G-Qa 5
| Known as: | G-Qa 5; Kg-025-YD-W-1 |
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| Cite this page as: | Adrian Musitz (commentary translation). "G-Qa 5". In A Comprehensive Edition of Tocharian Manuscripts (CEToM). Created and maintained by Melanie Malzahn, Martin Braun, Hannes A. Fellner, and Bernhard Koller. https://cetom.univie.ac.at/?m-gqa5 (accessed 30 Apr. 2025). |
Edition | |
| Editor: | Adrian Musitz (commentary translation) |
Provenience | |
| Main find spot: | Kizil Kargha |
| Specific find spot: | Grotte 25 |
Language and Script | |
| Language: | TB |
| Verse/Prose: | verse |
Object | |
| Material: | chalk on wall |
| Form: | Graffito |
| Number of lines: | 1 |
Images
Transliteration
| a1 | [o] [k]au¯ ¯r a lā se śau mo ke ta tse – pe rpe te : mā su mlu tke ta[¯] [¯r] – – meṃ ke ta ra : ke tra [ś]· – – ykai [p]e [l]e sa kre[¯] – : pau su swkä [n]meṃ kre tau na meṃ pra¯ ¯k ke ta¯ ¯r | |
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Transcription
| 1a | a1n1 okaur alāse śaumo ket= atse – perpete : |
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| 1b | mā su mlutketär – – meṃ ketara : |
| 1c | ket ra ś· – – ykai pelesa kre(nt)n2 : |
| 1d | pau su swkänmeṃ kretaunameṃ präk ketar ।n3 |
Translation
| a1 | okaur(?) an inert person whose burden is heavy [lit. thick] - he does not escape from ... of anyone. Whose ... through the good law, he ... from bliss and virtues .... |
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Commentary
Philological commentary
| 14+11+11+11 syllables | |
| n1 | Zhao and Rong read ket= ats[e] ·ṣu perpette, Pinault reads ket= atseṣ[ṣ]e perpette. The first seems to be closer to the truth: There appears to be a u-diacritic present. The main body of the akṣara is obscured by damage on the wall. |
| n2 | The akṣara is not legible. Zhao and Rong read kre[n]ta[n], explaining it as a mistake for krentäṃ. I follow Pinault here. However, maybe we could read pele sakre[nts]"the law/manner of the blissful" - to my eyes, the akṣara looks most like ntS. |
| n3 | There are three hapax legomena here: pau, präk, ketar. Zhao and Rong read präkketär, which they explain as a late form of präṅketär. However, the präkis written with virāma, making this rather unlikely. I would conjecture that ketaris some sort of late shortened form of ketara. This would make the two clauses in this inscription parallel in form. |
Alternative linguistic/paleographic classifications
| Peyrot 2008 | C |
| Tamai 2011 | C14 |
References
Edition
Pinault 1987: 168-169; Zhao and Rong 2020: 278
Bibliography
Peyrot, Michaël. 2008. Variation and change in Tocharian B. Vol. 15. Leiden Studies in Indo-European. Amsterdam/New York: Rodopi.
Pinault, Georges-Jean. 1987. “Épigraphie koutchéenne. I. Laissez-passer de caravanes. II. Graffites et inscriptions.” Sites divers de la région de Koutcha, Mission Paul Pelliot, Documents archéologiques, 8: 59–196 + XL.
Tamai, Tatsushi. 2011. Paläographische Untersuchungen zum B-Tocharischen. Innsbrucker Beiträge zur Sprachwissenschaft 138. Innsbruck: Institut für Sprachen und Literaturen.
Zhao, Li, and Xinjiang Rong, eds. 2020. Cave inscriptions in Ancient Kucha. Shanghai: Zhongxi Book Company.
