ARAMAIC PREPOSITION B IN PARTHIAN (PAHLAVICA IV) GIKYO ITO Prof. Emer. of Kyoto University As is well known, in inscriptional Parthian, Aramaic preposition B (be-) 'in, through, with' as equivalent of Parthian andar 'in, among' is prefixed to the word it governs, although in the dictionaries B is treated as a separate, independent word. Therefore it is to be recommended that in an edition of the said Parthian, the preposition is represented by B-. For instance, of S KZ(21), line 3: <B->m<syk> 'at Misik', l. 4: B-byb'lsy 'at Barbarisos', l. 11: B-kpwtky' 'in Cappadocia', l. 21: B-'ry'n hstr B-p'rs 'in Aryan sahr (=Eran-sahr; in MP versionBY<N>= I andar is legible,equivalent to Parthian B-), in Persis'. This Parthian usage of writing, in our opinion, dates back through Aso- kan Inscription from Taxila to the Achaemenid period. In the said inscrip- tion, lines 6-8, is read ZNH <W,'P> (7) ZK(22) Bhwwrd H<LKWT> (8) hwnstwn=zena <we-'ap> ZK bihvavarda ha<lkut> hunistdvana 'This and also other various performance of the Good Order'. The text is an Aramaic translation of Middle Indic eta anam ca bahuvidham dhramacaranam 'This and other many kinds of Dharma-performance'. As I have already noticed(23), an Aramaeo- Iranian compound here to translate Middle Indic bahuvidham 'of many kinds' is bihvavarda<be-hva-varda-, meaning 'by or of itself increased' i. e. 'indeed in- creased'>'various, of many kinds' which is not a perhaps erroneous transcrip- tion of Middle Indic bahuvidha-(24). This type of formation that Aramaic pre- position B and the succeeding Iranian term (here hva 'self') it governs constitute the first component followed by an Iranian nomen agentis ending in -a (varda), goes back to Achaemenid Official Aramaic or Achaemenid bureaucracy, be- cause on the ritual objects from Persepolis are met with Aramaic inscriptions containing the lexemes of quite the same formation. In Bowman Nos. 13 and 14, the treasurer (ganzabara) is qualified respectively by Bh<rhwty>=beharxvataya <*be-harva-xvataya 'presiding over all' and Bwhstk=be-vahu-staka<*be-vahu-staka 'r esiding amidst goods, residing amidst treasure'. Scholars read be-Haraxvati and be-Vahistaka, taking the last component as place-name, and interpret the 59 whole inscription in such a way: the treasurer came over from Haraxvati ( Arachosia, i.e. Kandahar, Afghanistan) or Vahistaka (of unknown location) to Persepolis to attend the Haoma-ceremony. But it is quite irrelevant that the ceremony in the Persid capital could not have occurred without attendance of a treasurer from Kandahar. In these circumstances, the temptation becomes irresistible to consider both be-compounds as of quite the same formation with bihvavarda which will relieve us of an uncongenial situation. My former ambiguous transcription of Bhwwrd by bihvavard or bihvavard(a) is now to be superseded by bihvavarda ending in -a, just like the both attributes. So also in the Aso- kan Aramaic inscriptions, arzus or arzus(a) by arzusa, nistdvan or nistdvan(a) by nistavana, hvavard or hvavard(a) by hvavarda and dainavar by dainavara. All these forms are nom. sing. masc. like bihvavarda. See Orient, Vol. XII (1976), p. 63; Studia Iranica, Tome 6 (1977), pp. 152, 154-55; St. Ir., T. 8 (1979), pp. 176, 181; Zoroaster Kenkyu (ゾ ロ ア ス タ ー 研 究), Tokyo 1979, pp. 452, 455-56, 468, 473, 476, 479, 480, 481. These words as well as other Iranian lexemes interlarded in Asokan inscriptions from Afghanistan are tangible proof of the fact that in the mid-third century B. C., the Avestan language still flourished in Afghani- stan. Now, let us turn to the Aramaeo-Iranian composita above referred to which are by no means to say all, because in Xerxes' oft-quoted Daiva In- scription is found brazmaniya=be-razmaniya<*be-razma-maniya(25)<*eb-razman- maniya or, if the inscriptional scribe was Aramaean, directly <*be-raz-maniya, adj. (nom. sing masc.) 'staying with the Law, resting on the Law'. The term occurs three times in the Inscription in the phrase Ahurazmazdam yad- 'rt'c' brzmniy 'to worship Ahuramazda--' of which 'it'c' has vari- ously been interpreted: (1) arta-ca, (2) artaca, (3) artac a and (4) arta-ca. (1) arts-ca is instrumental singular of arta- n. 'Justice; Law' with co- ordinating conjunction -ca 'and', but is interpreted in two different ways: (a) one is to take arta-ca as comitative instr. and to translate the phrase 'to wor- ship Ahuramazda and Arta(26)', but one wonders if the name Arta as deity would have been mentioned in one breath with Ahuramazda in Old Persian inscriptions. Even if that may be overlooked, to attain such an interpretation, OP would have yad- Ahuramazdam-ca Artam, Ahuramazdam Arta or Ahuramazdam hada Arta(27). (b) Another interpretation is to take arts as instr. denoting ac- cordance supplied with the so-called 'inverse ca' and to translate the phrase by 'to worship Ahuramazda in accord with justice and-'- an inter- 60 ORIENT ARAMAIC PREPOSITION B IN PARTHIAN (PAHLAVICA IV) pretation, most relevant and congenial to me. (2) is to interpret 'rt'c' artaca 'facing to Arta', instr. sing. of *artanc-< *arta-anc-(28) which would rather signify 'adherent of the Justice', so that the phrase then would mean 'to worship Ahuramazda in company with an ad- herent of the Justice', in other word, 'to worship Ahuramazda in company with another worshipper of Arta'. (3) is to interpret 'rt'c' artaca nom. sing, masc. of *artacan-<*arta-acan- <*arta-hacan- adj. 'following the Arta'(29) which 'is ruled out by the newly- recognized fact that h between two a's does not normally disappear in OP'(30) (4) is to take arta as locative sing. of *artu- (Old Indic rtu-) '(proper, i, e. fixed) time'(31) which requires in Old Persian normally *artau or *artava. To sum up, ingenious proposals seem to have invited a seemingly per- plexing labyrinth which is partly due to the difficulty in the interpretation of the term brzmniy. brzmniy has aroused much more discussions which may be divided into two directions. The one (1) is to connect it to Old Indic brahman- n., what- ever meaning may it imply, and the other (2) is the otherwise theories. But virtually the former may be further subdivided into three: 1a, 1b, 1c and the latter into two: 2a, 2b, so that there are five kinds of arguments. First of all, it should be set forth that in view of Elamite transcription bir-ra-iz-man-nu-ya and Akkadian one bi-ra-za-am-man-ni-i, only three kinds of reading are possible: (α) brazmaniya, (β) brazmani and (γ) brazmani. (α) is nom. sing. masc. of brazmaniya- adj., (β) is loc. sing. of *brazman- n. which would rather be expressed usually by *brazmaniya, and (γ) is instr. sing. of *brazmani- which is to be expressed normally in OP by *brazmaniya. In all probability, therefore, only allowable is the reading (a), whereas the other readings brazmani are ruled out, to say nothing of brazmaniya. And my criti- cisms on the theories proposed taking brazmaniya as of purely Iranian forma- tion, lie fundamentally in that the form when taken as nom. sing. masc. of *brazmaniya- adj. can only refer to the worshipper of Ahuramazda (Xerxes and others) and that even if the meaning imposed to be may do full justice to an attribute of the worshipper, the syntactical position occupied by brazmaniya should be parallel to what arises without strain from the preceding arta(-ca) 'in accord with Justice (and)'. According to the theory la above referred to, brazmaniya- is connected to Old Indic, but not attested in the Rig-Veda, brazmanya- 'pious'-provided Vol. XVII 1981 61 it is derivative from brahman- n.-. brazmaniya, nom. sing. masc., then would suit the attribute of a worshipper of the God. And moreover the occurrence of arta- and brazmaniya- in the Daiva Inscription would be quite parallel to the Vedic situation observing the occasional occurrence of brahman- with rta-. But as Mawet rightly pointed out, the connection of brahman- and rta- is not necessarily fundamental(32) and in Old Persian inscriptions no other instances are met with referring to brazmaniya- 'pious', and lastly but not to the least, as I have noticed, brazmaniya, nom. sing. masc. '(as a man) pious' is syntac- tically out of tune with arta(-ca) 'in accord with Justice (and)': brazmaniya signifies by no means 'in piety' denoting the wise and manner. The theory 1b, though referring to brahman-, connects it to Av. b∂r∂g- (AirWb 957) f. 'rite' and translates brazmaniya by 'according to the rite' which interpretation however is ruled out, because, if it were right, the form would be superseded by *brazmaniya. And moreover the meaning 'rite' imposed to b∂r∂g- is not probable(33), to which another argument ascribes the meaning 'strength'(34). Thus Av. b∂r∂g- is of ambiguous meaning all the more since in it is merged 1E *bhergh- (35) which comprises not only Av. 2bar∂z- (AirWb 949) 'high' (cf. Old Indic brhant-, etc.) but Old Indic brh- (brhati 'become strong') and Av. us-barez- (us……bar∂zayeni) 'to make grow'. From the afmiation of brazmaniya- with brahman- referring to Av. barag- or 2baraz- would ensue an irrelevant out- come that brazmaniya nom. sing. masc. refers the worshipper (Xerxes and others) to sublime or strong fellow. The theory 1c postulates from Western Middle Iranian brahm (ag) 'form, manner, costume' OP (or rather Old Iranian) *brazman- 'form, rite, style' and refers it to brahman-, thus rendering 'rt'c' brzmniy by arta-ca brazmaniya 'behav- ing (or acting) in the proper ceremonial style in accord with the Rta'(36).