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Commodity Terms in the Languages of Central Eurasia: New Interpretations from Mugh Document A-1*

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Commodity Terms in the Languages of Central Eurasia: New Interpretations from Mugh Document A-1* ALISHER BEGMATOV TURFANFORSCHUNG, BBAW COMMODITY TERMS IN THE LANGUAGES OF CENTRAL EURASIA: NEW INTERPRETATIONS FROM MUGH DOCUMENT A-1* SUMMARY The document A-1 is one of the least understood documents among the Sogdian manuscripts from Mount Mugh. The authors of previous editions of this document have reached the conclusion that the commodities referred to in this document are precious stones. I propose that this interpretation is potentially mistaken. By comparing textile terms, mainly in Central Asian languages, I conclude that the content of this document relates to textile or leather products rather than precious stones. Key words: Central Eurasia; Sogdians; Mount Mugh; textiles; languages and lexicon. RÉSUMÉ Le document A-1 est l’un des manuscrits sogdiens les moins compréhensibles du Mont Mugh. Les auteurs des éditions précédentes de ce document sont parvenus à la conclusion que les articles qui y sont mentionnés sont des pierres précieuses. Or, cette interprétation nous semble potentiellement erronée. En comparant les termes désignant les textiles, prin- cipalement dans des langues d’Asie centrale, nous concluons que le document concerne des produits textiles ou dérivés du cuir plutôt que des pierres précieuses. Mots-clés : Eurasie centrale ; Sogdiens ; le Mont Mugh ; langues et lexiques. * * * * I express my gratitude to Professor Yutaka Yoshida for his valuable advice and com- ments. I am also grateful to Professor Franz Grenet, Dr. Pavel Lur’e, Professor Des- mond Durkin-Meisterernst, Dr. Christiane Reck, Dr. Adam Benkato and Nadeem Ahmad for their proof-reading and valuable comments. Naturally, I am responsible for the errors and shortcomings. — This research was supported by a grant from the Mishima Kaiun Memorial Foundation. 7 STUDIA IRANICA 48, 2019, pp. 7-27 8 A. B E G M A T O V StIr 48, 2019 I. INTRODUCTION Exchanges between East and West took place across Eurasia throughout various periods in human history. The period of the so-called “Silk Road” was a notable period of such trans-Eurasian exchange. The Sogdians, centered in their homeland in the Zarafshan valley, are known to have been instrumental long-distance traders along the Silk Road in late antiquity and the early medieval era. Nevertheless, much of the historical information about Sogdian merchants has been obtained from non-Sogdian sources. We still have limited knowledge about the goods the Sogdians produced and traded in their homeland. Additionally, archaeological finds are often limited to non-organic materials, such as ceramics and metal-ware, as organic materials rarely survive (in the burial conditions) in the Central Asian lowlands. The Mount Mugh documents found in modern-day Tajikistan are an exceptional source for understanding the material culture of the Sogdians. These consist of approximately 80 documents (including fragments), written on paper, parchment and sticks. Five of these documents are written in foreign languages - 3 in Chinese, 1 in Arabic, 1 in Old Turkic with Runic letters (Freyman 1934, pp. 12-14). The Chinese documents do not correspond with the remainder of the Mt. Mugh documents, in terms of content and period. They were merely re-used for Sogdian writings on their reverse sides. The Sogdian documents of the Mt. Mugh collection are written in Sogdian cursive script, a derivative of Aramaic, which represents only consonants and certain select vowels. In cursive Sogdian, several letters closely resemble each other, which makes the process of deciphering them extremely difficult. Nevertheless, scholars such as Livshits (1962 and 2008), Bogolyubov & Smirnova (1963) successfully deciphered these documents and made them available to a wider scholarly audience. Unfortunately, due to the occasional inconsistency of the Sogdian script and the presence of some unknown Sogdian words, some documents may have been misinterpreted, either partially or wholly. The document A- 1 is among the documents most likely to bear entirely different content than the proposed interpretations. Concretely, previous editions of the Mt. Mugh documents interpreted the names of commodities in the document A-1 as precious stones. However, by comparing the words appearing in this manuscript with words related to textiles in various other languages mainly those of Central Eurasia, I have reached a different interpretation than the ones proposed by Livshits (1962 and 2008) and Bogolyubov & Smirnova (1963). C O M M O D I T Y T E R M S I N L A N G U A G E S O F C E N T R A L E U R A S I A 9 II. MUGH DOCUMENT A-1 A letter written on parchment (11 x 12-13 cm) is one of the numerous documents addressed to framāndār Ot in the Mt. Mugh collection. The sender of the letter is Āpānak who is also attested in the documents A-5 and Nov.1. Fifteen lines on the recto are well preserved, whereas twelve lines on the verso are barely recognizable (see Fig. 1 and 2). The letter bears a list of commodity names that are being sent by Āpānak. Editions and translations of the document are as follows: Livshits 1962, pp. 142-144; Bogolyubov & Smirnova 1963, p. 43 (verso) and pp. 73-74 (recto); Livshits 2008, pp. 161-166 (and its English translation in 2015, pp. 120-124). Furthermore, Bogolyubov (1981, pp. 109-111) attempted to elucidate the etymologies of a few words of this document. Recto: 1 ʾt βγw xwβw prmʾnδʾr 2 ʾwttw (space) MN xy-pδ βntk 3 ʾʾpʾnk ptškwʾnh ZY γrβ nmʾcyw 4 rty prʾšyw cytcyt δsty 5 cw ʾpšmʾkntyh ʾβšwβnkh cw 6 ʾwz-kwk ʾβšʾwβnkh 18 7 ZY ʾy-wh ʾskwrnkh tβtch ZY 8 ZY ʾδwy δkknh ZY ʾδw ʾxšpcyk 9 ZY ʾy-wh rmʾnykh ptsγty-kh ZY 10 ʾy-wh ʾsprγwmych ptsγtykh 11 ZY ʾy-w tβtʾk ʾpšwn xypδ 12 sptʾk ZY ʾywh βycxšnh ZY 13 ʾy-w twn xypδ sptʾkw ZY ʾδry (continued on the verso) 14 ʾt βγw xwβw prmʾnδʾr 15 ʾwtt (space) MN βntk ʾʾpʾnk Verso (continuation of the recto): 1 ʾsp.y?-sr ZY 10 […….] 2 ZY ctβʾr wʾry-ʾkh1 ZY (ʾšt?) 3 (..) (rn)kcrm2 ZY ʾyw ʾs.. 1 Bogolyubov & Smirnova 1963, p. 73: wʾryʾkch; Livshits 1962, p. 142; Id. 2008, p. 166: wʾry-ʾkʾh; it is perhaps mistakenly written as wʾry-ʾknh or wʾryʾkch as proposed by Bogolyubov & Smirnova (1963, p. 73). 2 If it is to be read as (rn)kcrm as suggested by Livshits (1962), then perhaps it is an ‘ibex hide’ as proposed by Tafazzoli (1997, pp. 113-114); see also the Mt. Mugh 10 A. B E G M A T O V StIr 48, 2019 4 ……………………………... 5 …… [pts]γty[k]? ………… 6 (ʾ)pšwn (ʾ)δ(w) (.)kʾ(δ?)ʾk(w?)3 .......... 7 (.tm) ZKn .. ʾxc ................. 8 ............ c................ (rty?) 9 .......... (k)w sy-ʾ/cwt?y.... 10 γ.ry ZY ...................... 11 ……………………... 12 .wy? Translation of the recto (newly proposed translation, justified in the notes which follow): Lines, 1-3: To the lord sovereign framāndār Ot from [your] own servant Āpānak, [humble] message and many greetings Lines, 4-6: I sent in the hands of Čītčīt both wool-stuffed ʾβšwβnkh and ʾwzkwk ʾβšʾwβnkh 18 [pieces] each Lines, 7-9: and one sealed ʾskwrnkh and two muslin (headdresses) and two (certain kind of) cloths and one woolen (or felt) ptsγtykh and Lines,10-12: one flowery ptsγtykh and one sealed brocade of Afšun’s own and one βycxšnh and Lines,13-15: one brocade of Ton’s own and three (continued on the verso). To the lord sovereign framāndār Ot, (space) from [your] servant Āpānak III. COMMENTARY Due to the poor preservation of the verso, it is not possible to offer an interpretation. However, there are two clearly visible words wʾry-ʾkh and (rn)kcrm, which are related to leather or hide. These two words indicate that the commodity names of this document might be related to products of leather or hide, as the text on the verso is presumably the direct continu- ation of its recto.4 The final word of the recto, before the addressee name, is a number ‘three’, the word following this is missing on the recto, there- document V-3, 11; Dr. Pavel Lur’e considers the interpretation ‘dyed leather’ propo- sed by Livshits (1962) to be equally possible, as some fragments of red leather have been discovered at Hisorak in Tajikistan [personal communication, 23/07/2018]. 3 Lur’e (2010, p. 96, no. 121) proposes to read words as ʾδw k(ʾγδ?)ʾk. cf. Livshits 1962, p. 142: (δk?)kʾnʾk; Livshits 2008, p. 166: (ʾ)δw kʾnʾk or kʾzʾk. 4 Yoshida (2019, pp. 52-53) paying particular attention to the method of writing the addressee and addresser, as well as the sealing of a letter, states that the verso is the direct continuation of the recto in the Mt. Mugh letters. C O M M O D I T Y T E R M S I N L A N G U A G E S O F C E N T R A L E U R A S I A 11 fore making the phrase incomplete. The verso begins with a word, without any kind of conjunction (rty or ZY) before it, which implies that it may not be the beginning of the sentence or phrase. Thus, the number ‘three’ on the recto modifies the word ʾsp[.]y-sr5 on the verso. Consequently, the text on the recto is directly continued on the verso, and the first word of the verso should therefore be a commodity name, presumably related to leather or textile, judging by the other commodity names appeared in the document. If this word to be related to a horse, then it may refer to a textile or leather object used for the head of a horse.
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