Abstract This article aims to identify the unpublished Middle Persian Manichaean fragment M1218 from the Turfan Berlin collection, which can definitively complete the lower part of fragment M586 (published by Leurini in 2017). This identification offers scholars a more complete and lucid text, shedding light on the content of a sheet belonging to an installation hymn. The reconstructed text comprises four hymns: of the hymns with captions, the first, attributed to the “great assembly” ( qlʾn hnzmn ) is followed by the second with the rubric “From Jacob the brave” ( ʾc yʾkwb nrymʾn ). Two unknown hymns appear at the top of M586. After presenting a diplomatic edition of the two fragments and offering a unified text, the article addresses philological and textual commentaries on specific words and phrases to provide a clearer picture of the structure and content of this manuscript page.
Abstract The Uyghurs, a Turkic-speaking nomadic tribe, migrated to the Turfan region in the second half of the ninth century. In their new homeland, they underwent a gradual and unique religious transition. Originally adherents of Manichaeism, they converted to Buddhism. This change was influenced by their interactions with Buddhists under Uyghur rule and in the surrounding areas. As a result of this transition, the Uyghurs are likely to have experienced significant conceptual shifts, including changes in their understanding of the afterlife. However, the differences and similarities between Manichaean and Buddhist concepts of the afterlife, and their implications for the Uyghurs, have not been thoroughly explored in previous research. Drawing on a very limited number of written and visual sources, this article explores the questions of whether the Chinese Buddhist conception of the afterlife, in particular the themes of judgement and hell, was widespread among the Uyghurs shortly after their religious transition from Manichaeism to Buddhism and whether they practised the rituals associated with it.
Abstract Reduplication is a linguistic phenomenon whereby a segment, or a part thereof, is repeated to convey grammatical functions and as a means of lexical derivation. In Semitic, reduplication is widely attested and productive both in the nominal and the verbal systems. Modern South Arabian Languages (MSAL) are no exception, in that various reduplicated patterns are attested, among which the most common are C 1 C 2 C 1 C 2 , i.e. Soqotri ḥálḥal “gris” (Lonnet 2008: 130), Jibbali/Shehret xɔlxɔ́l “Brown-spotted grouper” (Castagna 2024: 9) from Proto-MSAL *√ xl(xl) “brown/grey”, and C 1 C 2 C 3 C 3 , i.e. Mehri həźīrūr “to go pale, green, yellow” (Johnstone 1987: 163), Jibbali/Shehret šəṣ́rɔ́r “yellow” (Johnstone 1981: 265) from Proto-MSAL *√ šṣ́r “(to be) yellow, green”. Another type, namely C 1 C 2 C 3 C 2 C 3 , has received little attention to date, despite its attestation in Modern South Arabian where it is more frequently, but not exclusively, found in the eastern branch (Jibbali/Shehret and Soqotri). This study primarily aims to provide an account of the morpho-phonological and semantic characteristics of this pattern.
