Ancient Survivals in Ossetic

Ancient Survivals in OsseticAuthor(s): Ilya GershevitchSource: Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Vol. 14,No. 3, Studies Presented to Vladimir Minorsky by His Colleagues and Friends (1952), pp. 483-495Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of School of Oriental and African StudiesStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/609110Accessed: 26/11/2010 06:05

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Ancient Survivals in Ossetic

By ILYA GERSHEVITCI

Laeg cal aevzagi zona ual

legi'y - uoyyau du daer, mra axuzrgzenaeg.

Praetextus

HEN Soslan went to the land of the giant Uomar, son of Tara, he pretended to be his own hireling: Tari furt Uomari zaenxaemae

ranzexstUeraey ye'xuzersti reuoni, Pam. ii 60. The Dictionary translates Dig. raeuonae as ' cause, pretext, appearance ', and quotes our passage to illustrate the third meaning: 'in the appearance of his hireling.' There is, however, another passage, in which rteuonae clearly means 'disguise'. Uaskergi had

placed watchmen at the gorge of Zadaelesk, to prevent Ceenxigol, the spirit of salt, from leaving the heights. The villain Sirdon advises Ceenxigol: mnen gadcay rewaendtey ku nae rayervzezay uaedta dae ramardzzenencae ' if you do not escape by means of my bitch's raeuaendtae (plur. of raeuonae) they will kill you'; there-

upon Caenxigol Sirdoni gadcay cari bacudzey ma uotemaey qalaurt3ebael rayevhudcey, "Sirdoni gadca aey!" zzehgaey ' Cenxigol entered the hide of Sirdon's bitch and thus passed by the watchmen, who said: " it is Sirdon's bitch "' (Miller, OcemuucKuue 3mioObQ i 102). Miller translated maen gadcay rneuzendtaey as 'by the ruse of my bitch'; evidently the meaning is 'by disguising yourself as my bitch '. The plural rneuaendtse is also used, according to B., my Digor friend, when the word means 'pretext'.

Although B. would not use rweuonxe for ' disguise ', the two passages quoted show that speakers of an earlier generation were aware of this meaning. The semantic connexion between 'disguise' and 'pretext' is known in other

languages. Hiibschmann, Pers. St. 32, quoted parallels from Latin and German in support of a derivation of NPers. bahane 'pretext' from OIr. *uahdna-, belonging to uah- 'to dress'. Dig. reuone, from *fra-uahdna-, confirms the correctness of this derivation.

Abayev, PyccKo-ocemu7cKuui cJzoeapb, s.v. npeO.ozt, gives also Dig. rzeuagBe, and Dig. efsoyne, Iron efson, for 'pretext'. The former, which

according to the Dictionary and B. means ' cause', was compared by Miller, Ossetisch, 35,2 with Skt. pravdka ' announcer'. We may prefer to derive it from

*fra-uaha-ka-. While in NPers. bahdne, Oss. rzeuonae and raeuagge the disguising aspect of

'dressing' is stressed, the relation between dress and custom or disposition,

1 Read ma instead of ne. 2 Where the derivation of reuaeg ' light, quick

' from *fravaka- must, at any rate, be preferred to the one proposed by O. Szemerenyi, ZDMG 1951, 209 sq.

I. GERSHEVITCH-

which finds expression in such words as Ital. costume, Lat. habitus, suggests that also Oss. uag (Dig. uagae) 'custom, normal condition, character', Plur. uagtae 'manners ', belongs to the base uah- (*uahaka-).

In tefson, for which the Dictionary also gives ' cause, reason' the meaning 'pretext' is perhaps to be understood as 'adduced fault'; the example in the Dictionary cey aefson mmn na radtay dae baex 'on what grounds did you not give me your horse' means to B. 'because of which (= whose) fault or

guilt, etc.'; moreover I have noted from B. uoy wefsoynae'y kaenunce ' they say it is his fault (lit. make it his fault) '. If one compares Lat. caussa 'cause, pretext, guilt', and its relation to causor and accuso, it seems possible that in tefson, from *abi-sihana-, an Indo-Iranian legal term has survived. Skt. abhi-'amsamna 'accusation' has been discussed by Hopkins, JAOS 45 (1925), 49 (a reference I owe to Professor Bailey). In the Avesta (Yt 14, 34) ZaraOustra asks for Ahura Mazdah's advice on how to behave if he is aiwi.sast5 aiwi.smardat

by many opponents. Bartholomae's translation was ' verwiinscht in Worten und Gedanken ', but ' accused or assailed verbally and mentally ' agrees better with what we know of abi-sth-, even though its converse, pati-syh-, has a magical acceptation in Ahura Mazdah's reply (cf., on the other hand, paiti.sa.nhdm 'contradicendo' in Vend. 4, 54, and the juridical connotation of Pahl. passoxv (< *pati-sahvan-) ' sureties', v. Bailey, BSOS vi 83).

payah-, payu- In Oc. 3m. ii 86 Miller doubtfully compared Oss. ftezdon(ae) 'udder' with

Av. fstdna-, NPers. pistdn. The comparison no longer appeared in Ossetisch, since the voicing of -st- could not be justified. There is, however, an easy alternative etymology at hand. -don(ae) may be the second term of compounds which continues -ddna- ' container'. Comparison with Bal. goddn, Ps yulanja 'udder' < *gau-ddna(c5)-, cf. Morgenstierne, NTS xii 263, EVP 41, further

suggests that fwtz- represents Av. payah- 'milk'. Hence *pay(a)z-ddna- (on -az-, cf. Bailey, BSOAS xii 331) > *frzzdon (on the assimilation of y to a

following consonant, cf. Bailey, Asica 12 sq.) > fxzdon; cf. Wx pez,n, Morgenstierne, IIFL ii 536; payah- also survives in Ps pa?, etc., v. EVP 55.

Iron Dig. fiyyau, Iron fiyau, fayyau, fiyyau ' shepherd ' probably represents a metathesis of OIr. pdyu- ' protector '. The Ossetic restriction to the protector of sheep may have been inherited from IE times, cf. Greek 7rciv ' flock of sheep'. The same metathesis can be recognized in Oss. yau(ce) 'energy, vital force', if, accepting Morgenstierne's etymology, NTS xii 269, we derive it directly from dyu-, instead of assuming secondary lengthening of a. One may compare

1 enseuag, enuag, for which the Dictionary only gives 'slovenly, ill-bred, depraved' (= ' without manners '), also means ' unusual ': Fidselti dogi nse bserzond xusenxti Ku iscseykodta senseuag sestong 'at the time of the fathers there arose on our mountains an unusual famine', Maliti Geusergi, Irasf, Ordzonikidze, 1935, p. 33.

484

ANCIENT SURVIVALS IN OSSETIC

the Sogdian metathesis which Henning established in fsy'ws 'gentleman'

I. GERSHEVITCH-

For imis- one would normally reconstruct OIr. *mis- or *mis- + -ui-. A base *mis- (OPers. *miO-) used with the same preverb, has been postulated by Henning, ZII ix 179, for MPers. wmyh- 'to shape, fashion, create'. This verb is only found in three passages, all of which refer to the creation of man by Az, the equivalent of Hyle in Iranian Manicheism.

The circumstances of this act of creation must be borne in mind. It consists in reproducing from memory the image of a seducing divinity whom the Archontes, fettered in the sky, had once seen; by devouring the abortions of the Archontes, Az had inherited the vision of this image. Numerous passages, in which the place of Hyle is usually taken by a demon, insist that man was modelled after this image: ich will euch ein Bild herstellen nach dem Bild des Erhabenen (Keph. 1383) = sic quippe illius magni, qui gloriosus apparuit, imaginemfingam (August. De nat. boni 46); the eKcov of the seducer is imposed on the 7rhdTA4ua of Adam and Eve (Keph. 13717), etc., cf. Mary Boyce, BSOAS xiii 910 sq., Baur, Man. Rel. 132, 138 sqq., Cumont, Recherches i 42 sq.

In the MPers. Cosmogony (Mir. Man. i) wmyh- is twice followed by dys- (20229 sq. 20328 sq.) 'to build' (v. Henning, BBB p. 56 bottom), once by kyrdn ' to make' (19530). Since neither verb adequately corresponds tofingo, lrAaaaco

(Keph. 13717), or wcoypace'o (Keph. 13518, 13814), the artistic connotation of the latter will belong to wmyh-. In addition the three passages apparently contain no reference to the imitative character of this creation, which in the corre-

sponding descriptions in other languages is explained in detail; therefore the

meaning of wmyh- may have been such as to supply this reference. If Oss. mnsin is connected it would appear that wmyh- meant 'to compose ,or fashion

according to a mental pattern'. The suggested connexion excludes Morgenstierne's etymology of Oss. misin

as belonging to Skt. vimrr-, NTS xii 268.

fraxsti-

Miller, Ossetisch 31, translated lxxsta (Dig. lixste) kJenun as ' to pray, cross

oneself'; he assumed -tae to be the Plural ending, and the second meaning to be the original one; he accordingly connected the word with Skt. laksa ' sign '.1 Munkacsi's Iron informants used ltexste kxnun for 'to request, ask ', and

interpreted lexstae as Plur. of lehz '

polished ', hence, with ksenun, 'to use

polished words ',2 Bliiten der oss. Volksdichtung i 38 sq. Since the meaning ' to cross oneself' appeared to be secondary, Munkacsi rejected Miller's etymology. The Dictionary only has lexstyse ' imploring ', and lexstg kxnun ' to implore,

1 Internal Iron se corresponds to Dig. i (after I or before r) also in lehz 'polished ', daerzaeg ' rough ', sevdserzin

' to irritate (skin) ', ent'serin 'to chase away, banish ', and xaerlnk'a 'pocket knife ', v. Abayev, Oc. s3. u 96oJm. i 369. Of these words the first has been compared by Miller with Skt. Slaksna, Ossetisch 32, the second (to which presumably the third belongs, v. Dictionary) with Av. darazista-, Oc. Sm. iii 151.

2 B. views this popular etymology with disfavour.

486


pray, entreat'. When the beautiful Gidannae begs her father not to force her to marry the JEldar's son, her voice is lixsta 'imploring' (radzoruy yin lixsts haeslassy, Maliti Geusergi, 37). In the Ossetic tradition on the Tukka disease it is said (Miller, Oc. 3m. i 100, 17): Xucauaen cid balixsts kandzinan caemaey nm sas xuarzenxae ua, uoytuxxaey 'let us pray to God that His benevolence be with us '. In such expressions, B. tells me, kaenun is also used with the Plural lixstitas. One therefore wonders if laexsta need be a Plural.

In Yt 1, 30, we read: ahe nars asaono fravasm yazamaide yo asmo.xvanvd nyma, aSdt anyaesgcm asaongm fraxsti (MSS. fraxsti, fraxsta, fraxasta, fraxasti, fraxsasta, fraxusta, fraliusta) yazdi fravardta 'We worship the Fravasi of the truthful man A.; then I worship fraxsti (the Fravasis) of the other truthful (men)'. Bartholomae uneasily translated fraxsti by 'abundantly', and Lommel, Ydscht's, 18, n. 3, explained: as abundantly as they are worshipped in Yt 13. The translation 'with prayer' or ' entreatingly' (Instr.) does not any the less justice to the context, and lasxste, which could be derived from any of the Av. variant readings, may be adduced in its support.

The reason for preferringfraxsti to the variants in Yt 1, 30, is the occurrence offraxsti.dd- as an epithet of MiOra in Yt 10, 65 (var. frastio). On the strength of the presumed meaning of fraxsti- this epithet is translated as 'giving abundance'; it could equally well mean 'granting the entreaty '.1

Bartholomae separated fromfraxsti- the first name by which Ahura Mazdah calls himself in Yt 1, 7: fraxstya- (Var. fraxstia, fraxstaya, fraxrastaya, fraxstoye, fraxstauye, fraxastuye, fraxa.stuye). This he analysed as Fut. Pass. Partc. offras- ' to ask' ' der zu befragen ist' (?). The suggested meaning is acceptable, the form less so; for Fut. Pass. Participles in -tya- are not otherwise recognized in Iranian. Without incurring this difficulty a similar meaning, ' implorandus ', is obtained if we relate fraxstya- to fraxgti- as yasnya- is related to yasna-.

The origin of these words remains uncertain. For Avestan, Bartholomae's connexion with fras- could be maintained and extended to fraxsti-; the -ti- noun with intrusive x might have acquired a meaning distinct from that of the regularfrasti-. However, while intrusive x is also known in Sogdian (GMS 257), it has so far been assumed to occur in Ossetic only in Iron yaxs, Dig. sexss ' whip ', which Miller, IF xxi 328, doubtfully derived from Av. yaxsti-. If this etymology should prove to be correct, it would open the door to a derivation of laxsta fromfraxsti- even if -ta were the Plural suffix. One could then compare Dig. *lixsas: Plur. lixstitas with Dig. uose ' woman': Plur. uostitx (connected by Miller, l.c. 332, with Skt. yosit 2); lixstas would then be secondary, either as a Plural built on *lixsB, or as a Singular abstracted from lixstitx.

1 Cf. the meaning of Dig. iskurdiadse (abstract of korun ' to request, ask ') ' ability, or right, to receive from God what one asks for'.

2 Hence Dig. uozun, Iron uzin ' to rock, swing' < Av. yaoz-, and Dig. uodun, Iron udtn 'to exert oneself' < Av. yaod-, cf. Parth. ywdy-.

487

I. GERSHEVITCH-

haxa-

The meaning of Av. haxa- was established as 'sole of the foot' on the strength of the Pahlavi translation ' under the foot ', and the context in the two parallel passages Vend. 8, 69 sq., and 9, 24 sq. In these Nasu, the demon of putrefaction, is chased down the body along successive stages, of which the last six are as follows: knee, calf,l ankle, forepart of the foot (frabda-, cf. Turner, BSOAS xii 641), haxa-, and 'under the toes'. To be able to sprinkle the haxa- with water it is sufficient to raise the heels, standing on one's toes.

The Avestan context alone arouses the suspicion that haxa- is not the sole as 'under surface of the foot', but that part of the sole which is situated between the heel and the beginning of the toes. This suspicion can now be confirmed by reference to Oss. xx ' hollow of the foot between heel and toes'

(adj. zxdzn), which evidently continues Av. haxa-.2

hiz-, xiz-

In Asica 32 sq. H. W. Bailey derived Oss. xezun ' to climb, pass over' from a base *haiz- attested in Sogd. -xyzyy ' creeping', MPers. (etc.) dxez- ' to rise ', Khot. pah7ys- 'to flee', va 'descend', bio 'decrease', (tti)hTys- 'rise', and Av. pdiri.haeza- ' go around'. With Av. pdiri.haeza- W. B. Henning connects MPers. phryz- ' versari' (= Parth. prxyz-) and 'to abstain', assuming that with the latter meaning the preverb was para-, v. BSOAS xi (= Tales) 62 n. 2, 724 on 1114,3 xii 56 on 25. Previously Horn had referred to Oss. xezun and to Av. haeza- (for which he quoted the variant xaeza-) in connexion with NPers. xez-/xdst- (Npers. Et. 102 sq.), and Morgenstierne in connexion with Ps xez-/xat- (EVP 98). Various attempts have been made to reconcile the vocalism of NPers. xez- and xdst-. Andreas thought of an occasional Iranian

replacement of e by d, v. Lentz, ZII iv 270, 292. Bartholomae, WZKM 25, 257 sq., suggested two alternatives, of which he preferred the second: (1) IE

1 Av. ascu-. The expected OIr. *asku- survives in Oss. sgauta (Pam. iii 413), skutas (Narti Kaddztas, Dzaeudilhaeu, 1946, 3521) 'haunches (as food) ', Plural of sgu (Dict.), isgu (Abayev, Pycc;o-oc. cJ.oeapb, s.v. 6eOpo).

2 A compound with sx may be recognized in Dig. anguldzasxta ' dance on tip-toes', which, acc. to Abayev, Oc. s3. u 06OAbK., i 441, corresponds to Iron k'ax-k'uxtll kaft. As k'ax-k'ux is 'foot-

finger = toe ', so anguldzax may be ' ax-finger ', with the order of compound terms inversed as in yaugaf 'fish-millet = caviare', xasffindz ' nose-matter = snivel', and others discussed by Abayev, op. cit., 234. senguldzaxta kasnun 'to dance on tip-toes' is used by Maliti Geusergi, Irsef, p. 48; B. knows anguldzasxtas kafun. One is reminded of the expression gsndzaxta cashdin 'to be seized with convulsion, cramp', cf. Dict., 389, 1639. It occurs, e.g. in Pam. iii 521 (Iron), where the corresponding Digor version (Pam. ii 126) has tasppaszta cashdun. The latter is explained p. 180 n. 68 as 'to beat, shake one's extremities '. gsndzaxts, which, acc. to the Diet., is also Dig., may thus contain sx ; gasndz- is not clear; cf. Dig. gasndzu, Iron gascci ' tooth ' (nursery word) ?

Since haxa- may belong to Av. haxti (Dual) ' thighs' (as Professor E. Fraenkel has convinced me by referring to the relation of Lith. kulnis ' heel' to kiulse ' hip', cf. Walde-Hofmann, Lat. Et. Wb.3, 144), its closest cognate will be Gr. taXt o0av's (Hes.), v. Meillet, MSL 23, 259.

3 Chr. pryyz- ' umstellen ' may contain a base *yiz-, which is attested in Dig. hizun, Iron qtxzn ' to threaten, wish ill', cf. Pam. ii 4332.

488


*khag-/*khakto-; from regular Ir. *xista- a Present *xaiz- could have arisen

analogically, while xdstan would have preserved the root vowel a under the stress; (2) IE *khaig- might have given an Iranian Past *xdista- from which *xdsta-. Henning contemplated, but rejected the assumption that two Ir. bases, xaz- and xiz-, had influenced each other, BBB p. 105.

The previous discussions leave out of consideration the variety of meanings of Oss. xezun, which does not seem to be irrelevant to the involved problems raised by this group of supposedly related words. It is desirable first to present the evidence.

(1) Av. pdiri.haezarha, 2 Sg. Impt. of unclear meaning, occurs in Vend. 21, 4. 8. 12. 16. Here is a table of the variants :-

4 8 12 16

K1 pdiri.haizawha pdiri.xaizavuha pdiri.haezavuha

L4 pdirizaauha pairi.xaizavuha pdiri.haezawha

Jpl pairi.haFzawha pairz.haezawha paiti.haizawaha

Mf2 ,,pairmhaizawha ,,

L2 pairi.xsaezavuha pdiri.xsaezavuha pairi.xsaezavuha pairi.xsaezavuha

Brl , pairi.xsaezaauha pairi.xsaezaaha pairi.xsaezawha

Dhl ,,

K10 ,, , pairi.xsaezavuha pairi.xaezavuha

M2 ,, pairi.xsaezavuha

02 pairi.s'aezauuha,,

B2 pairi.xsazar uha

L1 ,, pairi.xsazavuha pairi.xsaizawha pairi.xsaezawha

(2) Parthian.

(a) prxyz-: prx'st- 'to stand around, be about, versari ', sometimes 'to stand around for the purpose of looking after someone = serve, nurse, protect', often merely 'to be' (Henning, Tales 62 n. 2).

(b) 'xyz-: 'x'st- ' to rise'. (c) Once 'x'z- 'to rise', supposedly scribal error, cf. Ghilain, Essai, 61 sq. (d) mwrd'xyz, mwrd'hyz', adj., 'arousing the dead.'

(3) MPersian.

(a) xyz- 'to creep', v. Henning, BBB p. 61 on 512. (b) x'yst (with 'br) 'to rise' (v. Henning, ZII ix 178, where also the

following six). (c) 'xyz-: 'xyst- ' to rise', Caus. 'xyzn-. (d) 'wxyz-: 'wxyst- 'to descend'.

489

I. GERSHEVITCH-

(e) prxyz- (fra-) 'to advance' (?). (f) whyz-, Pahl. Iss. why6-, as Professor Henning tells me, 'to move,' as

from one country to another. (g) mwrd'xyz, mwrd'hyz, as (2) (d). (h) ryst'hyz 'resurrection'. (i) phryz- : phryst-, meaning as (2) (a) ; Arm. pahest, Arab.fthrist' deposit,

Aufbewahrung' , v. Henning, BBB p. 113b. (k) phryz- 'to abstain, beware of'.

(4) Sogdian. (a) (a) Chr. 'yz- 'to rise (from the dead) '; (/) Man. "x'zyy4 M 900, 5

(no context). (b) Chr. 'xs't ' arose ' i 53, 5,' got up ' ii 4, 12. Giw 232.

(c) Causative Chr. 'xy'- 'to place, appoint' i 40, 1, 'raise up' i 30, 15; 'yyz- 'to resurrect' Giw 84.

(d) Man. Chr. 'wyz-, Man. 'wxz- 'to descend', Past Chr. 'wxs't-, Caus. B. w'y'yz (Jmpf.).

(e) Man. 'nyz-, mnxz- (Impf.), Past 'nx'gt-, B. 'ny'St- (anxas't-) 'to rise' Caus. B. 'ny'yz-.

(f) Man. txyz ' setting (of sun and moon) ', v. GMS 662. (g) prxyz- ' versari', BBB f 91. (h) xyz- 'to creep' in z'yxyzyy. (i) Man. pcxyz-, Chr. pcyyz-, B. pcy'yz- : B. pcyst- ' to kneel ',cf. Henning,

BBB p. 105. The Man. spelling, which confirms the z conjectured by Henning, occurs in the following passage (M 130 ii V): [p]cyxyz 00 'rrtyy w'nw (2) [p]tS'kw't8'rt o kt w'f (3) [m]zyx yw'n kyy 'tyy 'zw (4) [']qmw8'n oo 'rtyy s't (5) trw yrp'_8'ryy oo 'tymyy (6) en mzyx .. .'he knelt and addressed him thus: as many great sins as I have committed, you have known (them) all; from my great...'

(5) Khotanese. (a) hTys- 'to rise', or ttih;iys- ('to descend'? cf. (4) (f)). (b) pahTys- : pahissta- 'to flee' (or simply 'go away', as Professor Bailey

tells me). (c) vahTys-: vahista- 'to descend'.

(d) bihiys- to decrease

(6) Khwdrazmian xyz- 'to get up', v. Freiman, Coaemcnoe Bocmooa6eOenue vi 83.

(7) Ossetic Dig. xezun : xist-, Iron ~x~zin : xist-. (a) ' to climb ' with Loc. ext. : bekasame, xonxmnaw xezun ' to climb a tree,

a mountain'; bunma x. 'to climb down' (B.). (b) 'to climb over, across; pass over' with Adess. or Loc. int.

kaua?bal x. 'to climb over, across a fence' xanxtebbl x. 'to climb over mountains' (B.), Iron sau dendiilzi sarti x. 'to pass over the Black Sea' (Dict.).

490


(c) 'to wait' (this meaning is found only in Dig., v. Abayev, Oc. S3. u

96OJibP. i 485): ba-mtr-xeza 'wait for me'; d' ercudt din xezun 'I am

waiting for your arrival'; d'ercudtmae din xezdzarnern 'I will wait until you arrive '; duute saxadti ftexxiston fal n'erbacudtey 'I waited for two hours, but he did not arrive' (B.); Kettag i hasume fteccasuy,- Uoy Ket ye'mburdi ku xezuj 'the Ket-man returns to the village-the Ketians are waiting for him in the assembly ', Maliti Geuaergi, 66.

(d) ' to protect ': ked nte Xucau xezidte yecifidbiliztay ' so that God may protect (or deliver) us from this evil' (Miller, Oc. 3mn. i 100, 7); Iron xi xizmn 'sich hiiten ' (Dict.); dtexe si xezae 'beware of him'; zelgtr donaey daexe xeze ' keep off whirlpools' (B.); cf. also the pr. name

Uadsexez(te), interpreted as 'protecting from wind', Pam. ii. p. 183 n. 121.

(e) 'to pasture,' trans. and intrans.: yeyte fons xezuy 'he pastures the cattle '; fons buduri xezuy (fexxistaey) ' the cattle is (was) grazing on the plain'; fons xezgae krnuy ' the cattle is grazing ' (B.); v. also Dict.

(8) NPersian. (a) xez-: xdst- 'to rise'.

(b) Kabul Pers. Past xest-. (c) rastaxiz ' resurrection '. (d) xezidan 'to rise, leap; totter, slide, go softly; creep on all fours'

(Dict.). (e) xazldan 'to creep'. (f) parhez-: parhext- 'to abstain ', v. Henning, ZII ix 215.

(9) Ps xez-: xatdl (3 Sg. Past xot) ' to rise'.

(10) Sangl. xaz-: xot- 'to rise '.

(11) Par. xist kan- 'to rise, jump'.

(12) Wx gzz-: gdzd- (< *han-xaiz-, v. Morgenstierne, IIFL ii 450) ' to rise '. The divergent meanings of Oss. xezun are unlikely to have evolved from

that of a single base. On first consideration at least three different verbs seem to have come to coincide in Ossetic. One, meaning 'to pasture ', has no equivalent among the other Iranian forms quoted above.

The second verb will be represented by the meaning 'to climb, pass over'. This agrees with the notion of' rising ' and other movements (varying according to the preverb) which inheres in some of the forms quoted from other Iranian languages. However, the meaning' to creep ' of MPers. and Sogd. xyz-, NPers. xe;zTdan, xazTdan, which Henning closely associates with Sogd. pcxyz- ' to kneel ', is not found in Ossetic, and may belong to a base distinct from the ' rising ' one-; cf. below on the Sogdian evidence.

The third verb is seen in the meaning ' to wait '. This need not be separated from the notion of 'protecting ', as comparison with Germ. warten shows, cf. OSax. wardon 'protect, watch, look after, be on one's guard', Engl. ward, and the LWs French garder, Ital. guardare (Kluge, Et. Wb. d. deutsch. Spr.7,

491

I. GERSHEVITCH-

postulated an original meaning ' auf jem. oder nach jem. schauen ').1 It seems to me that the words quoted under (2) (a), (3) (i), (k), (4) (g), and (8) (f), belong to the Oss. 'waiting and protecting' base, rather than to the verbs meaning

to rise (etc.) '.

Bearing in mind the distinction suggested by the meanings of Oss. xezun, we may proceed to examine the variation in the root-vowel of the forms collected, assuming for the moment that the initial consonant was OIr. h-.

Dig. xez-/xist- and Khot. h;ys-/hdst- point to OIr. *haiza-/*hista-. Kabul Pers. xest-, Par. xTst may have been influenced by the Pres. xe/Iiz-; MPers. x(')yst- may be explained in the same way, unless it stands for xist- < *hista-. On the other hand, the natural derivation of the Sogdian forms quoted under (4) (a)-(e), is from *haz-/*hast- (Chr. x/yyz-, B. y'yz- < *hdzaya-). It is therefore likely that in Middle Iranian one of the two past stems, xist- or xast-, was built analogically on a secondary present stem. The present stem with e/i cannot be secondary 2; hence, if we are dealing with a single OIr. base, its form must have been *hiz-, of which MIr. xdz- appears to be a secondary development.

The normal reduplication vowel of i bases is i. There is, however, one

solitary example, attested three times in the Avesta, of an i base reduplicating with a, viz. daisy- from dz- 'to look'. Since obviously something exceptional has happened to our base, let us assume that it suffered an exceptional reduplication of the form *hahiza-. Comparison with the preverbs pati-, pari-, and abi-, which normally lose their i before single consonant in Middle Iranian, suggests the possibility of *hahiza- having become *hahza- and further either xaz-, or, according as the loss of the second h entailed or not compensatory lengthening, xaz-.3 Acceptance of this theory commits us to recognizing h- as the initial OIr. consonant of the base which meant 'to rise (etc.) '.

Beside Sogd. xaz-: xast- we find prxyz-, txyz, xyz-, and pcxyz-, all

apparently from *haiza-, and B. pcyst- from either *hist- or *hast-. The possibility that at least in xyz- and pcxyz-/B. pcyst- Sogdian has preserved a distinction between two originally different bases,4 can be contemplated if

pceyt- represents *hista- and NPers. xazzdan an older *xizzdan (cf. zam ' winter < zim, Horn, GIP i2 20 sq.).

The verbs meaning ' versari, protect, wait' have been separated above from the ' rising (etc.) ' and ' creeping' ones. If we reconstruct for their sake a base *xiz-, we shall avoid recognizing in Parth. and Sogd. prxyz-, MPers. phryz-, and NPers. parhez-, the same irregular treatment of OIr. h after i as we find in Khot. pahiys- and bihTys- from *hiz- 'to rise'.

1 Cf. also NPers. (etc.) pay- ' to protect ' and ' to wait ', Horn, Npers. Et., 63; here, however, the difference in meaning may reflect a difference in origin, v. Hiibschmann, Pers. St. 37, Henning, ZII ix 203, 214.

2 OIr. *haz(a)ya- would have had palatalized z in Khot. and Sogd. 3 For the absence of palatalization in Sogdian, cf. zrywn ' vegetable' < zairi.gaona-. 4 Viz. *hiz- ' to rise' (Sogd. xaz-/xact-) and *2hiz- or *xiz- ' to creep' (Sogd. xez-/xiSt-).

492


As to the Avestan word, we are not bound to consider all variants except 02 as incorrect forms or spellings of what ought to have appeared as either pairi.saeza- or *pairis.haeza-; without prejudice to the reality of pdiri.haeza-, pairi.xaeza- appears to be an irreproachable formation from a base'*xiz-. In Avestan, pari- may have been used with both *hiz- 'to rise (etc.)' and *xiz- ' to stand around, versari, wait, look after '; whatever was at first intended to stand in the Vend. passage (in which the difference between 'arise and go around' and 'arise and stand around, be about' does not amount to much), the copyists may have confused and contaminated pairi.xaeza- with *pdiris(h)aeza- and the simple *haeza-, thus making it impossible for us to recover the original reading.

If we now return to Oss. xezun 'to pasture ', it appears from a comparison with NPers. caridan 'to pasture' (etc.) beside Av. cara- 'versari ', Skt. car- ' to move around ' and ' to pasture ', that this meaning is compatible with that of the base *xiz- as postulated for Oss. xezun ' to wait' and 'to protect '.1

In conclusion we may attempt to sort out the available evidence as follows: (i) OIr. hiz- 'to rise (etc.)'.

(1) Pres. haiza-. Av. haeza-, later hiz-, xe/iz-, 2b, d; 3c, d, e, f, g, h; 4f (this possibly under ii, 1); 5 ; 6; 7a, b; 8a, c, d (?); 9; 12.

(2) Pres. xaz- (y(a)z-) < *hahiza-, 4a a (perhaps also ,), d, e; 10. (3) Pres. xdz- < *hahiza-, 2c; 4a ,8; 10. All doubtful; 10 may have

suffered secondary lengthening. (4) Past h/xist-, 5; 7a, b; possibly 3b, c, d. (5) Past xast- (built on xaz-), 4b, d, e; possibly 9. (6) Past xast- (built on xdz-, or lengthened from xast- on the analogy of

other Past stems, cf. Av. rasta-, tasta-), 2b; 8a; possibly 9 and 10. (7) Past xe/lst- (built on xe/z-), 8b; 11; perhaps 3b, c, d.

(ii) OIr. 2hiz- or 2xiz- 'to creep '. (1) Pres. xez- < *h/xaiza-, 3a; 4f (but cf. i, 1), h, i; 8d. (2) Pres. xaz- < *h/xiza-, 8e. (3) Past xist-, 4i.

(iii) OIr. 'xiz- 'to wait, versari, look after, protect, pasture'. (1) Pres. Av. xaeza-, later xez-, 2a; 3i, k; 4g ; 7c, d, e; 8f (cf. Horn,

GIP i2 95). (2) Past xist-, 3i; 7c, d, e. (3) Past xast- (borrowed from i 6), 2a.

*ui-kur- Iron guirin, Dig. igurun 'to be born' can hardly go back to anything but

*ui-kur-. It is tempting, .therefore, to connect it with Sogd. wk(')wr, which occurs in two passages. In the colophon of P 8 the text is said to have been

1 This view seems preferable to deriving xezun ' to pasture

' from OIr. *xdzaya-, denominative of *xaza-, cf. Khot. khays- ' food ' (< *xdd-s-, v. Bailey, BSOAS x 598), Parth. x'z- ' to devour ', NPers. xdaydan ' to chew' (Ghilain, Essai, 59).

VOL. XIV. PART 3. 34

493

I. GERSHEVITCH-

written 'for the benefit (v. Henning, BSOAS xi 736 sq.) of the whole family (knt kwtr, v. Benveniste, JA 1951, 113 sq.), the wk'wr ywtyywtyt, the dead and the living, the near and the far ones, etc.' Since wk'wr ywtyywstyt is surrounded by asyndetic pairs of collective nouns, there is a presumption that 'wk'wr and friends' rather than ' wk'wr friends' was intended. In this case wk'wr, too, may be a collective, meaning 'relatives by birth, kinsfolk, gens'. The abstract wkwry', which Henning, l.c., quoted from the other passage, could then be understood as 'kinship ', or, more vaguely, 'familiarity'.

da-

Dig. radtun (Iron radttn), wedtun, dasdtun (Iron dasdttn), tastun, all meaning 'to give', appear to have developed from OIr. dada-, cf. Miller, Ossetisch, 66. radt- may be fromfra-d(a)da-,1 and sdt- from a-d(a)da- with shortening of the

preverb (cf. Miller, op. cit. 81 n.); dadt- is perhaps a contamination of an earlier *dasd- with radt- and adt-. The Past Iron radton 2 presumably has -dt- < *-dat- < -data-.

The base da- also seems to have survived in Dig. fedtan (Iron fidtcn) and

fedton (Ironfidton) ' payment, compensation '. The Dictionary understands the former as 'what is to be paid ', in agreement with the gerundive function of other derivatives in -en from Present stems (cf. Miller, op. cit., 93 sq., Abayev, Pycciio-ocemuHcKuui cJosapb, 593). Since -on, too, forms nouns from Present stems, it is legitimate to seek in fedt- the survival of an alternative Present to

fed- in Dig. fedun (Iron fidtn) 'to pay '. The two stems are best explained as

representing OIr. -d(a)da- and -d(a)- respectively. In fe- we may have the result of pati-d- (cf. Asia Major (New Series) ii 138),3 so that the original meaning will have been ' to give in return '. The semantic development and the forms recall *para-dd-, which is widely used in Eastern Iranian for 'to sell '; there, too, the Present goes back sometimes to -d(a)-, sometimes to -dada- (in Sangl. to -daya-), v. Morgenstierne, IIFL ii 237; for Sogdian cf. GMS 122; Professor Bailey has shown me the Khot. Present stem pirdth- in his Khotanese Buddhist Texts 4160-61, 44178, Past para (< pardta-) 4172.

The Past stem offedun, fist- (Ironfist-) cannot be separated from Yd. p9rZst-, Mu. p9r7st-, and parust- 'to sell'. Morgenstierne, I.c., derives the latter from

*pardsta-, which he considers to have been built on the Present *parad-, as if this were a simple verbal stem. Alternatively one may recognize in Oss. and Yd.-Mu. -st- an ancient survival corresponding to Skt. -tta-, v. Wackernagel,

1 Or from *rand- ? Cf. Wx rand- 'to give', Morgenstierne, IIFL ii 537, and Oss. bsedtun > band-.

2 The Dig. Past laevasrdton, which belongs to fra-bar-, should be added to the forms quoted, JRAS 1946, 181, n. 3.

3 Or does fe- merely represent pati- in special circumstances ? fe- may correspond to an irregular MPers. pdai- infedis (Ironfidis) ' blame ', if MPers. p'dys'gyh' slander ' can be compared; the latter was derived by Henning from *pati-dis-, v. ZII ix 229; either meaning may have developed from ' stigmatizing '. In festeg ' pedestrian ' < *pastika- (v. Morgenstierne, NTS xii 267) no original long vowel seems to be involved.

494


Ai. Gr. iil 98, cf. also Av. paityJsti-, paitydstar-. The vowel of fist- must in either case be secondary, adapted to the i of other Past stems that have e in the Present, cf. Miller, op. cit., 60 sq.

INDEX

abhisama)zsana 484 aiwi.sast6 484 a&Ju- 488 n. 1 &yu- 484 ademon- 485 adtun 494 afson 484 wnwuag 484, n. a3nguldzaxta 488 n. 2 xx 488 bah&ne 483 d&- 494 daenman- 485 daicy- 492 dadtun 494 faldeman 485 fa3rat 485 n. 1 fmzdon 484 fe/Tdis 494 n. 3 fe/idtxn 494 fe/idton 494 fe/idun 494 fthrist 493 iii 2 ftyyau 484 frabar- 494 n. 2 fraxti- 487 fraxgti.dd- 487 fraxJtya- 487 gawndzexte 488 n. 2

0. gurin 493 Sogd. Oyz- 493 i 2 Av. OhaJza- 493 Av. haxa- 488 Av. haxti 488 n. 2 0. hizun 488'n. 3 Khot. OhIys- 493 11 0. igurun 493 0. imisun 485 Gr. Xaxt 483 n. 2 Khot. khaysa- 493 n. 1 0. lalixsta 487 0. 1Fevardton 494 n. 2 Khot. maysiridi 485 n. 3 Bal. maz&r 485 n. 3 0. mis8n 485 PI. mzarai 485 n. 3 Khot. pada 485 n. 1 Av. paity&sti/ar- 495 NP. parhiz- 493 iii 1 Av. payah- 484 Av. p&yu- 484 MP. p'dys'gy4 494 n. 3 Sogd. pryy'- 488 n. 3 Sogd. pcxyz- 490 Y-M. parfst- 494 Khot. pir&th- 494 Tokh. porat 485 n. 1 Gr. i7Tj'i 484

0. qlzin 488 n. 3 0. radtun 494 Wx. rand- 494 n. 1 0. rwuagm 483 0. rwuwg 483 n. 2 0. rwuonx 483 0. sgA 488 n. 1 NP. tabar 485 n. 1 Arm. tapar 485 n. 1 0. tatun 494 Russ. topor 485 n. 1 0. uag 484 0. ualdemon- 485 0. u(o)din 487 n. 2 0. u(o)zin 487 n. 2 Av. 3vah- 483 Sogd. wk(')wr 494 MP. wmylh- 486 Av. 0xaJza- 493 NP. x&yidan 493 n. 1 Parth. x'z- 493 n. 1 Pers. (etc.) oxjz- 493 0. xizt'n 491 Sogd. xz- 492 Av. yaod- 487 n. 2 Av. yaoz- 487 n. 2 0. yau 484 PI. zmarai 485 n. 3

Skt. Av. Av. Av. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. NP. Av. Av. Av. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. Arab. 0. OP. Av. Av. Av. 0.

495

Article Contentsp. [483]p. 484p. 485p. 486p. 487p. 488p. 489p. 490p. 491p. 492p. 493p. 494p. 495

Issue Table of ContentsBiotropica, Vol. 29, No. 1 (Mar., 1997), pp. 1-132Front MatterForewordOmar Again [pp. 413-419]Kusanica [pp. 420-434]Some Parthian Abecedarian Hymns [pp. 435-450]Notes on the Colloquial Language of Persia as Recorded in Certain Recent Writings [pp. 451-462]The Dwn Attributed to Ibn Bjjah (Avempace) [pp. 463-477]The Place Names of the Avroman Parchments [pp. 478-482]Ancient Survivals in Ossetic [pp. 483-495]The Millenary of Ibn Sn [pp. 496-500]A Farewell to the Khagan of the Aq-Aqatrn [pp. 501-522]Georgia and the Fall of the afav Dynasty [pp. 523-539]Persia Viewed Through Its Proverbs and Apologues [pp. 540-549]The Privilege Granted by Memed II to His Physician [pp. 550-563]Studies in Islamic Metal Work [pp. 564-578]The Transmission of Ab Dwd's "Sunan" [pp. 579-588]Un voyageur du treizime sicle: le Dominicain Julien de Hongrie [pp. 589-602]The Old Iranian Calendars Again [pp. 603-611]Some Mu'tazil Ideas about Religion: In Particular about Knowledge Based on General Report [pp. 612-622]The Moon-God on Coins of the aramaut [pp. 623-626]Corrigenda: The Persian Conception of Artistic Unity in Poetry and Its Implications in Other FieldsAn Analysis of Primary and Secondary Significations in the Third "Ghazal" of fi [pp. 627-638]Yazijioglu 'Al on the Christian Turks of the Dobruja [pp. 639-668]Bibliography of the Publications of Professor V. Minorsky [pp. 669-681]Back Matter

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Ancient Survivals in Ossetic