Sogdian inscriptions from the collection of the Samarkand State Museum Reserve Inv. number - A-456-1

Sogdian inscriptions from the collection of the Samarkand State Museum Reserve Inv. number - A-456-1

Acknowledgement of debt from Afrasiab. Inv. number - A-456-1.

Document on a wooden stick. Willow branch cut in diameter. It is 16 cm long and 2.5 cm wide. In-scribed in black ink. The text contains 5 lines. The right part of the stick is broken off; as a result of the breakage, the initial parts of the lines are lost.

Transliteration:

 /1/ [KZ](N)H Z-Y ’wδ wm’t ’rtmyw sp’nδt y’mk’ /2/ ](š)y-r’ ’γt wrtc ’Y-KZY nwcy m’δ wγ-w-tw pr’w-’(r) tw /3/ ](’)k/r’n(c?)y kw pr(’)wt ’zw ptšpry ’prtk wm’tym /4/ ]’WZY šrγ-wy ’HRZYmy c’wnyδ KSP šrγ-wy sk’tr /5/ L’ δβrtw ’st ’Y-KZY 100 + 20 + 20 + 10 s

Translation : 

/1/ ‘So, (the following) were (present) there: Artmīw, Spandhat, Yamk, /2/ Shiraghd (and) Wart(i)ch (?), when Nuchī said: /3/ “The income (?) . ., I owed Patshpar or /4/ Shargh in (the district of?) Parōt, and from (this) sum I did not pay Shargh /5/ more than 150 s(taters)”.

Notes: The document is a debenture, a business document on a willow stick. In terms of paleography and orthographic features, this document is older than the Mugh ones, it can be attributed to the 6th - the first half of the 7th century. According to the content, the document is a receipt drawn up on behalf of Nuchi (name of the first person) certifying that out of the amount received by the author of the receipt, he had 150 staters (silver) left with the testimony of Artmiv, Spandat, Yamk, Shiragd and Vartich. The stater in Sogd, judging by the inscriptions on silver vessels, ranged from 15.7 to 17.4 g. The amount of the debt was thus about 2.5 kg of silver. no names of witnesses. In Mug contracts, witnesses are listed at the end.

Bibliography: Лившиц В. А. Согдийский документ из древнего Самарканда // Центральная Азия. Новые па-мятники письменности и искусства. М.: Наука, 1987. С. 53–62, 312–315.

  Лившиц В. А. Согдийская эпиграфика Средней Азии и Семиречья. Санкт-Петербург: Филологический факультет Санкт-Петербургского университета, 2008. С. 341-34.

  Grenet F. Trois documents sogdiens d’Afrasiab / Средняя Азия. Археология. История. Культура.

  Материалы международной конференции, посвящённой 50-летию научной деятельности Г. В.

  Шишкиной // Государственный музей Востока. Москва, 14-16 декабря 2000 г. Москва: Пересвет, 2000. С. 196-203.

  Livshits V. A. Sogdian epigraphy of Central Asia and Semirech’e / tr. from the Russian by T. Stableford.

  Ed. by N. Sims-Williams. London: School of oriental and African studies, 2015. (Corpus inscriptionum iranicarum. Part II: Inscriptions of the Seleucid and Parthian period and of Eastern Iran and Central Asia. Vol. III: Sogdian). P. 261-264.

  Каталог памятников согдийской письменности в Центральной Азии, Самарканд, МИЦАИ, 2022, с. 209-210.