Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-30T15:39:16.106Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

dastan and tuwān, Adjectives or Nouns? A Discussion about Their Grammatical Category and Meaning in Middle Persian

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 May 2022

Abstract

Despite the impressive research of scholars on Middle Persian grammatical problems, there are still many words in surviving texts that are shrouded in ambiguity. One of these words, whose pronunciation in the inscriptions we owe to the Manichaean texts, is dastan. In this article, first the few available instances of this word in Middle Persian inscriptions and Manichaean texts are mentioned, and scholars’ interpretations of its meaning and grammatical category are discussed. Then it is revisited through the analysis of another word, tuwān, with which it is paired in the Manichaean instance. After a review of prior scholarly interpretations of this latter word, it is argued that in Middle Persian tuwān is a noun, and that it became a modal verb during the process of its application to the possessive structure. Finally, it is asserted that dastan also is a noun, due to its conjoinment with tuwān in the Manichaean example.

Type
Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Iranian Studies

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abulqāsimī, Muḥsin. Rāhnamāy-i zabānhāy-i bāstanī-yi īrān [A manual of old Iranian languages]. Tihrān: Sāzmān-i mutāliʾ i u tadvīn-i kutub-i ulūm-i insānī-yi dānišgāh-hā, 2009.Google Scholar
Amouzgar, Jaleh, and Tafazzoli, Ahmad. Kitāb-i panjum-i dīnkard (Le cinquième livre du Dēnkard). Tihrān: Éditions Muʾīn, 2007.Google Scholar
Andreas, Friedrich Carl, and Henning, Walter Bruno. Mitteliranische Manichaica aus Chinesisch-Turkistan. Vol 2. Berlin: Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1933.Google Scholar
Anklesaria, Behramgore Tahmuras. Zand-Ākāsīh. Bombay: Sir Jamsetji Jeejeebhoy Zartoshti Adsressa and Mulla Feeroze Madressa, 1956.Google Scholar
Antia, E. K. Kārnāmak-i Artakhshīr Pāpakān. Bombay: Fort Printing Press, 1900.Google Scholar
Asha, Raham. Šak-ud-Gumānīh-Vizār, The Doubt-Removing Book of Mardānfarrox. Paris: Alain Mole, 2015.Google Scholar
Back, Michael. Die Sassanidischen Staatsinschriften. Acta Iranica 18. Téhéran-Liège: Bibliothèque Pahlavi, 1978.Google Scholar
Bahār, Mihrdād. Wāžināma-yi gozīdihā-yi zādisparam. Tihrān: Bunyād-i farhang-i īrān, 1972.Google Scholar
Bartholomae, Christian. “Mitteliranische Studien V, Die mit st gebildeten Präterita der mittel- und neuiranischen Dialekte.” Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes 13 (1915): 147.Google Scholar
Boyce, Mary. A Reader in Manichaean Middle Persian and Parthian. Acta Iranica 9. Téhéran: Bibliothèque Pahlavi, 1975.Google Scholar
Boyce, Mary. A Word-List of Manichaean Middle Persian and Parthian. Acta Iranica 9a. Tehran: Bibliothèque Pahlavi, 1977.Google Scholar
Brunner, Christopher J. “The Middle Persian Inscription of the Priest Kirdēr at Naqš-i Rustam.” In Near Eastern Numismatics, Iconography, Epigraphy and History: Studies in Honour of George C. Miles, 97113. Beirut: American University of Beirut, 1974.Google Scholar
Brunner, Christopher J. A Syntax of Western Middle Iranian. Delmar, NY: Karavan Books, 1977.Google Scholar
Darmesteter, James. Études iraniennes. Paris: F. Vieweg, Libraire-Éditeur, 1883.Google Scholar
de Menasce, Jean Pierre. Škand Gumānīk Vičār, La Solution Décisive des Doutes. Fribourg, Switzerland: Librairie de l'Université, 1945.Google Scholar
Durkin-Meisterernst, Desmond. Dictionary of Manichaean Middle Persian and Parthian. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2004.Google Scholar
Gershevitch, Ilya. The Avestan Hymn to Mithra. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1967.Google Scholar
Gheibi, Bizhan. Twelve Ancient Texts. Bielefeld, Germany: Enteshārāt-e Nemūdār, 2005.Google Scholar
Gignoux, Philippe. “L'inscription de Kirdīr à Naqš ī Rustam.” Studia Iranica 2 (1972b): 177205.Google Scholar
Gignoux, Philippe. Glossaire des inscriptions pehlevies et parthes. London: Lund Humphries, 1972.Google Scholar
Gignoux, Philippe. Les quatre inscriptions du Mage Kirdīr. Paris: Association pour l'avancement des étude iraniennes, 1991.Google Scholar
Gignoux, Philippe, and Tafazzoli, A.. Anthologie de Zādspram. Paris: Association pour l'avancement des étude iraniennes, 1993.Google Scholar
Grenet, Fratz. La geste d'Ardashir fils de Pābag, kārnāmag ī Ardaxšēr ī Pābagān. Die, France: Centre National du Livre, 2003.Google Scholar
Henning, Walter Bruno. “Das Verbum des Mittelpersischen der Turfanfragmente.” Zeitschrift für Indologie und Iranistik 9 (1933): 158253.Google Scholar
Humbach, Helmut, and Skjærvø, Prods O.. The Sassanian Inscription of Paikuli, part 3.2, “Commentary.” Wiesbaden: Reichert Verlag, 1983.Google Scholar
Jamasp-Asana, Jamaspji Minocheherji. Pahlavi Texts. Bombay: Fort Printing Press, 1897.Google Scholar
Kent, Ronald G. Old Persian. New Haven, CT: American Oriental Society, 1953.Google Scholar
Kotwal, Firuze M. P. The Supplementary Texts to the Šāyest-nē-Šāyest. København: Munksgaard, 1969.Google Scholar
MacKenzie, Daniel N.Mani's Šābuhragān.” Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 42, no. 3 (1979): 500–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacKenzie, Daniel N.Mani's Šābuhragān II.” Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 43, no. 2 (1980): 288310.Google Scholar
MacKenzie, Daniel N. A Concise Pahlavi Dictionary. London: Oxford University Press, 1986.Google Scholar
MacKenzie, Daniel N.Kirdīr's Inscription.” In Iranische Denkmäler: Lieferung 13 enthaltend Reihe II: iranische Felsreliefs I: The Sassanian Rock Reliefs at Naqsh-I Rustamn Naqsh-i Rustam 6, Georgina Herrmann, 3572. Berlin: Reimer, 1989.Google Scholar
Madan, Dhanjishah Mehrjibhai. The Complete Text of the Pahlavi Dinkard. 2 vols. Bombay: Society for the Promotion of Researches into the Zoroastrian Religion, 1911.Google Scholar
Māhyār Navvābī, Yaḥyā. Yādgār-i Zarīrān. Tehran: Asātīr, 1995.Google Scholar
Miskawayh, Abū ʿAlī Aḥmad ibn Muhammad. Al-Ḥikmat al-khalida [The eternal wisdom]. Edited by Badwī, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān. Cairo: Egyptian Renaissance Library, 1952.Google Scholar
Nyberg, Henrik Samuel. A Manual of Pahlavi. 2 vols. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1964, 1974.Google Scholar
Pakzad, Fazlollah. Bundahišn, Zoroastrische Kosmogonie und Kosmologie. Tehran: Center for the Great Islamic Encyclopaedia, 2005.Google Scholar
Perikhanian, Anahit. The Book of Thousand Judgements: A Sassanian Law-Book. Translated from Russian by Garsiöan, Nina. Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda and Bibliotheca Persica, 1980.Google Scholar
Rāshid Muḥaṣṣil, Muḥammad Taqī. Dīnkard-i haftum [Dēnkard book 7]. Tehran: Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies, 2010.Google Scholar
Rāshid Muḥaṣṣil, Muḥammad Taqī. Vizīdagīhā ī Zādisparam. Tehran: Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies, 2011.Google Scholar
Salemann, Carl. “Mittelpersisch.” In Grundriss der Iranischen Philologie, issued by Geiger, Wilhelm and Kuhn, Ernst, 249332. Strassburg: Verlag von Karl J. Trübner, 1895–1901.Google Scholar
Schmitt, Rüdiger. The Bisitun Inscriptions of Darius the Great, Old Persian Text. London: School of Oriental and African Studies, 1991.Google Scholar
Schmitt, Rüdiger. Wörterbuch der altpersischen Königsinschriften. Wiesbaden: Reichert Verlag, 2014.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shaked, Shaul. The Wisdom of the Sassanian Sages (Dēnkard VI) by Aturpat-i Ēmētān. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1979.Google Scholar
Skjærvø, P. O.Avestan and Old Persian Morphology.” In Morphologies of Asia and Africa, vol. 2, edited by Kaye, Alan S., 853940. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2007.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Skjærvø, P. O.Middle West Iranian.” In The Iranian Languages, edited by Windfuhr, Gernot, 196279. London: Routledge, 2009.Google Scholar
Sundermann, Werner. Mittelpersische und parthische kosmogonische und Parabeltexte der Manichäer. Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 1973.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tafazzoli, Ahmad. Vāža-nāma-yi Mīnū-yi khirad [Glossary of the Mēnōg ī xrad]. Tehran: Bonyād-i Farhang-i īrān, 1969.Google Scholar
Tavadia, Jehangir C. Šāyast-nē-šāyast. Hamburg: Friederichsen, 1930.Google Scholar
Vahman, Fereydun. Ardā Wirāz Nāmag: The Iranian “Divina Commedia.” London: Routledge, 1986.Google Scholar
Williams, Alan. The Pahlavi Rivāyat Accompanying the Dādestān ī Dēnīg. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab, 1990.Google Scholar