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Manichaean Aramaic in the Chinese hymnscroll

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 December 2009

Yutaka Yoshida
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Extract

The Chinese Manichaean ‘hymnscroll’ was discovered by Sir Aurel Stein in Tunhuang and is now preserved in the British Library, under the number Or. 8210(2659). Apart from Chinese translations from Iranian originals, it contains three hymns in Chinese transcription. These hymns were studied and partly reconstructed by Waldschmidt and Lentz. In particular, the third hymn was identified with the Parthian fragments M259c and 529 in the German Turfan collection together with their Sogdian translation TM351 and reconstructed almost completely, W.-L. i, pp. 80–93. Verses 12 and 13 of the first hymn were identified with the common Middle Persian phrase pr'zyśt 'wd j'yd'n zm'n 'wh byẖ, W.-L. i, p. 111, n. 4. The second hymn was identified with an Iranian fragment M260, W.-L. i, p. 6, and its verses 5–7 were reconstructed by Waldschmidt and Lentz in JRAS, 1926, 116–22, 298–9.

Type
Articles
Information
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies , Volume 46 , Issue 2 , June 1983 , pp. 326 - 331
Copyright
Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 1983

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References

1 For the translation see Waldschmidt, E. and Lentz, W., Abh. PAW, 1926Google Scholar, no. 4 (= W.-L. i); id., Sb PAW, 1933, XIII, 480–607Google Scholar; Chi, Tsui and Henning, W. B., BSOAS, XI, 1943, 174–219.Google Scholar

2 For this number see Boyce, M., A catalogue of the Iranian manuscripts in Manichean script in the German Turfan collection, Berlin, 1960, 18.Google Scholar

3 Some verses are not reconstructed yet, e.g. verses 20 and 21. In verse 6 r'štyft should be read.

4 Un traité manichéen retrouvé en Chine (= Traité) studied by Chavannes, É. and Pelliot, P., JA, 1911, 499–617Google Scholar; and The Compendium of the doctrines and styles of the teaching of Mani studied by the same authors, JA, 1913, 105–16, and by Henning, W. B. and Haloun, G., AM, n.s., III, 2, 1952, 184–212Google Scholar. All the three texts are reproduced in the Taishō Tripiṭaka, vol. 54, nos. 2140, 2141 A and B.

5 The reconstruction of some verses in the first hymn is suggested here. Verse 2 transcribes dryst 'wr rwšn 'y rwšn[ ]. The Chinese transcriptionnâ lji si tuət indicates a pronunciation *drīstōr rather than the expected drīst awar. Cf. Henning's identification of Chinese .uo liät as representing ōrt for Middle Perisan 'wrt ‘ come thou!’ (Tsui Chi and Henning, op. cit., 216), although 'wryd ‘come ye!’ would be a better identification, since a Chinese final -t stands for Iranian d, l or r, but not for t. Verse 4 can be reconstructed dryst 'wr š'h 'y šhry'[r'n] p[ ]. The character for š'h is , which is reconstructed liei, but has a glossindicating the pronunciation ṣa with a long vowel. I suggest emending it to *ṣa. Verse 5 transcribes [ ]'y rwšn whyšt'w and verse 6 drwd 'br tw.

6 Throughout this note I use this term for Manichaean Aramaic. For this language, see Henning and Haloun op. cit., p. 205, n. 3.

7 An asterist (*) indicates that the character is missing in Grammata Serica Recensa but reconstructed in keeping with Karlgren's system.

8 Verse numbers are given in the Chinese text.

9 In the MS it is written.

10 For this letter see Waldschmidt, and Lentz, , JRAS, 1926, p. 121, n. 3.Google Scholar

11 In the MS it is written , which seems to be intended either foror for . CF. n. 16 below.

12 The character has the glossrmeaning ‘prolonged’, cf. W.-L. i, p. 84, n. 2.

13 The character has the gloss‘tongue-head’, indicating the articulation, cf. W.-L. i, p.91.

14 In the MS it is written.

15 In the MS it is written.

16 In the MS it is written, which seems to be intended either foror for. Cf. n. 11 above.

17 For the function of the addition of, see Chavannes and Pelliot, seeJA, 1911, p. 537, n. 2, and W.-L. i, 128.Google Scholar

18 An intial r-is transcribed with prothetic vowel in the Chinese Manichaean documents, see Henning and Haloun, op. cit., 207.

19 There is no problem with, because in the Traité, žīwandag is transcribed]=ńži jīuən ńīə with., Chavannes, and Pelliot, , JA, 1911, p. 537, n. 2, and W.-L. i, 128Google Scholar If the characterhas the same phonetic value as it would be reconstructed ka, while the character for the syllable da is missing. The final part is so problematic that it is difficult to decide whether we should reconstruct žiwandag or žīwandagān.

20 e.g. lbr' (verse 2), hy' and qdyš' (verse 4) and pidar (verse 5). I owe this alternative solution to Dr. Sims-Williams.

21 some Manichaean Aramaic fragments were discovered in Egypt, see Burkitt, F. C., The religion of the Manichees, Cambridge, 1925, 111–19.Google Scholar