RICERCA ITALIANA     

Epigraphic and literary monuments belonging to medieval Iran, Central Asia and India: philology and lexicography.

Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza"

Abstract

The present project is the continuation of the PRIN bearing the same title financed in 2005, which marked the beginning of the collaboration between two teams of research, both focusing on the edition of medieval Indian and/or Iranian texts, which share expereriences, methodologies, and funding in order to promote an area of excellence within the vaster field of Oriental Studies. The research activities specific to each of the two research teams are the following:
Rome "La Sapienza": the results obtained by the Pilot Project "NIBEG" and by its follow up biennial project on Middle Persian Lexicography, financed by MIUR in 2005, were essential to the development of a software able to analyze texts in Middle Persian as well as in derivate written traditions (Pahlavi, Pazand, Parsi). The software was developed jointly with our partners in Jerusalem under the aegis of the Middle Persian Dictionary Project sponsored by the International Academic Union. Moreover, during these projects a number of texts have been digitalized and uploaded on the project site, enriching a data bank which is the main instrument of the Middle Persian Dictionary Project and should lead to the compilation of the Middle Persian Dictionary (see Shaked 2002, Cereti 2001 pp.20-21 e Cereti-Shaked 2005).
In our intention the next two years are meant to complete what was initially foreseen in the 2005 project, and then not completed because of the severe cut in funding. However >>>

Principal Investigator

Carlo Giovanni Cereti Università degli Studi di ROMA "La Sapienza"

Research Objectives

The main aim of this research program, shared by both research teams, is to complete philological editions of medieval texts in Iranian and Indian languages in order to prepare the linguistic material needed, among other things, to begin the lexicographical studies. To reach this objective each of the research teams has developed his own strategy.
The research unit based in Rome "Sapienza", working on Middle Persian texts, has decided to focus on three objectives, these being: a) the compilation of a detailed and up to date database of the chosen textual corpus; b) a new textual and linguistic analysis of chosen texts; and c) the electronic lexicographical management of the texts. Elements which will always be taken into consideration are the systematic screening of the texts and the relative bibliographies and the transcription and digitalisation of the corpus. The textual analysis implies a revision of the complete corpus, which should take into account the more recent discoveries in the historical, philological, epigraphic and linguistic field, which may lead to new readings and interpretations. This textual database, enriched by the insertion of the metadata relative to each single text will then be electronically processed. Among the metadata, are the archaeological context (when available), the present collocation (museum, library, archaeological area) and the linguistic information needed for textual analysis.
The research team based in Neaples >>>

First Results

The main objective of the project is to realize textual editions and databases aimed at contributing to lexicographic research in the single linguistic contexts, both for Iranian languages (Middle Persian and Khotanese) and for Indian tongues (Sanskrit and Pali).
By observing the description of the projects of the two research teams it is easy to see that, in the present phase, our research in the different linguistic areas has reached a different stage of development. Some researchers are now focusing mainly on textual editions, other, on the contrary, are mainly focusing on the development of the textual database, which is the necessary pre-condition to the compilation of a comprehensive dictionary of the language. Therefore, the objectives of the two research units differ to a certain degree. Whereas the team of the Orientale aims mainly at realizing critical editions of Iranian and Indian Buddhist texts, the team of the Sapienza focuses mainly on the textual editions of Middle Persian texts needed to enrich the relative textual database.
Researchers belonging to the two units all share a common methodology applied to philology, linguistic analysis, and to the making of critical editions. One of the secondary objectives of the project is to organize seminars and meetings, where to confront ideas and problems in order to improve the common methodology. Another objective is to further develop the software, which was created by the our Israeli partners in >>>

Timescale

24 months

National and international background

In what follows the scientific background will be presented separatedly for each different linguistic tradition.
Middle Persian: the Sasanian empire (224-651 d.C.) is one of the most important empires of classical and late antiquity. In recent years our knowledge of its history has been much improved by the new finds and by the consequent publication of many coins, seals and sealings, as well as by the new edition of a number of epigraphic and literary texts. However, the small number of specialists has hindered a full linguistic exploitation of the new material provided by philologists and experts of epigraphy.
This project represents the continuation of the NIBEG pilot project and of its follow up project on Middle Persian Lexicography, both aimed at the study of the linguistic and more generally cultural heritage of this period. This biennial research project constitutes a part of the Middle Persian Dictionary Project, developed by two teams of experts, one in Rome and the other in Jerusalem, whose aim is to complete a comprehensive dictionary of Middle Persian (Book Pahlavi, Manichaean texts, inscriptions). The results of the Nibeg pilot project and of its follow up, as well as the close cooperation with our Israeli parner, which allowed the development of a specific software for Middle Persian, will provide the means to draw up a linguistic database necessary to compile a new and comprehensive dictionary. It is therefore a natural part of the Middle >>>