Turco Syriac (extract from Tūrrāṣ Mamllā)

‫ܐ‬

‫ܬܘܪܨ‬

Tūrrāṣ Mamllā A Grammar of the Syriac Language

Volume 1

Orthography

George Anton Kiraz

9

34 2012

346

III. Garšūnography, Adaptation & Alloglottography §700.

Syriac

Common/Initial

‫ܚ‬ ‫ܛ‬ ‫ܝ‬ ‫݁ܟ‬ ‫݂ܟ‬ ‫ܠ‬ ‫ܡ‬ ‫ܢ‬ ‫ܣ‬ ‫ܥ‬ ‫݁ܦ‬ ‫݂ܦ‬ ‫ܨ‬ ‫ܩ‬ ‫ܪ‬ ‫ܫ‬ ‫݁ܬ‬ ‫݂ܬ‬

i X b

Medial/Final

I d a \ h

I, ý, J d, ² w °

[Ignored]

], ^ ], ^ h I l f X

I, ý ± X, ¿ h

12.7. Turco-Syriac By Mark Dickens and Peter Zieme

§700. Old Uyghur (to be distinguished from Modern Uyghur) is the name of the literary language used by the Uyghur Turks of Mongolia and Central Asia from the 8th century to the 14th century,73 especially during the Uyghur Empire (744–840) and the

73

Buddhist texts in Uyghur script discovered in Gansu province,

China and dating from the 18th century can be regarded as representatives of an archaic and artificial form of the language, no longer in regular use for literary purposes. ch. 12

§702.

Garšūnography II: Syriac as the Source Language

347

Uyghur Kingdom of Qocho (ca. 860–1284) in the Turfan Oasis, where the Uyghurs were the dominant group in a multi-ethnic population. The Uyghurs, who had fled south after the collapse of their empire based in Mongolia, were originally Manichaean but gradually converted to Buddhism. There was also a minority Christian community amongst them which adhered to the Church of the East, whose presence in the area only ceased with the end of Mongol rule in the late 14th century. Old Uyghur also served as the literary language in other parts of Central Asia and China (especially during the Mongol Empire), including Semirechye (Zhetysu, Kazakhstan), Khara-Khoto (Inner Mongolia) and Quanzhou (medieval Zayton, Southeast China). §701. Old Uyghur was initially written in the Old Turkic runic alphabet and then subsequently in the Uyghur script (based on the Sogdian script, itself based on the Aramaic script). This script was used for Buddhist, Manichaean, Christian and secular documents, but Manichaean Uyghur texts were also written in the Manichaean script and Christian Uyghur texts in the Syriac script. Examples of all of these can be found in the Turfan Collection kept in Berlin. §702. In addition, a small number of manuscript fragments in the Turfan Collection have been identified which feature Syriac transcribed into Uyghur script. The first consists of nine extant folios (SyrHT 20–27 and MIK III 58) from a booklet originally containing the Psalms and a selection of tešbḥāthā (hymns) by authors such as Mar Babai of Nisibis, Mar Ephrem and Mar Narsai (these hymns were often included in Psalters in the E. Syr. tradition).74 The second example consists of 3 lines written on the 74

Described in Dickens and Zieme, ‘Syro-Uigurica I: A Syriac Psal-

ter in Uyghur Script from Turfan’.

348

III. Garšūnography, Adaptation & Alloglottography §702.

originally blank verso side of SyrHT 124, a folio from one of the many partial Ḥudrā MSS discovered amongst the Syriac fragments from Turfan: ‘wnklywn qty-š’ dmrn ’yšwq kyrwzwt’ dlwq’ m’rqws =

‫ܣ‬

‫ܐ‬

‫ܘܙܘܬܐ ܕ‬

‫ܥ‬

‫ܢ‬

‫ܐ ܕ‬

‫ܢ‬

‫ܐܘ ܓ‬,

‘The

holy gospel of our Lord Jesus (according to) the preaching of Luke, Mark’.75 The third example is similar, consisting of a phrase in Syriac script followed by the same phrase transcribed into Uyghur script, written on the originally blank verso side of SyrHT 287, a folio from the same Ḥudrā manuscript as SyrHT 124:

. ‫ܐܨ‬

[‫؟‬

]

‘[John ?], the sinner, pray for me’. The

final example of Syriac text in Uyghur script (So 20131) remains only partly deciphered. Although the genre is uncertain, it is likely also liturgical and two personal names are discernible: Paul, spelled and ; and

‫ܤ‬

John, spelled .76 §703. Although Syriac was the primary liturgical language used by the Church of the East in Central Asia, we know from the Turfan documents that the Psalter was also translated into Middle Persian, Sogdian and New Persian (along with parts of the New Testament in Sogdian).77 Furthermore, several Syriac liturgical texts contain Sogdian instructions to the priest in rubrics and

75

This phrase is written on three lines, with m’rqws written by itself

on the third line, perhaps as an afterthought. Immediately above this phrase is one in Syriac script on two lines, reading

‫ܘܙܘܬܐ ܕ‬

‫ܐ‬

‫ܥ‬

‫ܢ‬

‫ܐ‬

‫ܢ‬

‫ܐܘ ܓ‬

‫ܕ‬, “The holy gospel of our Lord

Jesus Christ (according to) the preaching of John.” 76

Full descriptions of all these fragments will be included in Hunter

and Dickens, Verzeichnis. 77

On which, see Sims-Williams, ‘Christian Literature in Middle Ira-

nian Languages’. ch. 12

§704.

Garšūnography II: Syriac as the Source Language

349

other Christian texts which were more devotional than liturgical (e.g. hagiographies, homilies and ascetic literature) were translated entirely into Sogdian. Although Sogdian was likely the lingua franca of the early Christian community, it is clear that by the Mongol era (13th–14th centuries), most Christians were Uyghur native speakers.78 The Syriac liturgical texts and phrases in Uyghur script that have been discovered amongst the Turfan documents indicate that, although members of the Christian community still needed to recite the liturgy in Syriac, some if not many were no longer able to read the script and so needed it transcribed into a script they were familiar with. As such, these texts probably represent the earliest extant examples of Syriac transcribed into another script. §704. The system used by the scribes involved in preparing the Syriac Psalter in Uyghur script mentioned above has been analyzed in detail, resulting in the following conclusions. In general, the transcription is based on the actual pronunciation of the text, but in places there are indications that the written Syriac text was consulted. The following Syriac consonants each map to only one Uyghur letter:

‫ = ܘ‬Uyghur w; ‫ = ܙ‬z (except for s in one instance); ‫ = ܛ‬t; ‫ = ـ‬y; ‫ = ܠ‬l; ‫ = ـ‬m; ‫ = ـ‬n; ‫ = ܣ‬s; ‫ = ܨ‬s; ‫ = ܪ‬r; ‫= ܫ‬

š (except for z͈ in one instance). Not surprisingly, the following emphatic and guttural phonemes represent a special case, in that each can be transcribed as either x or ẍ: ‫ܩ ;ܥ ;ܚ ;ܗ‬. Spirantized and unspirantized variants of the bgādkpāt let-

‫ = ̇ܒ‬p; ‫ = ̣ܒ‬v or ̇ ̇ w; ‫ = ܓ‬k; ‫ܓ‬ ̣ = x; ‫ = ܕ‬t or less commonly d; ‫ = ̣ܕ‬t or less ̇ ̇ commonly d; ‫ = ـ‬k; ‫ = ̣ ـ‬x or less commonly ẍ; ‫ = ܦ‬p; ‫ = ̣ܦ‬v;

ters are distinguished (with the exception of ‫)ܕ‬:

78

See Sims-Williams, ‘Sogdian and Turkish Christians in the Turfan

and Tun-huang Manuscripts’.

350

III. Garšūnography, Adaptation & Alloglottography §705.

monly d;

‫̇ـ‬

t; ‫ = ̣ܬ‬d.

= k;

‫̣ـ‬

= x or less commonly ẍ;

̇ ‫ = ̇ܦ‬p; ‫ = ̣ܦ‬v; ‫= ܬ‬

§705. The result of all this is that several Uyghur letters can represent from two to six different underlying Syriac letters as fol-

‫ ̣ܕ‬and ‫ ;̣ܬ‬k = ‫ ̇ܓ‬and ‫ ; ̇ ـ‬p = ‫ ̇ܒ‬and ‫ ;̇ܦ‬s = ‫ ܣ‬and ‫ ;ܨ‬t ̇ ̇ = ‫ܕ‬, ‫̣ܕ‬, ‫ ܛ‬and ‫ ;ܬ‬v = ‫ ̣ܒ‬and ‫ ;̣ܦ‬x = ‫ܓ‬ ̣ , ‫ܗ‬, ‫ܚ‬, ‫ ̣ ـ‬, ‫ ܥ‬and ‫ ;ܩ‬ẍ = ‫ܗ‬, ‫ ̣ ـ‬, ‫ ܥ‬and ‫ܩ‬. Add to this confusing situation the fact that a lows: d =

number of the Uyghur letters can indeed look very similar to each other (e.g. ʔ, n and r; b and y) and it becomes clear how difficult it can be to decipher these texts without knowing the underlying Syriac. §706. The vowels which occur in E. Syr. are represented by the Uyghur letters ʔ, w and y, but the lack of diacritic marks in Uyghur script means that pronunciation differences between ē, e and i (all transcribed by Uyghur y, other than word-initial ē and e, both transcribed by Uyghur ʔy) or between o and u (both transcribed by Uyghur w) are unclear. Similarly, although a differentiation between ā and a seems to have been made in word-initial position (where the two vowels are represented as ʔ and ʔʔ, respectively), it is unclear if this differentiation was made elsewhere in words, where both vowels are transcribed simply as ʔ. The system for vowels can be summarized as follows: Syr. ā = Uyg. ʔ; Syr. word-initial a = Uyg. ʔʔ; Syr. word-medial or final a = Uyg. ʔ (or nothing); Syr. word-initial ē = Uyg. ʔy; Syr. word-medial or final ē = Uyg. y; Syr. word-initial e = Uyg. ʔy; Syr. word-medial or final e = Uyg. y; Syr. i = Uyg. y; Syr. o = Uyg. w; Syr. u =

Uyg. w. §707. One final phonological observation is relevant here, namely that silent letters are taken into account in the transcription, including medial

ch. 12

‫ـ‬

(e.g.

݁ ̱ ‫ = ܿ ܼܐ‬ʔt); initial ‫( ܗ‬e.g. e.g. ݂ ‫̱ܗܘ‬

§707.

Garšūnography II: Syriac as the Source Language

351

ܿ = ydʔx) ‫ = ܿ ܼܐ ܵ ̈ ܗܝ‬ʔʔpw); final ‫( ܘ‬e.g. ܼ ݁ and miscellaneous other silent letters (e.g. ‫ܼ ̱ ܹ ܗ‬ = mdyty).

= wyd); final

‫ـ‬

(e.g.

WLM HL;N DEL GRWON; HICA;T XBL MR; EMLA HNA BY;BOTC