Issyk inscription
Issyk dish with inscription.
Drawing of the Issyk inscription.

The Issyk inscription is a yet undeciphered text, possibly in the Kushan script,[1] found in 1969 on a silver bowl in Issyk kurgan in Kazakhstan, dated at approximately the 4th century BC. The context of the burial gifts indicates that it may belong to Saka tribes.

Description

The Issyk inscription is not yet certainly deciphered, and is probably in a Scythian dialect, constituting one of very few autochthonous epigraphic traces of that language. János Harmatta, using the Kharoṣṭhī script, identified the language as a Khotanese Saka dialect spoken by the Kushans, tentatively translating:[2]

Issyk Khotanese Saka Translation
Line Transliteration English translation
1 za(ṃ)-ri ko-la(ṃ) mi(ṃ)-vaṃ vaṃ-va pa-zaṃ pa-na de-ka mi(ṃ)-ri-to The vessel should hold wine of grapes, added cooked food, so much, to the mortal,
2 ña-ka mi pa-zaṃ vaṃ-va va-za(ṃ)-na vaṃ. then added cooked fresh butter on

Zaur Hasanov (2015) identifies the script as an ancient Turkic language, related or identical to the Orkhon-Yenisei script, and translates it as:[3]

Issyk Turkic Translation
LineTransliterationEnglish translation
1*Dört *bul Küz Sïnglïyï ïr (Of the) Four Corners (cardinal directions) (the) tribes Syngly sing (acclaim)
2Uş yüz yïğ anta ïçïrThree hundred mourners oath drink (give an oath)

It contains a poetic expression of respect for the dead, which is considered significant as the Turks followed Tengrism, in which there is a cult of the ancestors.

Photos of the inscription

Inscription close up, right side
Inscription close up, left side

See also

References

  1. ↑ Bonmann, Svenja; Halfmann, Jakob; Korobzow, Natalie; Bobomulloev, Bobomullo (2023). "A Partial Decipherment of the Unknown Kushan Script". Transactions of the Philological Society. 121 (2): 293–329. doi:10.1111/1467-968X.12269. S2CID 259851498.
  2. ↑ Harmatta, János (1992). "Languages and Literature in the Kushan Empire" (PDF). In Dani, Ahmad Hasan; Harmatta, János; Puri, Baij Nath; Etemadi, G. F.; Bosworth, Clifford Edmund (eds.). History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Paris, France: UNESCO. pp. 407–431. ISBN 978-9-231-02846-5.
  3. ↑ Hasanov, Zaur (2015). "Issyk Commemorative Inscription". Эпиграфика Востока. Oriental Institute, Russian Academy Of Sciences. ISSN 0131-1344.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.