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A Dictionary: Christian Sogdian, Syriac and English
Open accessAbstract
Many works of Syriac literature, including some now lost, were translated into Sogdian, a language of the Iranian family. This Dictionary makes the whole material accessible to both Iranists and Syriacists, giving a full semantic and morphological analysis of the attested Christian Sogdian vocabulary. The first part, arranged by Sogdian lemmata, also indicates the various Syriac words which each Sogdian form translates, while the second part, arranged by Syriac lemmata, shows all possible ways of translating any Syriac word into Sogdian. A comprehensive English index adds to the utility of the work. — Since the appearance of the first edition of this Dictionary in 2016, a series of major text-editions have completed the publication of the whole extant Christian Sogdian literature, making this the appropriate time for a new and complete edition of the Dictionary.
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“The present stem * wywš can be understood as a causative form, lit. 'to cause to dawn, illuminate', derived from the inchoative wyws 'to dawn' in the same way as wγryš 'to waken, arouse' is derived from the inchoative wγrʾs 'to be awake'. 41”
From Epitaph of a Buddhist Lady: A Newly Discovered Chinese-Sogdian Bilingual (2021) · cites this paper as Sims-Williams 2016: 216, 203
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe check wasn’t confident either way, so it gives no verdict — never disputed.
In the citing paper
“Similarly in the Sogdian gospel lectionary E5, fsx is used to translate Syriac mylʾ '(Roman) mile', without strict regard to the distance indicated by either unit (Sims-Williams 2016 : 80).”
From Another Sogdian?Chinese bilingual epitaph (2017) · cites this paper as Sims-Williams 2016 : 80
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In the citing paper
“The Sogdian variant ʾspyn reflects *tswanya-(Sims-Williams 2016: 174).”
From The spread of iron in Central Asia: on the etymology of the word for “iron” in Iranian and Tocharian (2022) · cites this paper as Sims-Williams 2016: 174
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Research works printed but not linked: 13
- E28/3v-8r (D⌅di⌃o⇤ Qa⌥r⌅y⌅ on Abba Isaiah): Draguet 1972. E28/8 (D⌅di⌃o⇤ Qa⌥r⌅y⌅ on the Paradise of the Fathers): Sims-Williams 1994, 46-8. E28/9-10 (Eugenius): Bedjan, AMS III, 431-3, 442-5; BT XLII, *3-*9. E28/12, 14 (Isaac of Nineveh): Oxford MS Bodl. syr. e. 7, ff. 10-12. E28/27 (Tarbo): Bedjan, AMS II, 254-6; BT XLII, *9-*16. E28/65v (Apellen): BT XLII, *16-*20. E29/8 (Cyriacus and Julitta): Bedjan, AMS III, 255-6. E30/3-7 (A⇥iqar): where possible a Syriac text is cited (from SA or Nau 1920); where necessary non-Syriac versions are cited from SA. E32: see under E6 above. E46: Syriac text on v margin, see Cat., 191. E47 (Numerals): Syriac text of the same MS as edited in BT XXXII, 136. Parallels to the Christian Sogdian manuscripts in Sogdian script Psalms: Walter 1980. In a few cases where the Sogdian text agrees with the Septuagint more
- Dickens, M., & Sims-Williams, N., 2012. 'Christian calendrical fragments from Turfan', Living the Lunar Calendar (ed. J. Ben-Dov et al.), Oxford, 269-95. DMT III/2 =
- Gershevitch, I., 1946. 'On the Sogdian St. George Passion', Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1946, 179-84 and addenda slip. [Reprinted in Gershevitch 1985, 19-24.]
- -1954. A grammar of Manichean Sogdian, Oxford [= GMS]. -1975. 'Sogdians on a frogplain', Mélanges linguistiques offerts à Émile Benveniste, Paris, 195-211.
- Hunter, E. C. D., & Dickens, M., 2014. Syriac texts from the Berlin Turfan collection (VOHD, V/2: Syrische Handschriften, Teil 2), Stuttgart. JA = Journal Asiatique.
- Kiraz, G. A., 1996. Comparative edition of the Syriac Gospels. Aligning the Sinaiticus, Cureton- ianus, Peshî⌅tâ and ĵarklean versions, 4 vols., Leiden.
- Payne Smith, J., 1903. A compendious Syriac dictionary, Oxford [= SyrDict].
- Payne Smith, R., 1879-1901. Thesaurus Syriacus, Oxford [= ThesSyr].
- Pusey, P. E., & Gwilliam, G. H., 1901. Tetraeuangelium Sanctum juxta Simplicem Syrorum versionem, Oxford [= TES].
- Schmitt, R., 2017. Review of Sims-Williams 2016a, Kratylos, 62, 227-32.
- Sims-Williams, N., 1977. 'The Sogdian fragments of the British Library', Indo-Iranian Journal, 18, 1976 [1977], 43-82. References and bibliographical abbreviations
- -1992b. 'The Sogdian fragments of Leningrad II: Mani at the court of the Shahanshah', Bulletin of the Asia Institute, 4, 1990 [1992], 281-8.
- -2016a. A Dictionary: Christian Sogdian, Syriac and English (Beiträge zur Iranistik, 41), Wiesbaden [i.e. the 1st edition of the present work].
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“The Sogdian variant ʾspyn reflects *tswanya- (Sims-Williams 2016: 174).”
BackgroundWRITTEN MONUMENTS OF THE ORIENT
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Metadata
- Authors
- Sims-Williams, N.
- Venue
- Reichert Verlag eBooks
- Publisher
- Reichert Verlag
- Published
- 2016
- OpenAlex
- W2733898857
- Cited by
- 19
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2025: 2 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 2
- FWCI
- 1.50
- Type
- book
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Reichert Verlag eBooks (publishedVersion)
- Center for International and Regional Studies (Georgetown University) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Renmin University of China
- Chinese Society of Clinical Oncology
- Arts and Humanities Research Council
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Language and Linguistics › Linguistics and language evolution
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Language and Linguistics › Language, Linguistics, Cultural Analysis
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Language and Linguistics › Lexicography and Language Studies
- Keywords
- Syriac language, Sogdian language, Syriac literature, translation, vocabulary, lexicography, semantic analysis, morphological analysis, Iranian languages
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