A Late Khotanese document on wood: Or. 8211/1475
Re-edition, translation and commentary of the Late Khotanese document on wood: Or. 8211/1475 of the British Library.
Khotanese manuscripts
Bits and bites: the Berlin fragment bi 43 and Khotanese *druṣ‑
The Berlin Khotanese fragment ‘bi 43’ seems to belong to an unidentified Buddhist text with
spells against various evils. It contains the first attestation of the verb durṣḍä ‘it bites’,
which makes it possible to bring together and assign to a verb *druv’- , pp. durṣṭa- ‘to bite,
sting’ several Khotanese words that occurr in contexts of snakes and other biting or stinging
animals and have been variously interpreted and explained so far: Late Khotanese drvīdä
‘they bite’, dū̆ (r)ṣṭa- ‘bitten, stung’, Old Khotanese druvā ‘biting’, and drutāta ‘id.’.