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Acta Linguistica Petropolitana. 2022. Vol. 18.1. P. 216-225 DOI 10.30842/alp23065737181216225
Young Avestan pasne and its etymology
Alexander Lubotsky
Leiden University (Leiden, The Netherlands); [email protected]
Abstract. Young Avestan pasne is attested ten times in constructions with genitive and accusative used to indicate the position of the figures at the moment of the worship of various deities. The only occurrence of the construction with the accusative in Yt 5.108 must be due to an analogy with the upa + accusative construction that occurs earlier in the text. The author argues that pasne does not mean 'in the sight of', but rather 'at the shore of' and is a loc. sg. of pasna- n. 'bank, shore, side'. This word is most likely identical with pasna- 'eyelid' or 'eyelash'. Similar semantic development can be found in Skt. vartman- 'track of a wheel, way' (RV+) besides 'eyelid' (AV) or Skt. vartani- 'way, wheel rim, track of a wheel' (RV+) and 'eyelashes' (SBr.), with the meanings 'eyelid' and 'eyelashes' being derived from the meaning 'circumference'.
From the etymological point of view, Young Avestan pasna- can be compared with other Indo-Iranian words for 'side, flank', like Skt. pajas- n. 'side, surface', Khot.paysa- 'surface, breast', Sogd.p'z 'face', Oss. faz / fazw 'half, side; back, buttocks'. The semantic development 'side' > 'shore' is trivial, cf. English river side. These words are derived from the PIE root *peh2g- 'to attach, fix' (Gk. nqyvu^i 'to fix, join, congeal', Lat. pango 'to attach, join', etc.), PIIr. *paHj- (this root loses its laryngeal, when followed by a consonant, cf. Skt.pajra- 'solid, strong, firm' (RV) < PIE *peh2g-ro-). Avestan pasna- goes back to PIIr. *paj-na- < *paHj-na-, which, in theory, can reflect three PIE formations: *peh2g-no- (cf. Lat. pignus 'pledge, hostage'), *peh2g-mn-o-, thematicized variant of *peh2g-m(e)n- (cf. Gk. nqy^a 'joint together, stage, scaffold') and *peh2g-(e)n- (cf. Lat. pagina 'side, sheet of paper'). Of these options, the latter is clearly preferable.
Keywords: Avestan, Yashts, Indo-European etymology, Glottalic theory, Historical linguistics.
© Alexander Lubotsky, 2022
Младоавестийское pasne и его этимология
А. М. Лубоцкий
Лейденский университет (Лейден, Нидерланды); [email protected]
Аннотация. В статье обсуждается словоформа pasne, встречающаяся в ряде младоавестийских гимнов в контекстах, описывающих местоположение персонажей, обращающихся к божеству с просьбой. В этих контекстах за pasne следует обозначение водоема в генитиве (единственное употребление конструкции с аккузативом в Yt 5.108 следует считать отклонением, развившимся, вероятно, по аналогии с конструкцией upa + аккузатив). Автор отказывается от предложенной Х. Бартоломе интерпретации pasne как деривата от корня spas- 'видеть' со значением 'в поле зрения' и поддерживает предположение о том, что pasne является формой локатива единственного числа отpasna- 'берег, сторона'. Далее предлагается идентифицировать это слово с pasna- 'веко' или 'ресница'. Примером аналогичного семантического развития могут служить др.-инд. vártman-'колея, путь' (RV+) наряду с 'веко' (AV) или др.-инд. vartaní- 'путь, обод колеса, колея' (RV+) и 'ресницы' (SBr.), где значения 'веко' и 'ресницы' являются производными от значения 'окружность'.
Автор возводит восстановленное таким образом многозначное авестийское pasna- к инд.-ир. *paj-na- (ср. оглушение в мл.-ав. barssnu- 'высота' из инд.-ир. *bharjh-nu-) из *paHj-na- (с выпадением ларингального перед согласным, ср. др.-инд. pajrá- 'прочный' < и.-е. *peh2g-ro-) от инд.-ир. *paHj-, ср. скр. pajas- 'сторона, поверхность', хот. paysa- 'поверхность, грудь', согд.p'z 'лицо', оссет. faz/faz№ 'половина, сторона; задняя сторона, ягодицы'. Семантическое развитие 'сторона' > 'берег' находит многочисленные параллели, ср. англ. river side. Инд.-ир. *paHj- далее возводится к и.-е. *peh2g- 'прикреплять, скреплять', ср. др.-гр. TCriyvu^i, лат. pango 'скреплять, соединять', etc.
Из трех рассмотренных вариантов реконструкции инд.-ир. *paHj-na--
и.-е. *peh2g-no- (ср. лат. pignus 'заклад'), и.-е. *peh2g-mn-o-, тематизирован-ный вариант *peh2g-m(e)n- (ср. др.-гр. лщ^а 'скрепление'), и.-е. *peh2g-(e)n-(ср. лат. pagina 'сторона, страница бумаги') — автор отдает предпочтение последнему.
Ключевые слова: авестийский, яшты, индоевропейская этимология, глот-тальная теория, историческое языкознание.
Yasht 5 to Anahita, Yasht 9 to Druuaspa, Yasht 15 to Vaiiu, and Yasht 17 to Asi all contain a list of suppliants who ask the respective deity for a boon, which is either granted or denied. For most of the figures it is indicated where they were at the moment of the worship. The locations are indicated with the help of different constructions, conveniently listed in [Kellens 1999-2000: 736-739]. These are in general not problematic except for the constructionpasne plus a genitive (9*) or accusative (1*), which has not yet found a satisfactory solution.
Geldner in his edition [Geldner 1896] everywhere edits pasne, but as already pointed out by Bartholomae [1904: 885], the overwhelming majority of the manuscripts, including the most reliable ones, read pasne 1. The latter reading is since then adopted in all subsequent publications and editions 2.
The attested constructions are:
— +pasne varoispisinaqho (Yt 5.37) 'p. of the lake Pisinah';
— +pasne varois +caecistahe (Yt 5.49, Yt 9.18, 21, 22) 'p. of the lake Caecista';
— +pasne apo daitiiaiú (Yt 5.112, Yt 9.29, Yt 17.49, 61) 'p. of the river Daitiiaiia';
— +pasne apsm frazdanaom (Yt 5.108) 'p. of the river Frazdanauua'.
1 The manuscript readings in Geldner's critical apparatus are: Yt 5.37: pasne P13, K19; pasne F1, Pt1, E1, L18; pasni K12; pisne J10 // Yt 5.49: pasne F1, Pt1, E1, L18, M2;pasni K12; pasni P13, K19; pisne J10 // Yt 5.108 = 112: pasne F1, Pt1, E1 , L18, P13; pisne J10 // Yt 9.18: pasne Jm4; pasni Pt1, L18, P13, O3; pasne F1, E1, Ml2 // Yt 9.21: pasni Pt1, L18, P13, O3; pasne F1, E1, Jm4 // Yt 9.22: pasne F1, E1, M2; pasnahe Pt1, L18, P13, O3 // Yt 9.29: pasne F1, E1, Ml2; pssni Pt1, L18, P13; pssmm O3 // Yt 17.49 = 61: pasne F1, Pt1, E1, H3, Ml2; pisne J10.
2 On the basis of the reading pasne, Darmesteter [1882] translates with 'behind', presumably connecting pasne with pasca, etc. In his French translation [1892], he renders it with 'derrière' and explains in a footnote [1892: 376]: "Derrière, pasnê, signifie sans doute à l'ouest du lac, le visage étant dirigé vers l'orient."
I agree with Kellens [1999-2000: 737] that the accusative in Yt 5.108 +pasne apsm frazdanaom is "une aberration" 3, probably due to the parallel construction of upa + acc. in the preceding passage Yt 5.76 upa apsm yqm vitatfhaitim 'at the river Vitaqvhaiti', so that we can state that, normally, pasne requires a genitive.
Bartholomae assumed that pasne is a loc. sg. of pasna- m., which he glossed with "'Hinsehen auf -'; nur LS. 'in conspectu, angesichts'", and derived from the root spas- 'to see'. This etymological meaning was taken over by Malandra [1983] ('within sight of') and Oettinger [1983] ('im Anblick + gen.'). Lommel [1927: 35] is agnostic and puts in his translation 'bei (?)' with a footnote "'hinter?'; 'angesichts?'", the former referring to the translation of Darmesteter (see footnote 2), the latter to that of Bartholomae.
There are two problems with Bartholomae's analysis. First, unlike Skt. (s)pas-, the Iranian root *spas- is never attested without the initial s-. Secondly, as noticed by Kellens [1999-2000 : 737], pasne is only used with hydronyms (varois 'lake', apo 'river'), which rather suggests the meaning 'on the shore / riverside of', so that pasne would then be a locative to pasna- 'side, shore' 4.
To my mind, these considerations suffice to demonstrate that Bartholomae's etymological connection of pasne with the root for 'to see' must be abandoned, but before looking for cognates in other languages let us first consider possible parallels in Avestan itself.
3 Less probable is Bichlmeier's suggestion [2011: 213] that "hier könnte noch ein Rest der Verbalrektion des dem Substantiv zugrunde liegendes Verbs vorliegen". He probably has the root pas- 'to see' in mind, but this root (without the initial s-) is not found in Iranian (see further below).
4 Kellens' suggestion was—implicitly — followed by Skjffirv0 [2011: 114], who translates the Yt 5.37 passage "on the shore of deep Lake Chaechasta".
Next to +1pasna- m. 'Hinsehen auf -', Bartholomae gives 2pasna- n. 'Augenlid'. This 2pasna- refers to the entrypasnsm in the 'Frahang 1 oim' (F 122), which appears between 'eye' and 'nose' and is glossed by Pahl. pys ZY csm /pes i casm/ 'before the eye'. Bartholomae therefore translated it as 'eyelid' 5 and connected Skt. paksman- n. (sg. and pl.) 'eyelashes' (YV+) and the Iranian words for 'wool' (Khot. pe 'ma-, Bactr. rca^avo[; Pahl. psm /pasm/, NP pasm, Yi. pam, San. pam, Oss. fasm /fans 'wool from the autumn shearing', etc. < PIr. *pasman-). This etymological connection has been taken over by Mayrhofer [1986-2001, 2: 62].
The problem with this etymology is that Skt. paksman- and PIr. *pasman- point to a common Proto-Indo-Iranian form *pacsman- with the original meaning 'wool' (probably, related to Gk. rceK» 'to comb, pluck'; Gk. rceKo^ n. 'wool, fleece', etc.). In order then to explain pasnsm, we have to assume that the meaning 'eyelid / eyelash' was already present in Proto-Indo-Iranian (< '*eye wool'), but then lost everywhere in Iranian except for Avestan, and thatpasnsm goes back to a thematicized *pasmna-with the loss of -m-, whereas the rest of Iranian has kept the athematic stem. Both assumptions are not impossible, but require a lot of special pleading 6.
It seems much simpler and more probable to identify pasna- 'side, shore' and the Frahang word pasnsm 7. From the viewpoint of semantics, 'side, shore' seems to be a good candidate for both 'eyelid' and 'eyelash', for a parallel cf. Skt. vartman- n. 'track of a wheel, path, course' (RV+) and 'eyelid' (AV) or Skt. vartani- f. 'track, way, course, felloe of a wheel, track of a wheel' (RV+) and 'eyelashes' (SBr.), where the
5 It is also conceivable that the Avestan word meant 'eyebrow' or 'eyelash'. Klingenschmitt [1968: 51] reckons with 'eyelash' as an option.
6 An additional difficulty is that thematicizations of this kind are only typical of masculine derivatives in -men- and not of neuters, see further below, sub 6.
7 Bartholomae considered 1pasna- m. 'Hinsehen auf -' and 2pasna- n. 'Augenlid' as homonyms of different origin, but even with those meanings one might have considered their identity, cf. Gk. P^s^apov 'eyelid' next to p^sra» 'to see, look'.
meaning 'eyelid / eyelash' has developed out of 'circumference'. The similar meaning of Skt. paksman- would then be coincidental.
In this way we can also ascertain thatpasna- 'side, shore, eyelid' was a neuter and not masculine as was guessed by Bartholomae.
In his entry +'pasna-, Bartholomae refers to nipasnaka-, which he considers its derivative. Unfortunately, the meaning of the hapax nipasnaka-is impossible to determine. It occurs in a difficult passage Yt 5.95, where Anähitä gives an answer to Zarathustra's question (Yt 5.94) as to what becomes of the libations to her which the daeuua-worshippers bring after sunset. Obviously, the general meaning of Yt 5.95 must entail the message that Anähitä declines these libations, but the passage is most probably corrupt.
Yt 5.95 aat aoxta arsduui sura anahita
srszuuö asaum spitama zaraüustra niuuaiiaka nipasnaka apa.skaraka apa.xraosaka ima paiti.vissnte ya mauuöiia pasca vazsnti xsuuas.satais hazaqrsmca ya nöit haiti vissnti daeuuanqm haiti yasna
The four forms niuuaiiaka, nipasnaka, apa.skaraka, apa.xraosaka, all hapaxes, are usually taken as the derogative terms for the daeuuas or for the daeuua-worshippers (in nom. pl.), although the translations are only based on etymological guesses. Bartholomae-Wolff [1910: 177] translate "Die Schaudererregenden, die Schelsüchtigen, die Hohnsüchtigen, die Schmähsüchtigen", Oettinger [1983: 120] 'das Schreckende (Plural), das Neidische, das Beleidigende (und) das Schmähende', whereas Lommel [1927] and Malandra [1983] refrain from translating most of these terms, including nipasnaka.
Skjrerv0 [2011: 62] takes the four words as standing in instr. sg. and translates: "Thus she spoke, Ardwi Sura Anahita: «O upright Spitama-son, sustainer of Order, they are to be rejected with words of woe, to be ground under the heels, to be laughed back, to be booed back, these libations that fly after me by six-hundreds and a thousand, which are not accepted even at the sacrifice to the evil gods!»". Since Skjrerv0 does not comment on his translation, it is not clear how he emends the text in order to arrive at his rendering. From Skjrerv0's translation of nipasnaka 'to be ground under the heels' it follows that he assumes an original * nipasnaka, containing pasna- 'heel' with irregular shortening 8.
We must conclude that nipasnaka is so obscure that it does not contribute anything to our analysis of pasna-.
We arrive thus at a Young Avestan word pasna-, which means 'lake shore, river bank' and also 'eyelid or eyelash'. Since it can be connected neither with the root for 'to see' nor with the Iranian word for
'wool', we must look for another etymology. The Avestan group -sn--
in a non-RUKI context—can go back to PIIr. *-c(s)n- or to PIIr. *-j<h>n-with devoicing, which is phonetically regular, e.g., YAv. barssnu- m. 'height, top' < PIIr. *bharjh-nu-; YAv. barssna instr. sg. m. 'elevated place, height' < PIIr. *bharjh(m)na; YAv. zi-xsna-yhsmna- ptcp. desid. mid. < PIIr. *ji-jnaH-sa- (cf. [Hoffmann & Forssman 2004: 102]).
The meaning 'shore, bank' often develops out of 'side', cf. English river side, lake side, and it is therefore attractive to assume that pasna- is a derivative of the PIE root *peh2g- 'to attach, fix' (Gk. n^yvu^i 'to fix, join, congeal', Lat. pango 'to attach, join', etc.), because various nouns derived from this root do show the meaning 'side' < 'attachment, fixation'.
8 A similar interpretation had already been given by Gershevitch [1959: 201], who translates the four terms 'chasing (?), heeling (??; cf.pasna-, Sogd.psn' 'heel'), shuffling (cf. Skt. ava-caskarire, apa-skirate, 'to scrape with the feet'), reviling'.
In Indo-Iranian, for instance, we find PIIr. *paHjas-, reflected in Skt. pajas-n. 'side, surface' (RV), pajasya- n. 'belly (of an animal); flanks, side' (AV, YV) and in Khot.paysa- 'surface, breast', Sogd.p'z 'face'; Oss. faz/fazw 'half, side; back, buttocks'; Khwar.p'z 'breast'; Wa.puz 'breast, breastbone, forepart (of an animal)' 9. This s-stem is likely to be of PIE origin as it is also found in Lat. compages f. 'framework, joint' and Gk. eu-nnyn? adj. 'well-built'.
The PIIr. root *paHj- sometimes loses its laryngeal, most probably when followed by a consonant (cf. [Lubotsky 1981] for the mechanism and phonetic justification) 10. A clear example of this loss is Skt. pajra- 'solid, strong, firm' (RV) < PIE *peh2g-ro- (with restored full grade) 11, and we may suggest that Avestanpasna- goes back to PIIr. *paj-na- < *paHj-na-.
There are several ways to provide PIIr. *paj-na- < *paHj-na- with a derivational history. First, we can take the form at face value and project it into PIE *peh2g-no-. We may then compare Lat. pignus, -eris/ -oris n. 'pledge, surety, hostage' (< *peg-nos-), the meaning of which strongly suggests a connection withpango [Sandoz 1986], since 'pledge, surety' is the 'fixation' of an agreement. This connection was interpreted by de Lam-berterie [1996: 135-136] as being due to the PIE loss of the laryngeal *peh2g-no- > *peg-no-, a development which, however, remains uncertain because of the very scanty evidence. Moreover, the suffixes -no- and -nos-are not necessarily of the same origin.
9 This word is possibly also contained in YAv. pazayvhant- (F 721), although the meaning of the latter is unknown.
10 Recently, Neri [2017: 312f.] has explained these forms by a general loss of la-ryngeals before two consonants in PIE (the so-called Wetterregel), which is based on a number of weak etymologies and is unacceptable to me.
11 Less clear is this conditioning in Skt. papaje 3 sg. pf. mid. 'to stay behind = *to stand stiff' (RV 10.105.3).
Another option is to reconstruct a derivative with the suffix -men-, PIE *peh2g-m(e)n- 'framing' (cf. Lat. propagmen 'prolongation' (Enn.), ante-pagmentum 'the facing of a door- or window-frame' (Cato+); Gk. nfly^a n. 'joint together, stage, scaffold') and assume that PIIr. *paj-na- is due to its thematicization with concomitant loss of -m-, PIE *peh2g-mn-o- > PIIr. *paj-mn-a- > PIIr. *paj-na-, like in PIE *bhudhmno- (Gk. rcuö^v m. 'bottom, depth, root') > PIIr. *bhudhna-, Skt. budhna- m. 'bottom, ground, depth', PIr. *buna- < *budna-. This scenario is conceivable, but the problem is that the-maticizations of this kind are only typical of masculine derivatives in -men-and not of neuters, and, further, the Greek and Latin formations are so productive that we cannot be sure that this -men- stem is of Indo-European age.
In my view, the most promising solution is to posit a PIE n-stem *peh2g-(e)n-, which is reflected in Lat. pagina f. 'side, sheet of paper'. This stem was later thematicized in (Indo-)Iranian to *paHj-na- > *paj-na-'side' with loss of the laryngeal before the cluster. In this way, we do not have to make additional assumptions and the semantics are straightforward.
Abbreviations
adj. — adjective; desid. — desiderative; f. — feminine; loc. — locative; m. — masculine; mid. — middle; n. — neuter; pf. — perfect; pl. — plural; ptcp. — participle; sg. — singular.
Bactr. — Bactrian; Gk. — Greek; Khot. — Khotanese; Khwar. — Khwarezmian; Lat. — Latin; NP — New Persian; Oss. — Ossetic; Pahl. — Pahlavi; PIE—Proto-Indo-European; PIIr. — Proto-Indo-Iranian; PIr. — Proto-Iranian; San. — Sanglechi; Skt. — Sanskrit; Sogd. — Sogdian; YAv. — Younger Avestan; Yi. — Yidgha; Wa. — Wakhi.
AV — Atharvaveda, RV — Rgveda; SBr. — Satapathabrähmana, Yt — Yasht; YV — Yajurveda.
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