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Shafta ḏ Pishra ḏ Ainia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 March 2011

Extract

Ana hu hibil ziwa zadiqa u'uthria ahai bnia nhura ḏ minh huaina yatbinin banana rabtia ḏ nhura uruha ḏ qudsha ḏ shimat qalaian qashtinun 'l piṭrunia ukasitinun '1 hililia hiwaria urmit sandlia hilia blighrai wamra 'qum 'zil baina 'mhinun l'uthria rurbania bnia nhura anin ḏ hzainh sdamnh hramnh. 'l aina bishta ukawihta usdamnh hramnh 'l aina aqta uraiubtia u'l aina qliqtia u'l aina mṣuṣtia u'l aina 'kimtia u'l aina raiubtia mhaina bakla rba ḏ ziwa ubnarga rba ḏ. shiriatha urmaina btasniqia ḏ arqa titaita wasutha tihuilh '1 P. br P. b'sqtaihun 'uthria rurbania bnia nhura (banhura ?) (460) yatbia ḏ 'qara hiia zakhin … Hazin tartin babania kdub lṭasa d abara 'u lmagalta d ṭabia urmih bgufta d qaina ḏ zrara urmih para upartia umihla umisha ḏ shushma hawia asutha lgabra u'ntha u'lyanqia u'l yanqitha tum qrih lmihla u'l piria u'mbia u'lania u'lzira u'l bazira hiia zakhin …

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 1938

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References

page 8 note 1 The Holy Spirit, a female demon in Mandæan mythology.

page 8 note 2 Piṭrunia “dying ones” ?

page 8 note 3 Here “she” is Ruha ḏ Qudsha, i.e. “the Holy Spirit” not the Eye.

page 8 note 4 Shiriatha means both “rays” and “exorcisms”, and is used in double sense.

page 8 note 5 A word is missing from the text. Probably anana “a cloud”.

page 8 note 6 Or, “cast bran and bread-crumbs”.

page 9 note 1 Bihnashia ? biṣashia ? Possibly miscopied anashia, “people,” “men” ?

page 9 note 2 A hiatus in the document.

page 10 note 1 Covered-in streets of shops, shuqia.

page 10 note 2 Miscopying: probably “wentest”.

page 10 note 3 Zizyphus Spina Christi.

page 11 note 1 Corrupt text, but the meaning is self-evident.

page 11 note 2 This reference points to a mountainous country. There are no cedars in Southern 'Irāq or Southern Persia.

page 11 note 3 Ḏ qalfa. The simile is that of a peeled nut.

page 12 note 1 tata mn dibnh. See above, p. 601, notes 1 and 2 of previous instalment.

page 12 note 2 Meaning obscure; possibly a line in the original missed.

page 12 note 3 Here yatba indicates the Eye itself.

page 12 note 4 See p. 602, note 4 (previous instalment).

page 12 note 5 Or “springs”.

page 12 note 6 Mizda hriba in other exorcisms appears as a piece of armour. If hriba is taken with mizda, however, the verb is missing from the next clause. The passage is evidently faulty.

page 12 note 7 Abu fem, possessive.

page 12 note 8 Pthahil, see p. 10.

page 13 note 1 Kul, not 'kul as written.

page 13 note 2 Should read la'it.

page 13 note 3 Shubaiun. If I am right in translating “shebbas”, i.e. the stout bundles of reeds which act as supports to reed huts, the brothers were busy at one of the commonest tasks of the marsh district, i.e. selecting and binding together reeds. “Fell apart” ṣatalif.

page 13 note 4 ssimba “thick and glossy”. Cf. p. 1009. Jastrow's, Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli, and Yerushalmi, Verlag ChorebGoogle Scholar.

page 14 note 1 “It,” the name of Yahu.

page 14 note 2 Dmasa should read ḏ masa.

page 14 note 3 The sun-god. The word used for the physical sun is usually shamsha.

page 14 note 4 The moon-god or moon. Also called Sira. The Nestorians call the moon Sara (so pronounced).

page 14 note 5 Hiatus.

page 14 note 6 By triple immersion ? This is sometimes called hthima.

page 15 note 1 The afflicted person.

page 15 note 2 Krīkit. Here and elsewhere I take this to mean “encircled by a magic circle and so deprived of power”.

page 15 note 3 anania ḏ pirunia haṭuia ?

page 16 note 1 The Death-Angel.

page 16 note 2 Bastirqun should mean something of carded wool or hair. In another qmahabastirqa mirmilh” “ a … was put upon him” (of a disembodied spirit). In the Tafsir Paghra: asa haila ḏ manzia ḏ hu shamsha bastirqa ḏ Mara ḏ Rabutha 'tiqria “ Myrtle is the strength of hairs which is a sun called … of the Lord of Greatness.” Bastirqa here might mean the rays of the sun (or its halo), portrayed by Mandæan artists as thread-like or hair-like.

page 16 note 3 Tinta (tinihta) or, possibly, “urine.”

page 16 note 4 and

page 16 note 5 See notes 1 and 2, page 601 (previous instalment).

page 17 note 1 See note 1, page 8.

page 17 note 2 I cannot follow the meaning in this italicized passage at all. It is possibly corrupt.

page 17 note 3 Or, imperative “praise”.

page 17 note 4 Ṣauta may also mean companionship.

page 17 note 5 Yawar Ziwa, a sun-like genius. I am doubtful if Nöldeke's translation of Yawar as (Persian) “aide-de-camp or assistant” is correct. The symbolism is usually that of dazzling blinding brightness.

page 17 note 6 Zidqa brikha “the blessed pious (deed)” is one form of the ritual meal eaten for a dead person or persons.

page 17 note 7 Food eaten at a ritual meal.

page 17 note 8 Shafta. Also means “seven”.

page 17 note 9 Sikia. Nsikia in similar context in other magic rolls.

page 17 note 10 Probably Inafshai, i.e. copied for my own benefit.

page 18 note 1 Should be ansa.