Kambojan
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (January 2024) |
| Kambojan | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan and India |
| Ethnicity | Kambojas |
| Era | 600BC - ? |
Indo-European
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
Kambojan was a poorly attested Indo-Iranian language spoken by the Kambojas tribe a group of people that inhabited Northern Afghanistan and Central Asia. The features and the characteristics of the language is unknown.
There is an ongoing dispute among historians and linguists to what branch the language belongs too. The language is only attested by one word and the exact classification within the Indo-Iranian languages continues to be unknown.
Etymology
[edit]The classification of Kambojan is conflicting as the word "Kambojan" is vague. Toybee, Herzfeld, Walser and Chakraberty believe the word is connected to Cambyses the Achaemenid ruler or the region Kambysene. [1][2][3] H.C. Seth believes the word to mean "owners/rulers of (the region) of Kam"[4] H. W. Bailey analyzes the word "Kamboja" and believes that it can interpreted as "Kam-bauja" or "Kan-bauja" the second root word "Bauja" believes to be related to the Avestan word "baug" meaning to "bend, free, loose, deliver, save, possess or rule" related to the Sanskrit word "bhuj" meaning "rule, use, possess and govern" Bailey also believes the first word "Kam" is probably related to the Avestan word "Kan" meaning "to long, want" cognate to the Sanskrit word Kama, "desire, lust". Indologist Sylvain Lévi believed that the word is of Austroasiatic origin but this is dismissed by scholars.[5][6]
Classification
[edit]Indo-Aryan
[edit]Yaska who compiled Nirukta, comments that the word "Shavati", a verb of motion, is exclusively used by Kambojas. Yaska mentions "Among some (tribes) the original forms are used among other derivatives. Savati for the 'act of going' is used only by Kambojas while it's derivatives sava is used among the Aryans" According to John Muir if true, this posits the idea that Kambojas spoke a Sanskrit dialect. [7] Yaska further relays that the Aryans used the root word 'sav' as a derivative and Kambojas possess it as a verb. [8]
Nuristani
[edit]Richard F. Strand believes the Kom and the Kamkata-vari people who are Nuristani to be one of their descendants. The Kom are called "Kamozi" or "Kamoji" for the modern word "Kamboja" from Pashto and Persian. Strand believes the name "Kom" likely originates from the Nuristani word "Kâma". Most Nuristani group names come from their place of origin. [9]
Iranian
[edit]Gerard Fussman suggests that the unknown language in the inscriptions of Dasht-e-Nawar was perhaps spoken by Kambojas possibly an earlier Ormuri language. French linguist, Emile Benveniste believed that the Ashokan Kandahar inscriptions had two non-indo-aryan languages. He believed that the Aramao-Iranian language may have been used by Kambojas. Iranlogists Mary Boyce and Frantz Grenet also support the idea saying "The fact that Aramaic versions were made indicates that the Kambojas enjoyed a measure of autonomy, and that they not only preserved their Iranian identity, but were governed in some measure by members of their own community, on whom was laid the responsibility of transmitting to them the king's words, and having these engraved on stone."[10] [11]
Other Theories
[edit]According to Grierson, "Śavati" does not exist within Sanskrit but rather is an Iranian word. Cognate to the Old Persian word "šiyav" the Avestan word "šav or "šavaite" and the Sanskrit word "eyav" meaning to go. Grierson believes the Kambojan language to be Sanskrit with a substratum of Iranian words or a language that is a mix of Indo-Aryan and Iranian. [12] According to G.P. Singh, the Mon-Khmer branch within the Austroasiatic languages family originated from Kambojan. After the Turko-Persian invasions Kambojans began to migrate to Assam and slowly make there way to Cambodia. [13]
Possible Vocabulary
[edit]According to UNESCO, Kambojan was spoken in Bactria as Yona (Bactrian Greeks) and Kambojas are mentioned as neighbors. This language can be found in the Aramaic inscriptions from Taxila, Laghman, Kandahar and Bactria. For the language possible words include:
- adßeš 'quarrelsome'
- arzuš 'true, right'
- baga 'lord, god'
- damidata 'creature'
- mah 'month'
- mazišta 'elder'
- pari-basta 'bound'
- sahyatai 'to be called'
- patitay 'discharge'
- zivana 'living being'
Names
[edit]- Barzand 'high'
- Vitana 'corpulent'
- Katana 'honourable'
- Vaxšu-varta 'chosen by Vaxšu'
- Roxšana 'brightness'
- Spita-manah 'of splendid intelligence'
- Abuti 'press-hill'
- Zbayana 'attractive, calling'
- Nevak 'valiant, brave'
There are many other names and words found in the inscription in the Rock Edits attributed to King Ashoka.[14]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Arnold J. Toynbee, A Study of History, volume 7, part 2, pages 550–554
- ^ 1968, Ernst Herzfeld, Gerold Walser, The Persian Empire: Studies in geography and ethnography of the ancient Near East, page 345
- ^ 1948, Chandra Chakraberty, The prehistory of India: tribal migrations, page 49
- ^ The Indian historical quarterly, volume 13, issues 1–4, page 403
- ^ 1971, H. W. Bailey, Ancient Kamboja, Iran and Islam, page 67–71
- ^ Tavernier, Jan (2007) Iranica in the Achaemenid Period (ca. 550–330 B.C.): Lexicon of Old Iranian Proper Names and Loanwords, Attested in Non-Iranian Texts, Peeters Publishers, page 19
- ^ Original Sanskrit Texts on the Origin and Progress of the Religion and Institutions of India; Collected, Translated into English and Illustrated by Notes: The trans-Himalayan origin of the Hindus, and their affinity with the Western branches of the Arian race. William. 1860.
- ^ The History of Indian Literature. Trübner & Company. 1878.
- ^ Strand, Richard (2022). "Kamboǰas and Sakas in the Holly-Oak Mountains: On the Origins of the Nûristânîs" (PDF). Nuristan: Hidden Land of the Hindu Kush.
- ^ Boyce, Mary; Grenet, F. (2 November 2015). A History of Zoroastrianism, Zoroastrianism under Macedonian and Roman Rule. BRILL. ISBN 9789004293915.
- ^ Schmitt, Rüdiger (2021-03-03). "Kamboja". Encyclopaedia Iranica Online. Brill. Retrieved 2023-09-25.
- ^ Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland. Cambridge University Press for the Royal Asiatic Society. 1911.
- ^ Researches into the History and Civilization of the Kirātas. Gyan Publishing House. 2008. ISBN 978-81-212-0281-7.
- ^ History of civilizations of Central Asia: The Development of Sedentary and Nomadic Civilizations: 700 B.C. To A.D. 250. UNESCO. 31 December 1994. ISBN 978-92-3-102846-5.