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PAHLAVI
PSALTER,
name
given
to
a
fragment,
consisting
of
twelve
pages
written
on
both
sides,
of
a
Mid.
Pers.
translation
of
the
Syriac
Psalter.
It
was
discovered,
with
a
mass
of
other
documents,
at
Bulayiq,
near
Turfan,
in
eastern
Turkistan
(present-day
Xinjiang
Uigur
Autonomous
Region
of
the
People's
Republic
of
China)
by
one
of
the
four
German
expeditions
to
Central
Asia
(see
TURFAN).
The
twelve
pages
(11
x
9.6
cm),
many
of
which
are
deteriorated
in
the
center
and
have
gaps,
contain
psalms
94.18
to
the
end,
95.2-7,
95.7
to
96.10,
97.12
to
99.6,
118.
124-142,
121.4
to
132.2,
133.2
to
134.2,
134.9-11,
134.11
to
135.9,
135.9
to
136.3.
This
fragment
is
the
oldest
linguistic
testimony
of
Pahlavi
literature,
the
manuscript
probably
having
been
written
in
the
6th
or
7th
century
C.E.
It
is
in
a
more
archaic
script
than
that
of
Book
Pahlavi
(see
below),
and
several
characters
have
been
borrowed
from
the
Psalter
script
to
devise
the
Avestan
signs
for
©,
j,
and
d
(Comp.
Linguarum
Iranicarum,
pp.
32-33).
In
his
brief
preliminary
presentation
(1910),
F.
C.
Andreas
dated
the
somewhat
archaic
writing
of
the
Pahlavi
Psalter
to
the
first
quarter
of
the
5th
century
(410-20).
In
this
period
of
religious
tolerance,
during
the
reign
of
Yazdagerd
I
(q.v.),
Nestorian
Christian
communities
flourished,
and
translations
appeared
for
the
use
of
converted
Mazdeans.
Andreas
pointed
out
the
importance
of
the
Psalter
translation
for
the
history
of
the
Syriac
text
of
the
Peæitta@;
but
he
also
held
that
the
insertion
of
the
ecclesiastical
Canons
of
Mar
Aba@
(patriarch,
540-552)
marked
a
terminus
post
quem
for
the
definitive
compilation
of
the
present
manuscript.
He
died
before
publishing
his
edition
of
the
Psalter.
From
his
Nachlass
(see
ANDREAS
ii),
K.
Barr
(1933)
proceeded
to
complete
it.
He
checked
Andreas's
transliteration
with
the
photographs
and
provided
a
Syriac
interlinear
text
in
Hebrew
characters;
this
was
based
on
Barnes's
edition,
and
the
Canons
were
taken
from
the
Breviarium
Chaldaicum
(1887).
The
bilingual
text
is
accompanied
by
a
German
translation.
The
glossary
(pp.
117-50)
contains
all
the
words
and
all
their
forms,
including
the
verbs
with
their
phonetic
complements.
Andreas
thought
that
the
translator
may
have
been
a
non-Persian
who
had
to
use
a
Frahang.
Likewise
Gignoux
(1969)
noticed
the
use
in
the
text
of
many
a
hapax
in
Iranian,
as
well
as
calques
on
Syriac,
words
which
could
hardly
be
considered
as
Aramaic
ideograms.
These
may
testify
to
perplexities
on
the
translator's
part,
indicating
that
he
was
more
expert
in
Syriac
than
in
Iranian
and
hence
might
have
been
one
of
the
Nestorian
missionaries
whose
mother
tongue
was
not
Iranian.
However,
Skjaervø
(1983)
argued
that
the
perfectly
correct
language
of
the
Pahlavi
Psalter
indicates
that
its
translator
was
so
familiar
with
Middle
Persian
that
it
had
to
be
his
mother
tongue.
He
showed
that
the
Psalter
was
written
as
early
as
the
4th
century,
because
it
follows
the
same
orthographic
and
grammatical
rules
which
apply
to
the
Sasanian
inscriptions
of
the
3rd
century.
In
both
sources
the
distinction
between
the
direct
and
oblique
cases
is
well
attested
in
family
names,
personal
pronouns,
plural
nouns
and
adjectives,
and
plural
pronouns.
The
only
important
difference
between
the
inscriptions
and
the
Psalter
is
the
spelling
of
phonetic
complements
with
the
verbal
ideograms.
There
is
no
coherent
system
in
the
inscriptions—a
consequence
of
the
archaizing
script;
the
Psalter,
however,
shows
a
regular
system
with
few
variants.
Even
so,
this
feature
does
not
lead
one
to
suppose
a
considerable
lapse
of
time
after
the
inscriptions.
It
appears,
then,
the
text
of
the
Psalter
was
recopied
several
times
in
the
course
of
a
period
of
300
years.
Since
the
publication
of
Andreas-Barr
(1933),
only
few
philological
studies
have
been
devoted
to
the
Pahlavi
Psalter.
MacKenzie
(1966)
used
it
to
explain
the
ideograms
for
"sheep"
and
for
the
verb
nimu@dan
"to
show"
(ideogram
MH®WH®YT,
Syr.
háaww^).
More
recently,
Sims-Williams
(2001)
pointed
out
that
the
meaning
of
MP
padisa@y
had
been
clearly
established
on
the
basis
of
the
Psalter,
where
this
preposition
translates
the
Syr.
mtál.
The
alphabet
of
the
Psalter
contains
a
greater
number
of
distinct
characters
than
does
Book
Pahlavi
(i.e.,
18,
compared
with
13).
Thus
d
is
different
from
g
and
from
y;
há
is
different
from
';
w
is
different
from
n;
and
sá
has
a
special
shape.
Recently,
this
same
type
of
writing
has
been
found
on
a
bronze
processional
cross
inscribed
in
Pahlavi
on
both
sides
(Gignoux,
2001).
While
in
this
instance
the
d
and
k
have
special
shapes,
há
and
sá
are
exactly
the
same
as
the
corresponding
signs
in
the
Psalter.
There
is
no
doubt
that
we
have
here
another,
eloquent
example
of
this
type
of
writing,
which
enables
us
to
date
this
remarkable
object
to
ca.
8th
century,
hardly
later.
The
upper
branch
of
the
cross
is
unfortunately
missing,
making
it
difficult
to
interpret
the
text,
which
contains
several
words
that
have
not
yet
been
successfully
analyzed.
But
the
main
interest
of
the
text
resides
in
its
Oriental
origin.
On
the
front
side
of
the
cross
is
mentioned
a
certain
Ma@re@
from
the
church
of
Hera@t,
who
in
the
year
507
or
517
(of
a
non-specified
era)
entrusted
the
community,
which
was
no
doubt
Nestorian
(though
this
is
not
stated),
to
a
saint
with
a
Syriac
name
of
Greco-Latin
origin,
Karisise@.
The
back
of
the
object
presents
a
theological
formula
(an
affirmation
that
there
are
not
three
gods)
and
a
wish
for
prosperity
for
this
church.
Certain
Pahlavi
words
relate
this
text
to
that
of
the
Psalter,
for
example
ram
"flock,
people,"
which
translates
the
Syr.
'm'
in
the
Psalter,
and
Mid.
Pers,
pa@k
"pure,
saintly,"
which
corresponds
to
Syr.
qdyæ'.
The
formula
concerning
the
three
gods
also
shows
a
curious
correspondence
with
a
passage
of
the
Actes
of
Ma@r
Ma@r^
(Gignoux,
p.
297).
This
remarkable
document
constitutes
a
considerable
source
for
the
very
poorly
documented
Christian
history
of
Hera@t.
Bibliography
:
F.
C.
Andreas,
"Bruchstücke
einer
Pehlevi-Übersetzung
der
Psalmen
aus
der
Sassanidenzeit,"
Sb.
d.
Berliner
Akad.
d.
Wissenschaften
1910,
pp.
869-72.
F.
C.
Andreas
and
Kaj
Barr,
"Bruchstücke
einer
Pehlevi-Übersetzung
der
Psalmen,
mit
11
Tafeln,"
Sb.
d.
Preussischen
Akad.
d.
Wissenschaften
1933,
pp.
91-152.
J.
P.
Asmussen,
"The
Pahlavi
psalm
122
in
English,"
Dr.
Unvala
Memorial
Volume,
Bombay,
1964,
pp.
123-26.
Barnes,
The
Peshitta
Psalter
according
to
the
West
Syrian
Text
,
Cambridge,
1904.
Breviarium
Chaldaicum,
Pt.
3,
Paris,
1887.
Compendium
Linguarum
Iranicarum,
ed.
by
R.
Schmitt,
Wiesbaden,
1989.
P.
P.
Essabalian,
"Armenisch-persische
Lehnwörter
im
Pahlavi-Psalter,"
Handes
Amsorya
56,
1942,
pp.
61-69.
R.
N.
Frye,
"A
brief
Note
on
the
Pahlavi
Psalter
and
Bare
Ideogramms,"
Sir
J.
J.
Zarthoshti
Madressa
Centenary
Volume,
Bombay,
1967,
pp.
70-74.
Ph.
Gignoux,
"L'auteur
de
la
version
pehlevie
du
psautier
serait-il
nestorien?,"
Me‚morial
Mgr
Gabriel
Khouri-Sarkis
(1898-1968),
Louvain,
1969,
pp.
233-44.
Idem,
"Une
croix
de
procession
de
He‚rat
inscrite
en
pehlevi,"
Le
Muse‚on
114,
fasc.
3-4,
2001,
pp.
291-304.
Idem,
"Prozessionskreuz
aus
Herat,"
Byzanz.
Das
Licht
aus
dem
Osten
(Katalog
der
Ausstellung
im
Erzbischöflichen
Diözesanmuseum
Paderborn),
Paderborn,
2001,
pp.
150-51.
O.
Hansen,
Mittelpersisches
Lesebuch,
Berlin,
1963,
pp.
94-95.
W.
Lentz,
"Die
nordiranischen
Elemente
in
der
neu-persischen
Literatursprache
bei
Firdosi,"
ZII
4,
1926,
pp.
251-316.
D.
N.
MacKenzie,
"
'Sheep'
and
'show':
Two
Pahlavi
Ideograms,".
Acta
Orientalia
30,
1966,
pp.
151-57.
Nyberg,
Manual
I
p.
128.
N.
Sims-Williams,
"Middle
Persian
padisa@y
and
Old
Persian
vaæna@,"
in
Tafazzoli
Memorial
Volume,
ed.
by
¿Ali
Aæraf
Sáa@deqi,
Tehran,
2001,
pp.
59-65.
P.
O.
Skjaervø,
"Case
in
Inscriptional
Middle
Persian,
Inscriptional
Parthian
and
the
Pahlavi
Psalter,"
Studia
Iranica
12,
1983,
pp.
47-62
and
151-81.
(Philippe
Gignoux)
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