É. Apor (ed.): Codex Cumanicus. Ed. by Géza Kuun with a Prolegomena to the Codex Cumanicus by Lajos Ligeti. (Budapest Oriental Reprints, Ser. B 1.)
L. Ligeti: Prolegomena to the Codex Cumanicus
36 L. I-IGETI The Persian consonant system of the Codex shows several conspicuous dialectal traits. Some of them are the following: D is sometimes omitted in intervocal position. The same phonemic phenomenon can be observed in certain dialects, e.g. the Caspian dialects, Tat of Azerbaijan, 5 1 and the Mogol of Afghanistan. Examples: piar [piar] «father (M pidar, B piyar ) — Casp. dial, piyar ; Tat. piyar (116); Mog. M piar ; Cl. pidar-, brar [hrar] «brother» (M biràr,biràdar; B brar) — Casp. dial, brar ; Mog. Mr, M birar ; Mog. Zirni, Kundur birar; Her. birar ; Haz. birar; Tat. birar (117). Bradar [bradar] also occurs in the Codex. CI. biradar; már (mar) «mother» — Casp. dial, mar-, Tat. may (116). Mddar [madar] also occurs in the Codex besides mar. càrSau [<;iarsau] «sheet» - Coman derivative carSau [giarzau]; Tat. carsou «a woman's kerchief of dark colour» (120); Kurd. carSèw (W), car Seb, carSaf «drap de lit, voile de femme» (Jaba); Osm. qarsaf «bed-sheets; a large veil, covering the whole dress.» B at the end of syllables or words often becomes a fricative, forming at times a diphtong with the preceding vowel. It is found as a vulgar variant in Lit. Pers., and also in numerous Persian, and Afghan dialects, some Tajik dialects, and Mongolian. 52 Examples: tions accounts for mistakes. Is ta-ni-ssu-t'an «to know» really to be interpreted as dànistàn (P. Coll. danestan, in Miller), or is dànistàn the correct reading? Similarly, is the correct reading of an-tie-she «though» andèSe or àndèse (tho final e is doubtless closed), cf. Coll. àndiSe, Mill. (Codex: andiSa); is fa-ké-èrh «poor» fàgir as Coll. jàgir (Mill.), or rather fagirl The following is unambiguous: é-na-ye-t'é «grace, favour», read enàyàt, like Coll. enayàt (Mill.). It seems likely that initial open a (if short) should be interpreted as a, as there is a sign e to transcribe closed e: a-pu-lo «soureil», read, àbrò (Coll. abru), Cod. abrù ; close e in initial position only occurs with 'ayn. 5 1 A. L. Grjunberg, Jazyk severoazerbajdéanskich talov, Leningrad 1963. 5 2 A voiced bilabial spirant may occur both in initial and intermediate position (also before a consonant); see Lazard, La langue des plus anciens monuments, pp. 137 — 143. I have come across it only as the second component of a final diphthong in the Persian, Mogol and Hazara dialects of Afghanistan. In different dialects this diphthong (aw) might have been rising, falling or floating. Thus, au is coupled with ay, (usually wi itten as aw), gu and even ?u. In the Codex it occurs in initial position: wàz [uas] «open», C'l. büz; in intermediate position: tawar [taouar] «axe», Cl. tabar; tawa [taoua] «frying pan», CI. taba. Other examples: Bodrogligeti, p. 57. A similar phenomenon can be observed in today's dialects, e.g. in Kabuli: tawa «poèle à frire», aftàwa «aiguière», sorwá «soupe»; sawz «vert», kawk «perdrix», awSàr «chute d'eau», qaws «constipe», aftaw «soleii», màtaw «buie», xaw «somrneil», aw «eau», simaw «meroure», etc.; see FarhSdi, p. 23. In Kabuli -éb changed into -èw: sèw iporamet. sar-nesèw «en pente» (ibid.). «Apple» is sèi in the Codex. In Ibn Muhanná's work (Rifat, p. 56) it is sèb and sew. Sew (and sèma) can be found in Lit. P. as a vulgar variant (Stg. 716).
