1. Journal of Ancient History 1 (292)
  2. The Oldest Sogdian Inscription from Kultobe

The Oldest Sogdian Inscription from Kultobe

Livshits Vladimir A.

Linguistic characteristics of the fragmented Sogdian inscription found in Kultobe (Southern Kazakhstan) show that this inscription is the oldest of the known Sogdian texts. Many letters in it are clearly Sogdian, not Aramaic or ideographic signs: g (γ), y, p, ṣ (= č), š. At the same time, some letters, such as s or h, are different from the same letters in other Sogdian texts, including the 4th century “Ancient Letters”. Some of the orthographic peculiarities of the inscription from Kultobe are archaic too: the phoneme |ϑ| is rendered by t (taw) as in Aramaic, not by δ (dalet) as in the rest of Sogdian texts. The date of the inscription cannot yet be determined.

Keywords: Sogdian language, Aramaic language, Middle Persian language, epigraphy, Middle Asia, Kultobe.
References:
  1. Akishev K.A., Baypakov K.M., Ernazarov L.V. 1972: Drevniy Otrar (topografiya, stratigrafiya, perspektivyi). Alma-Ata.
  2. Istoriya Kazahskoy SSR… 1943: Istoriya Kazahskoy SSR s drevneyshih vremen do nashih dney / Pod red. M. Abdyikalyikova i A. Pankratovoy. Alma-Ata.
  3. Klyashtornyiy S.G. 2013: Sogdiyskoe poselenie Kangyuya (III–II vv. do n.e.) // Commentationes Iranicae. Sbornik statey k 90-letiyu V.A. Livshitsa. SPb., 318–319.
  4. Livshits V.A. 2008: Sogdiyskaya epigrafika Sredney Azii i Semirechya. SPb.
  5. Livshits V.A. 2010: Parfyanskaya onomastika. SPb.
  6. Podushkin A. 2000: Aryisskaya kultura Yuzhnogo Kazahstana. VI v. do n.e. – VI v. n.e. Turkestan.
  7. Podushkin A.N. 2003: Novyie pamyatniki pismennoy kulturyi Kazahstana. Alma-Ata.
  8. Podushkin A.N. 2013: Epigraficheskie artefaktyi gorodischa Kul-tobe // Sogdiytsyi, ih predshestvenniki, sovremenniki i nasledniki (Trudyi Gosudarstvennogo Ermitazha. LXII). SPb., 82–95.
  9. Shagalov V.D., Kurbanov A.V. 2006: Katalog monet Chacha III–IV vv. Tashkent.
  10. Benzing J. 1968: Chwaresmische Wortindex. Mit einer Einleitung von H. Humbach / Z. Taraf (Hrsg.). Wiesbaden.
  11. Boyce M. 1977: A Word-List of Manichaean Middle Persian and Parthian (Acta Iranica. 9a). Téhéran–Liège.
  12. Burjanov Ju.F. 1991: À propos de l’histoire de la culture de la région de Tachkant au Ier millénaire avant notre ère et au Ier millénaire de notre ère // Histoire et cultes de l’Asie Centrale préislamique / P. Bernard, Fr. Grenet (eds.). P., 197–204.
  13. Cheung J. 2007: Etymological Dictionary of the Iranian Verb / A. Lubotsky (ed.) (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series. 2). Leiden–Boston.
  14. Durkin-Meisterernst D. 2004: Dictionary of Manichaean Middle Persian and Parthian . Vol. III. 1. Texts from Central Asia and China (Corpus Fontium Manichaeorum. Dictionary of Manichaean Texts / N. Sims-Williams (ed.)). Turnhout.
  15. Frye R.N. 1954: The History of Bukhara / Translated from a Persian Abridgment of the Arabic Original by Narshakhī. Cambr. (Mass.).
  16. Hübschmann H. 1897: Armenische Grammatik. Bd I. Lpz.
  17. Kent R. 1953: Old Persian. Grammar. Texts. Lexicon. 2nd ed. (American Oriental Series. 33). New Haven.
  18. MacKenzie D.N. 1970: The Khwarezmian Glossary. I // Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies. 33. 3. L., 540–559.
  19. MacKenzie D.N. 1971: A Concise Pahlavi Dictionary. London–New York–Toronto.
  20. MacKenzie D.N. 1990: The Khwarezmian Element in the Qunyat al-Munya / Arabic text traslated by Hasan Ahmed and D.N. MacKenzie. L.
  21. Pokorny J. 1959–1960: Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. Bd. I, II. Bern–München.
  22. Rtveladze È.V. 1997/98: Pre-Muslim Coins of Chach // Silk Road Art and Archaeology, 5. 327–328.
  23. Samadi M. 1986: Das chwaresmische Verbum. Wiesbaden.
  24. Sims-Williams N., Grenet Fr. 1987: The Historical Context of the Sogdian Ancient Letters // Transition Periods in Iranian History. Actes du symposium de Fribourg-en-Brisgau (22–24 Mai 1955). Louvain, 101–122.
  25. Sims-Williams N., Grenet Fr., Podushkin A.N. 2006: The Sogdian Inscription of Kultobe // Shygys. № 1. Alma-Ata, 95–111.
  26. Sims-Williams N. 2009: The Sogdian Inscription of Kultobe. Text, translation and linguistic commentary // Trudyi Tsentralnogo Muzeya. Т. 2. Alma-Ata, 153–171.