The Frahang i Pahlavîk
Heidelberg: Carl Winter, 1912. First edition. Paperback. Quarto. XII, 128pp. Uncut. Original printed wrappers, with publisher's logo on front cover and title page. From the collection of Herbert H. Paper* dated Feb. 1951 on title page. Scarce monograph on the Frahang-i Pahlavîg, a dictionary of (mostly) Aramaic ideograms with Middle Persian translations (in Pahlavi script) and transliterations (in Pazend/Avestan script). The glossary was previously known to Indian Zoroastrians (the Parsis) as the mna-xvatay, a name derived from the first two words of the first entry/lemma. The glossary encompasses approximately five hundred (not counting variations) Semitic language heterograms (huzvarishn, "probably mean[ing] 'obsoleteness, antiquity, or archaism'"), "in the form used by Zoroastrians in writing Middle Persian (Book Pahlavi), each explained by a "phonetic" writing of the corresponding Persian word." Besides heterograms of Aramaic origin, the Frahang also has a handful of pseudo-heterograms from "Arabic words coined by later scribes" and "scattered examples of historical spellings of Iranian words, no longer recognized as such." Altogether about 1300 words (including word forms) are represented, "but its original extent appears to have been only 1000 words, excluding the appendices." Wrappers sunned and partly chipped on spine and along edges. Age-toning on first and last leaf. Upper corner bumped, thus slightly affecting pages throughout. Wrappers in overall fair, interior in good to good+ condition. g. Item #37176
* Dr. Herbert Harry Paper (1925-2012) was Professor Emeritus of Linguistics and near Eastern Languages, and the Editor of the Hebrew Union College Annual, HUC-JIR/Cincinnati. He received a doctorate from the University of Chicago. Dr. Paper taught at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, and joined HUC-JIR as the Dean of Graduate Studies. His specialties were Persian studies, concentrating on the history of the Persian language and on the ancient languages of Iran, and Yiddish literature.
Price: $75.00