.com/view/journals/062/73/3/article-p335.xml
Citation: Dragoni, Federico, Niels Schoubben and Michaël Peyrot (2020). The Formal Kharoṣṭhī script from the Northern Tarim Basin in Northwest China may write an Iranian language. Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae, 73(3), 335–373.
a Manichaean Sogdian bifolio, whose photos are preserved in the Nachlass of Academician
Carl H. Salemann at the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts, RAS (St. Petersburg).
The present location of the bifolio is unknown. One joining fragment has been found in
the Berlin Turfan collection during the preliminary work on this edition. Two relatively
long portions of Manichaean didactic treatises are extant and do not correspond to any
known text. The first (I) is a Lehrtext on the duties of Manichaean monks living in a
monastery. The second (II) contains the fourth and part of a fifth question, followed by
answers, of a catechetical text concerning the fate of the body and of the soul after death.
Key words: Manichaeism, Manichaean didactic literature, Sogdian language, Sogdian
manuscripts, Carl H. Salemann, Turfan texts, text edition, Iranian philology.