Saka language

Saka was a Middle Iranian language.

Distribution area

The South Eastern Iranian language of the Sakas ( altpers. Saka, Greek Σάκαι ), the BC were established according to Chinese sources since at least about 200 in East Turkestan, was again rescued from oblivion until about 1900. For this language typical words, shapes and writing practices can be found in the language of the Indian Sakas or Scythians and Indo- in the inscriptions and coin legends from the Northwest of India Sakaperiode (about 1st century BC to 3rd century AD. ) again. Saka has become known in two dialects, which are named after the main reservoir areas " Hotan - Saka " and " Tumxuk - Saka ".

Dialects

Hotansakisch

Material

Testifies to the very rich Hotansakische is due to circumferential text finds from Buddhist monasteries and shrines in the ancient kingdom of Hotan, in the wider area around the present city of Hotan ( Hetian ) southeast of Kashgar, and in the cave of a thousand Buddhas of Dunhuang. The kingdom of Hotan was in the second half of the 1st millennium AD, an important center of Buddhism.

The name of this language, which is apparently perished soon after the Turkish conquest to the early 11th century, when Khotanisch can rely that it is called in the documents themselves.

The texts date from the 7th to 10th century AD, are found both in the so-called Pothi manuscripts from both sides described elongated leaves that are held together by means of a guided through holes line, partly on Chinese scrolls, where the backs of Chinese texts on the writing of the text hotansakischen were used (again). Almost all surviving texts are Buddhist content, usually translations from the Sanskrit; and that numerous, sometimes very extensive bilinguals with Chinese, Tibetan or Sanskrit parallel text at hand, facilitates their linguistic interpretation often considerable. The main text of this group is one of the oldest attested language level to associate with that didactic poem, deals with the various aspects of Buddhism and Buddhist legends told, named after his principal book of Zambasta. Incidentally, there are a number of documents and other secular texts such as letters, poems and medical treatises, even a travel diary of a trip from Hotan to Srinagar. There are only a small number of wooden wall and inscriptions.

Font

Posted hotansakischen these texts in different variants of the usual in Central Asia Indian Brahmi script, the older literary texts in a clear typeface, which later documents in a very cursive ductus. The script had to be adapted to the phonetic peculiarities of Hotansakischen.

Tumxuksakisch

Far worse than the Hotansakische the Tumxuksakische is attested, which is known only from a Buddhist manuscript of Tumxuk (northeast of Kashgar ) and some found near records.

That it is the language of Hotan intimately related and that both are just different dialects of the same language, show a number of morphological and lexical similarities. The Tumxuksakische represents a altertümlichere level of development than the Hotansakische because it does not have certain recent phenomena.