Ricerc@Sapienza

The etymologies offered by Ernst Leumann, Sten Konow, and Harold W. Bailey for Khotanese aysmua- ‘mind, thought, intention’ are unsatisfactory. On the
basis of Ernst Arbman’s and his pupils’ typology of soul conceptions, which postulates their basically dualistic nature in archaic societies (free soul vs. body souls, including life soul and ego soul), aysmua- and other Khotanese words (uys?na?- , u??ana- , uvi’- , ysira- ) are recognised as pre-Buddhist terms for various kinds of
soul. In particular, aysmua- is recognised as the main ego soul and its origin is traced back to Iranian *Hadza-miHu?a- , literally ‘what drives (one’s) actions’ (cf. Ossetic
Iron mi, Digoron miwæ ‘action etc.’).