early, and important a commentary should be altogether unknown to Hájí Khalfa and other bibliographers and biographers.

Now, having cleared the ground, and disposed of these preliminary matters, I pass to the more detailed description of the commentary. I shall discuss what is noteworthy, first, in its form; secondly, in its substance; and I shall arrange what I have to say under the following headings: 1. The forms, uses, and transpositions of the letters.

As regards
Form:

As regards
Substance:

2. Archaic spellings.

3. Archaic grammatical usages.

4. Archaisms in the vocabulary.
(5. Authorities cited by the author.

6. Allusions to historical events not directly
connected with the sacred text.

7. Soundness of the tradition followed by the author.

8. Views and sympathies of the author. Conclusion: 9. Where and when did the author live?

1. The Letters.

I is seldom or never marked with a medda (). The , or final alif, expressive of astonishment, etc., is

of not infrequent use: e.g. (f. 78, 11. 6, 7) :

و عادت آدمیان اینست کجون بلای بذیشان رسد گویند بدبختیا وای هلاکیا ای که هلاک شدیم :بسا فریشتگانا کاندر

.(f. 278a, 1. 2) ail ki law!

is written uniformly for, which latter has no distinctive mark. In several words still stands for the later

ربان و ویران desert) is much commoner than) بیران ...

(soul) occurs once (f. 141a, 1. 14) for

.etc نوشتن much commoner than

is

ر

and are interchanged frequently, and were therefore presumably pronounced (as they are by modern Persians) exactly alike. Thus we find and, and (the latter being the commoner). Arabic final i is than by : e.g. we

more commonly represented by

.etc,درکت درجت منزلت و مرتبت, خلیفت find

is written uniformly for which has no distinctive mark.

is rarely confounded with : e.g. on f. 178a, 1. 5, in Súra

عليما, for إنه كان حليماً قديراً xxxv, v. 43, end, we find

lo, is given.

though the right translation, is usually written with a dot above it as 3 (in Persian words) when it is preceded by a vowel and not followed by another consonant in the same word. Many instances of this will be found in the extracts already given. See also; below.

is replaced by J (once) in the word

on f. 1902, 1.5,

'a wall,' occurring

بیدار written بیزار in ذ is once confused with

is the only one of the four letters (,, and) added ;

س

by the Persians to the Arabic alphabet which bears the

distinctive mark in this manuscript.

پژمرده and مژده هژده كراوه مژه واژن ژاله

is usually distinguished from

placed beneath it.

is occasionally confounded with
(f. 127b, 1. 4) for, and
xxxi, v. 31) for us.

. See above under .

. See above under.

Thus we find

وأقرضوا loan, the words و in the word و replaces ف -in v. 20 of Shira lxxiii being translated اللَّهَ قَرْضاً حَسَناً

Although of the و خدایرا نام دهید فام دادن نیکو

duplicate forms in f and p the latter are commonest for j,, etc.), we find (f. 290,

,

پیروز .e.g) بیروز written notwithstanding that فراشتوک the swallow called (7 .1

پرستو or پرستوک

is the commoner form, even in late Persian.

is not distinguished from

replaces, in J for

(see above, under),

.(362,1.17 .f) سردسیر for سردسیل and گرم سیر for

is frequently omitted at the end of words, especially plurals in; and this occurs so often as to suggest the idea that it was to the scribe a mere nasal, like the Sanskrit anusnára.

*, & (final) is not written, as a rule, in the words &, &, and their compounds, but is commoner than (usually

and

etc., we find

هر چه اش دریاچه بدینچه آنچه هرچه For کی written هرج هرج and, درینج بدينج, هرجی ز زیراک,جنان هر برکه زیرا که چنانکه هر که and for .etc. (See also below, under the izafat برازیرا and

It is also commonly omitted when followed by the plural termination or a possessive suffix, e.g. in,

is commonly omitted where it is used in later Persian, for

.etc ,(جامه ها (for جامها سایه تان for سایتان میوها

Thus
we
find

ترسا ان euphony, to separate two vowels. فرمائیم for) فرماایم اواند شکیبا ان بارسا انی ترسایان (not) and انجای etc. On the other hand ,(آزمائیم for) از ما ایم

.are common خدای

2. Archaic Spellings.

Some instances of these have been given at the end of the above section, and to them a few more may be added.

is very commonly joined to the following word as S.

کایشانرا کشما که ما كما كه تو کتوکه (من) كمن Thus we find (که بگاه کبکاه کیافته اید که یاد کیان (که تا کتا(که یا) کیا (که همه) کهمه که جز کجز که (چه) کجه که چون) کجون کنافع خواهد کخواست که همی کهمی کزمین که چرا کجرا

twice, on f. 169 and ای شانند etc. Other archaisms are (175 .twice on f. 173 and f خدای وند و ایشانند f. 187 for (15 .1 ,286 on ff. 119, 185, 219, 1, 2, and هروز : خداوند for هیچ چیزی and هیچ چیز for هیچیزی and هيچيز و هر روز

for

(common, e.g. ff. 2176, 1. 11; 218a, 1, 11; 218, 1. 18; 227a; 249a, 1, 18; 220a, 1. 20; 2213, 1. 14; 231a, 1. 18; 246a, 1. 12 ;

جنوی 2016 هلاک کردیم (for هلاکردیم ; (.etc ,2013 See also below, under the izafat and .(چون اوئی) چنوئی for

yá-i-waḥdat, etc.

3. Grammatical Peculiarities.

(1.) NOUNS. (a) Plurals in and both occur; but, though we find 'persons,' the former predominate, not

اسپان میشان اهوان (خجیران only in names of animals کرمان ملخان مرغان بزان, گوسبندان خران گاوان شتران دردان گناهان اندوهان امتان ( خدایان) but in other nouns بامدادان افریدگان انگشتان رزان درختان گواهان سوگندان Unusual plurals in occur سخنان سبیذدمان شبانگاهان ,310.f) فرزندگان 154,(f) دوستگان (79) مولاكان such as

J.R.A.S. 1894.

29

times) and its derivative (6) جاودانه Similarly we find .12 .1 twice Contrary to the usual rule, the plural is جاودانگی

occasionally used after a numeral; e.g.:—

برهانیدیم او را و دو دختران اورا (410).

بدرست که خدای تو قضا کند میان ایشان بدانج حکم کند ای که جدا کند میان دو گروهان ( 106 ).

occurs on ملوکان One instance of a double plural

f. 362a, 1. 11. Há-i-mukhtafi is generally dropped before the

خانه ها و دانها is written دانه ها eg ; ها plural termination in .etc ,خانها

(B) Uncommon uses of the oblique case in . The oblique

از برای از بهر از case is frequently used after the prepositions

,, etc.; e.g. :

همه را از مردگانرا زنده کند ( 21 ) : از بهر ستیزه را و

لفظ

خشم را (13) : افك وكذب هر دو دروغ باشد بدو یان کرد برای تاکیدرا - 1891 ) : و جای دهد مریشانرا در دین اسلام را 73,119 .f).

It is twice used in the subject of a passive sentence :—

اورده شد در صحرای قیامت دوزخ را از بهر بی راهان و کافران 91,110 ) : و جون بر خوانده شود برو ایتهای ما را یعنی قرانرا

.(f. 138, 1. 8)

(y) Nouns occasionally take the comparative termination as though they were adjectives (cf. Kazimirski's Dialogues Français-Persans, pp. 35, 36); e.g. :—

ان عدل تراست بنزدیک خدای تعالی ای که آن راست ترست

(1.16, 148 . : و سیاه ایشان انبوه تر (171,110 .f).