Special issue celebrating
the 90th birthday of Joy Edelman
with articles written by her colleagues, friends and former students
Language and society
Kalandarov T. S.
The first Shughnani primer for adults and the first poems of Nodir Shambezoda
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The Pamir peoples live in the high mountainous valleys of the Pamir region of Tajikistan. They have preserved several ancient East Iranian languages and a unique indigenous culture. This article analyzes the poems of the well-known poet Nodir Shambezoda which were published in 1931 in the first primer (alphabet book) in the Shughnani language for adults. These poems are presented in modern Shughnani orthography with a Russian translation.
Keywords: native language, Pamir languages, primer, Shughnani, Pamir, Nodir Shambezoda
DOI: 10.37892/2313-5816-2021-1-17-29
Agranat T. B.
Orthography development for previously unwritten languages: The case of Kildin Saami
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The article discusses principles for designing alphabets and spelling rules for non-written languages, taking into account their sociolinguistic status. The negative experience of spelling rules developed for the Kildin Saami language is analyzed.
Keywords: writing system design, spelling rules, language shift
DOI: 10.37892/2313-5816-2021-1-30-42
Ethnolinguistics
Dodykhudoeva L. R.
Interpreting the ethnocultural history of the Western Pamir peoples: Traditional headwear
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The article focuses on the nomenclature of traditional headwear among the peoples of the Western Pamirs. I identify the origin of the objects and terms and examine the contacts between the inhabitants of this region, their languages, and the dynamics of cultural artefacts and ideas. The vestimental vocabulary analysed here is taken from materials published in several contemporary Pamir languages (primarily Shughnani and Wakhi) and the Tajik language, my own field data, scholarly descriptions of the area, and photographs of its material culture.
Keywords: Pamir languages, Shughnani, Wakhi, Tajik, Western, Pamirs, ethnolinguistics, headwear
DOI: 10.37892/2313-5816-2021-1-43-54
Molchanova E. K.
On the headdresses of the Zoroastrian women of Iran
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The article presents some observations on a poorly studied topic — headdress vocabulary among Zoroastrian women. The study is based on written sources, dictionaries and the author’s recorded field work in the city of Yazd, the center of the Iranian Zoroastrians.
Keywords: Iran, Yazd, Zoroastrian women, headdresses, maknu, čōrqat, kluta, lačak, ǰul
DOI: 10.37892/2313-5816-2021-1-55-63
Phonetics and Phonology
Buyaner D. B.
On the prehistory of Iranian sibilants (based on putative Iranian loanwords in Armenian and Tocharian)
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The present article offers a critical analysis of Reiner Lipp’s hypothesis, according to which the Proto-Iranian stage of the development of IndoEuropean palatals *k̂, *ĝ and *ĝh, represented as the sibilants s and z in Common Iranian and as ϑ and d in Old Persian, should be reconstructed as affricates *͜ts and *͜dz respectively. Since the only positive evidence for this theory is provided by the putative earliest borrowings from Iranian into Armenian (arcatʿ ‘silver’) and Tocharian B (tsain ‘arrow’ and tsaiññe ‘ornament’), an objective analysis of these loanwords is needed for an adequate valuation of the hypothesis of Proto-Iranian primary affricates.
Keywords: Indo-European palatals, Proto-Iranian, Armenian, Tocharian, loanwords, etymology
DOI: 10.37892/2313-5816-2021-1-64-86
Issues in grammar
Armand E. E.
Verbs with preverbs in Classical Persian
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The article provides a diachronic analysis of classical Persian verbs with preverbs, based on 9th-15th century C.E. texts . The classification of preverbs is carried out on the basis of their syntactic and semantic properties.
Keywords: classical Persian language, preverbs, verb formation
DOI: 10.37892/2313-5816-2021-1-87-102
Vydrin A. P.Mazurova J. V.
The Definite Future tense in modern Tajik
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This article highlights the results of a corpus-based study of the Definite Future tense in modern Tajik, the semantic features of which are not specified in Tajik reference grammars. The article deals with the specific morphosyntactic features of the Definite Future which distinguish it from other analytical verbal forms in the Tajik language. Corpus data shows that the Definite Future is not limited to written texts only, but is also used in contexts where oral speech is imitated (dialogues and monologues). The modality of this form is closely related (but not limited to) an epistemic judgment by the speaker as ‘highly probable’. Examples of the stylistic use of the Definite Future as a synonym for the Present-Future Tense are also considered.
Keywords: Tajik language, future tense, epistemic modality, corpus-based studies
DOI: 10.37892/2313-5816-2021-1-103-117
Lexicology and lexicography
Jamshedov P. D.
New data on kinship terminology in the Pamir and Tajik languages of modern Tajikistan
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The article presents data on kinship terminology in the Pamir and Tajik languages. With the help of native speakers the author collected and analysed modern-day kin terms in the unwritten Iranian languages and dialects of southern Tajikistan.
Keywords: kinship terminology, Pamir languages, Tajik language, unwritten languages, dialects, Tajikistan
DOI: 10.37892/2313-5816-2021-1-118-141
Mirzoev Sh.
On the composition of phraseological units with the component “heart” in the Shughnani language
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This article examines the composition of phraseological units with the component “heart” in the Shughnani language, as well as cases of their usage and their Russian equivalents. The purpose of the article is to determine the configuration and place of phraseological units with the somatic component, expressed by a particular lexeme in the system of the Shughnani language.
Keywords: phraseological units, idioms, body part vocabulary, heart
DOI: 10.37892/2313-5816-2021-1-142-154
Nazarova Z. O.
Measures of length and volume in the Pamir and Tajik languages of Tajikistan
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The article provides an overview of the traditional measures of length and volume adopted in some Iranian languages of Tajikistan. It comprises a review of vocabulary associated with dimensional measurement using parts of the body, as well as volume, area and weight measurement and a structural-semantic analysis of phraseology. This research is relevant for documenting the presence of particular words and phrases in minority languages such as Ishkashimi, as well as for ethnolinguistic research
Keywords: Iranian languages, Ishkashimi language, Tajik language, span, finger, arshin, cubit, fathom, phraseology
DOI: 10.37892/2313-5816-2021-1-155-170
Belova A. G.
The semantic fields of Arabic animal husbandry vocabulary
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The article examines specification, a type of semantic change in the specialized verbal vocabulary used by shepherds and nomads in ancient Arabia. A comparison with modern Arabic vocabulary shows linguistic processes such as semantic extension, splitting of the primary complex meaning, and the development of polysemy and homonymy.
Keywords: verbs, specialized meaning, specification, semanticfield, polysemy, homonymy
DOI: 10.37892/2313-5816-2021-1-171-184
Kovshova M. L.
The Russian adjective “radostny” (‘joyful’): Meaning and form
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The article is part of a dictionary entry dealing with the Russian adjective radostny (‘joyful’). Special attention is paid to the lexical definition, interpretation in terms of emotional evaluation, the denotative sphere and its extension, and the use of the adjective in various syntactic positions and structures. This study shows the development of the attribute radostny in the Russian linguistic representation of emotions.
radostny (‘joyful’), adjective, emotional evaluation, semantics, forms of use
DOI: 10.37892/2313-5816-2021-1-185-198
Studies in etymology
Schwartz M.
Avestica, Sogdo-Yagnobica, and Indo-Europæica
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The phonological form of two late Avestan words, problematic from the Indo-Iranian viewpoint, will be explained through an examination of Middle and New Iranian, and particularly Yaghnobi, with consequences for Avestan textual history. A Proto-Indo-European form will also be given and its semantics analyzed.
Keywords: Avestan phonology, Indo-Iranian etymology, Yaghnobi, Sogdian, Pashto, Vendidad, Magi, Proto-Indo-European etymology
DOI: 10.37892/2313-5816-2021-1-199-205
Vinogradova S. P.Bitarty Z. A.
Some notes on Joy. From the history of the Persian lexicon
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These notes are devoted to the concept of joy and its representation with words of purely Iranian origin in the modern Persian as well as in its history.
Keywords: joy, happiness, Persian, Old Persian language, the history of words
DOI: 10.37892/2313-5816-2021-1-206-219
Sims-Williams N.
“Hunger” and “thirst” in Sogdian
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In various Iranian languages, words for “hunger” and “thirst”, “hungry” and “thirsty”, etc. form rhyming pairs. Such pairs raise the question whether these words were always parallel or whether they were originally less similar and have converged as a result of mutual influences in phonology and word-formation. Here, as a contribution towards answering this question, the relevant words in Sogdian and some of the most closely related languages will be put under the microscope.
Keywords: Sogdian, Iranian languages, etymology, etymological convergence, “hungry”, “thirsty”, “drink”
DOI: 10.37892/2313-5816-2021-1-220-230
Varbot Zh. Zh.
On a certain Slavic-Iranian lexical correspondеnce
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The common Indo-European origin оf Slavic and Iranian languages, and their contacts over many centuries have created various genetic lexical correspondences, including parallelism in structurally similar derivatives of related verbs and relationships among I.-E. derivative variations. In the present article, we analyse the semantic and structural correspondence of Proto-Slav. *kórsta ‘skin illness, bark, outgrowth’ and Proto-Iran. *karasta ‘skin’. The latter is reconstructed as *kart-ta- < I.-E. *kr̥-t-ta ‘cut off’ from the I.-E.*(s)ker-/*(s)kerǝ-/*(s)krē- ‘to cut, cut off’ with the determinant -t- – *(s)kert-. Reflexes of this I.-E. verb are the Protoslav verbs *čersti/*čr̥tǫ ‘draw, make furrow’ and *kr̥t(a/ě/i)ti ‘break, damage’. It is possible to explain the correspondence of the Proto-Slav.*kórsta and Proto-Iran. *karasta as due to parallelism in structurally similar derivatives of related verbs or as a reflection of the I.-E. derivative with its variations: *kor(ǝ)t-tā/*kr̥-t-tо-.
Keywords: Slavic etymology, Slavic-Iranian lexical ties, parallel verbal derivations, Indo-European archaisms
DOI: 10.37892/2313-5816-2021-1-231-236
Lurje P. B.
The Goddess Khshum — Kshumai: From Chorasmia to Kafiristan
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The article analyzes the correspondence of the goddess names (ə)Xšum in Sogdian and Chorasmian, Bactrian Þομαγο, Ομμα (?) on one side, and Kati Kuṣum'äī, Kalasha Kuṣumai, on the other. We suppose that these are all variants of a single Iranian theonym which was borrowed into the Kafiri and Dardic languages from East Iranian, proto-Munji *Xš ̣umá. We analyze the proposed etymologies of the names of goddesses, the possible coincidences of their roles in pantheon, and critically review iconographic proposals.
Keywords: Chorasmian language, Sogdian language, Bactrian language, Kafiri (Nuristani) languages, Kati, Dardic languages, Kalasha, theonyms, pre-Islamic pantheon of Eastern Iranians, loanwords
DOI: 10.37892/2313-5816-2021-1-237-255
Kulikov L. I.
Indo-Iranian gandharvá- and its (non-)Indo-European relatives: Comparative mythological notes
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This article focuses on the etymology of Indo-Iranian gandharvá- and possible related words outside Indo-Iranian languages. Even though the old comparison of Skt. gandharvá- and Gr. κένταυρος is phonologically untenable and cannot bring us to any reconstructable Proto-Indo-European form, their phonetic similarity should not be neglected or considered accidental and is furthermore corroborated by evidence from comparative mythology. It seems very likely that both words were borrowed from some Near Eastern non-Indo-European language, possibly Kassite or a related language, being perhaps eventually traceable to a Proto-West-Caucasian etymon.
Keywords: gandharva, centaur, etymology, Indo-Iranian mythology, Greek mythology, Kassite, shapeshifter, theriomorphic
DOI: 10.37892/2313-5816-2021-1-256-277
Dzitstsoity Yu. A.
Ossetian etymologies
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This brief note presents the etymologies of several Ossetian words that were not included in V. I. Abaev’s dictionary, as well as those that did not receive a satisfactory etymology.
Keywords: etymology, Ossetian language, hapax, ritual offerings
DOI: 10.37892/2313-5816-2021-1-277-284
Oguibenine B. L.
Russian obdat’, obdavat’ in comparative perspective
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The present article argues that the dialectal (popular) meaning of the Russian verbs обдавать, обдать ‘to sluice, to spill or to throw water over’ and the meaning ‘to dress, to cover with clothes’ are semantically connected and that these meanings probably reflect archaic Indo-European semantics. A comparison with Baltic, Old Slavic, Old Indian, Old Iranian, and Latin lexical data supports this hypothesis.
Keywords: Proto-Slavic verbs *obdati, *obděti, Vedic verbs dhā- and dā-, Avestan verb daδāiti; vestments/clothes; water as clothing; release of confined waters and/or rain
DOI: 10.37892/2313-5816-2021-1-285-301
Chelysheva I. I.
Mastering learned words in the history of the Romance languages: Grammar, enchanting and magical
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The article deals with the history and etymology of words with a learned meaning that were borrowed into the Romance languages from written Latin. While mastering words of this kind, speakers of the Romance languages in many cases exposed them to phonetic transformations, including irregular ones, since difficult words tend to be distorted in speech. In their expansion beyond a limited circle of intellectuals, such words acquired further new meanings related to their role in medieval culture. We focus on the descendants of the Latin word grammatica , itself originally borrowed from Greek, which little by little obtained a variety of meanings: ‘Latin’, ‘language, idiom’, ‘magic, enchantment’.
Keywords: history of the Romance languages, historical lexicology, etymology
DOI: 10.37892/2313-5816-2021-1-302-311
Language contact
Kogan A. I.
Update on the study of contact between Northwestern Tibetan dialects, Dardic languages, and Burushaski
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The article summarizes the author’s recent research on possible Aryan and Burushaski influence on the Ladakh and Baltistan dialects of Tibetan , focusing on vocabulary items. The analysis demonstrates that the source language of Aryan loanwords in the Tibetan varieties under study must have belonged to the Dardic branch.
Keywords: Tibetan language, Balti, Purik, Ladakhi, Burushaski, Aryan languages, Dardic languages, language contact, lexical borrowing
DOI: 10.37892/2313-5816-2021-1-312-323
Kibrik A. A.
Spatial orientation in Upper Kuskokwim: The traditional system and its contact-based reinterpretation
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Upper Kuskokwim (Athabaskan, Alaska) uses a developed system of spatial orientation. That system is based on topological axes “upstream vs. downstream” and “uphill vs. downhill” that can be used at a global scale, in application to major elements of the territory: the Kuskokwim river and the Alaska range. After bilingualism and bicultaralism spread among the Upper Kuskokwim people, particular persons came to understand spatial orientation in a somewhat modified way. We can observe that, as a result of language contact, semantics changes and specific reinterpretations emerge in particular idiolects.
Keywords: language contact, spatial orientation, Upper Kuskokwim language
DOI: 10.37892/2313-5816-2021-1-324-338
Mikhailova T. A.
Proper names and the problem of language identity among ethnic minorities
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The article examines changes in proper names, including phonetic accommodation, caused by long-term language contact and adaptation to a target-language. The primary source material for this study is the developing list of personal names preferred in Gaul during the Late Roman Period. The article also investigates typological parallels with socio-linguistic developments in Ireland beginning with the 14th c. C.E. Although in Ireland ethnic and linguistic identity was not equivalent to national identity, language use did play an important role in marking the latter. In cases of unbalanced bilingualism, the choice of proper name could be the only marker of a person’s national self-identification.
Keywords: bilingualism, language shift, language death, national identity, personal names, Gaul, Late Roman Empire, Ireland, AngloIrish bilingualism, bi-culturalism, onomastic doublets
DOI: 10.37892/2313-5816-2021-1-339-350
Linguistic aspects of Bible translation
Porkhomovsky V.Romanova O.
Anthropomorphisms in Italian versions of the Bible
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The present article deals with a typology of translation strategies used by Italian-language versions of the Old Testament. The research focuses on anthropomorphisms, a lexical group of primary importance for the study of Bible translations. Two translation strategies have been postulated in the authors’ previously published works on the subject. The philological strategy aims at a verbatim rendering of the text of the Hebrew Bible in a translation, while the ideological strategy allows for the elimination of certain anthropomorphisms. In this article we analyze these two strategies in translating anthropomorphisms from Biblical Hebrew into Italian.
Keywords: the Bible, the Old Testament, canonical text, anthropomorphisms, translation strategies, philological translation, ideological translation, Italian versions of the Bible
DOI: 10.37892/2313-5816-2021-1-351-367
Mother-tongue texts
Korn A.
A Bashkardi version of the chain tale ATU 2034: The Jackal Retrieves His Tail
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This article presents a text in orth Bashkardi, a little studied variety spoken in Southern Iran, with English translation and some notes.
Keywords: Bashkardi, folk tales, Iranian languages, Ilya Gershevitch
DOI: 10.37892/2313-5816-2021-1-368-383
Mousavian H. Nickkhah M.
My Soul Mate
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The article presents the text of the Mazandarani folk song “My soul mate” in the original Mazandarani language, and in both English (with commentaries) and Russian translations, accompanied by a MazandaraniPersian-English-Russian table of vocabulary
Keywords: Mazandaran, Mazandarani language, MazandaraniPersian-English-Russian vocabulary
DOI: 10.37892/2313-5816-2021-1-384-390
Dodykhudoeva L. R.Aliev A. M.
“The Lion and the Fox”: A folk tale in Yazghulami
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The article presents the text of “The Lion and the Fox”, a fairy tale in verse written in Yazghulami by Azalsho Khabirov and published in the Yazghulami alphabet created by Joy Edelman in 2019. Alongside the new edition of this fairy tale, the article also includes translations into Russian and into English, as well as interlinear glossing.
Keywords: Pamir languages, Yazghulami, writing systems, alphabets, fairy tale
DOI: 10.37892/2313-5816-2021-1-391-401
van Skyhawk H.
Nur Qhatún Ćórokuċ on Blessedness (barkát)
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The article presents a tale told by a storyteller from ager (Pakistan) about the way “blessing” (barkát) is interpreted according to the Burusho people’s traditional view of the world.
Keywords: ager, Pakistan, “blessing” (barkát), burusho, burushaski language
DOI: 10.37892/2313-5816-2021-1-402-419
Rodnoy Yazyk 2021, 1
