2.1 Omissions and Insertions

One of the most frequent types of error involves the omission of letters or syllables:

• JP 5.2 paṇyą̄ for pa⟨r⟩ṇyau ‘the (two) parṇī plants’; JP 21.2 svara for svara⟨se⟩ ‘in a decoction’; JP 29.1 jīvayą̄nāṃ for jīva⟨nī⟩yānāṃ ‘of the jīvanīyā plants’; JP 38.1 ṭhāriṣṭābda for ⟨pā⟩ṭhāriṣṭābda ‘velvetleaf (Abutilon abutilon Linn.), neem (Azadirachta indica A.Juss.), (and) nut grass (Cyperus rotundus Linn.)’; JP 43.1 madū for madhu⟨ka⟩ ‘liquorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra Linn.)’.

Epenthetic vowels or added syllables are also common:

• JP 5.3 ttāyä cattūr{a}gūṇaṃ for toya-caturguṇe ‘in four times of water’; JP 8.1 {ca} vacā for vacāṃ ‘sweet flag (Acorus calamus Linn.)’; JP 18.2 ghrrattā{rthi} for ghr̥tāt ‘from the ghee’; JP 37.4 ttrāyamāṇā{da}dya for trāyamāṇādyaṃ ‘Trāyamāṇa’; JP 50.3 payasyāś {ās} tä for payasyā ca ‘and coagulated milk’, ś{ph}arttaṃ for śr̥tam ‘boiled’; JP 81.5 tr̥ṣāttānā{nā} for tr̥ṣṇārtānā ‘tormented by thirst’.

There are instances where entire words are either omitted (e.g. JP 20.2 dāḍamaṃ for dāḍima‑⟨rddhibhiḥ⟩ ‘with pomegranate [Punica granatum Linn.] (and) r̥ddhi’; JP 81.2 hirivära for hrīvera ⟨caiva⟩ ‘Ceylon swamp mallow [Pavonia zeylanica Linn.] and also’) or written twice (e.g. JP 37.3 samya {samya} for samyak ‘together’).

2.2 Misplacement of Vowel Diacritics

A further set of errors involves the misplacement of vowel diacritics (e.g. the apparent graphic metathesis in JP 5.2 śarāva instead of śārava for śārive ‘the (two) sarsaparillas [Smilax ornata Lem.]’ or JP 44.1 gūṇḍuci instead of guṇḍūci for guḍūcī ‘guduch [Tinospora cordifolia Willd.]’).

In other sections of the manuscript, attempts to correct missing syllables or misplaced vowel diacritics are noted. Occasionally, corrected and uncorrected vowel signs are found concurrently, producing an anomalous grapheme with one consonant joined to two vowel marks.¹¹

2.3 Unrecognisable Words from Misinterpretation

In many instances, errors have rendered words virtually unrecognisable due to the scribe’s misunderstanding of the Sanskrit source text. Such errors are particularly frequent in cases involving technical medical words or sandhi phenomena. Examples include: JP 20.4 kapha-vārmä-vasūdattä, possibly for either kapha-vātaṃ ca sūdanam ‘as a healer of diseases due to (disordered) phlegm and wind humors’¹² or kapha-vātena sūdanam ‘removing (diseases) due to phlegm and wind’,¹³ instead of ⁺kapha-vyādhi-niṣūdanam ‘remover of the disorder caused by phlegm’ found in the parallel text; JP 25.1 bhūgįmr̥ for ⁺bhūnimba ‘chiretta (Swertia chirayita Roxb. ex Flem. Karst.)’; JP 26.2 yauna-dą̄mā-varṣākārśau for ⁺yoni-doṣā-vipākārśaḥ ‘disease of the womb, indigestion, piles’; JP 41.2 mrrįkṣīkā for ⁺mr̥dvīkāṃ ‘grape (Vitis vinifera Linn.)’; JP 50.3 saprriyaujayittä for ⁺samprayogitam ‘administered’; JP 81.2 radrinä for ⁺ra⟨sāñ⟩janam ‘Indian barberry (Berberis aristata DC.)’.

2.4 Errors from the Graphic Similarity of akṣaras

A final set of copying errors arises from the form similarity between certain akṣaras, leading to misreadings during the copying process. The most frequent cases are:

• p ~ ṣ (e.g. JP 26.2 varṣākārśau for vipākārśaḥ ‘indigestion (and) piles’; JP 92.1 uṣäkalpayita for upakalpayet ‘he should prepare’);

• p ~ m (JP 25.2 maṇḍittā for pāṇḍutā ‘yellow disease’; JP 43.1 bilatmalą for balotpala ‘sida [Sida cordifolia Linn.] and water lily [Nymphaea Linn.]’; JP 44.1 spr̥ttä for smr̥tam ‘it is called’; JP 86.1 karṣaupūniṃ for karṣonimitā ‘the measure of a karṣa’);

• p ~ h (JP 28.1 sa-hayiska for sa-payaskaṃ ‘together with milk’);

• ṣ ~ m (e.g. JP 26.2 dą̄mā for doṣā ‘disease’);

• n ~ t (JP 14.3 tavāreṇä for nivāraṇam ‘hindering’; JP 18.2 śānāvarī for śatāvarīm ‘satavar [Asparagus racemosus Willd.]’; JP 26.2 jina for jit ‘(it) removes’; JP 38.4 jvarautmāda° for jvaronmāda ‘fever (and) madness’; JP 41.4 kūrvīna for kurvīta ‘he should make’; JP 81.6 anīsāra for atīsāra ‘diarrhoea’; JP 90.2 śauṣāgtamādya for śoṣāgni-māndya ‘emaciation (and) slowness of digestion’);

• d ~ v (e.g. JP 14.2 vidhanānala for dadhinānila ‘with thick sour milk, […] (internal tumour) caused by wind’);

• ch ~ rv (e.g. JP 38.2 mūchā for mūrvā ‘bowstring hemp [Dracaena zeylanica Linn.]’);

• depending ‑ya ~ depending ‑u (e.g. JP 28.1 myakhi for mukhe ‘in the night’).

Of particular relevance to the study of the manuscript’s transmission history is the confusion between m and p. While these two akṣaras are formally similar in book script, they are clearly distinguishable in the documentary script employed in the extant manuscript.¹⁴ This suggests that such errors may not have originated during the copying of the current manuscript itself but rather reflect the influence of an earlier exemplar written in book script. Accordingly, this kind of graphic confusion may offer indirect palaeographical evidence for the presence of an antecedent manuscript in book script within the transmission chain.

3.1 Double tt for t

One of the most relevant and diagnostic orthographic features that reveals a direct influence from Late Khotanese is the use of double tt for representing Skt. t.¹⁵ This is regular in the following contexts:

• word-initial position (e.g. JP 5.1 ttālīsa for tālīsa ‘East Himalayan fir [Abies spectabilis D.Don]’; JP 28.1 ttamīrą̄ṇḍy for timirāṇy ‘darkness of the eye’; JP 38.1 ttahtta for tiktā ‘kurroa [Picrorhiza kurroa Royle ex Benth.]’; JP 39.1 ttūlyaṃ for tulya ‘equal (amount)’);

• between vowels (e.g. JP 5.3 etta for etat ‘this’; JP 8.1 harīttakī for harītakī ‘chebulic myrobalan [Terminalia chebula Retz.]’; JP 14.1 vaittasaṃ for vetasa ‘rattan [Calamus rotang Linn.]’; JP 18.3 cattūrgūṇaṃ for caturguṇe ‘fourfold’; JP 18.4 vikhyāttam for vikhyātam ‘notorious’);

• between vowels preceded by an anusvāra or an unwritten nasal (e.g. JP 5.1 daṃtti for danti ‘wild croton [Croton tiglium Linn.]’; JP 5.2 kauttī for kauntī ‘fragrant pepper’; JP 38.1 ttrāyaṃttī for trāyantī ‘creeping fig [Ficus heterophylla Linn.]’);

• t-clusters with a rhotic (e.g. JP 5.2 ttraphalā for triphalā ‘the three fruits’; JP 8.3 plīhārttau for plih⟨ārś⟩ārtau ‘affliction of piles (and) spleen’; JP 18.1 caittrakiścī for citrakaṃ śaṭīm ‘wild leadwort [Plumbago zeylanica Linn.] (and) white turmeric [Curcuma zedoaria Roxb.]’).

Occasional cases of ‑tt‑ with other consonants are also attested (e.g. JP 18.1 svagūpttā for svaguptāṃ ‘svaguptā [Mimosa pudica Linn.]’; JP 38.1 ttahtta for tiktā ‘kurroa [Picrorhiza kurroa Royle ex Benth.]’; JP 38.3 sapttachąda for sapta-cchada ‘dita bark tree [Alstonia scholaris Linn.]’), alongside instances where single ‑t‑ is used (e.g. JP 41.2 ātmagūpta for ātmaguptāṃ ‘velvet bean [Mucuna prurita Hook.]’).

3.2 Unetymological and Omitted Anusvāras

Unetymological anusvāras (transliterated as an ogonek) are another feature of the manuscript. They typically occur after a, ā, and i, but without a predictable phonotactic environment:

• ‑a‑ (e.g. JP 5.3 kalyą̄ṇąkaṃ for kalyāṇakaṃ ‘Excellent ghee’; JP 5.5 ąttad for etad ‘this’; JP 8.2 ghrrątta for ghr̥ta ‘ghee’, JP 20.1 vidyaṃgą for viḍaṅga ‘false black pepper [Embelia ribes Burm.f.]’);

• -ā‑ (e.g. JP 5.3 ną̄ma for nāma ‘called’; JP 8.1 rą̄haṇī for rohiṇīṃ ‘black hellebore [Helleborus niger Linn.]’; JP 18.1 kaśmīryą̄ṇi for kāśmaryāṇi ‘white teak [Gmelina arborea Roxb.]’);

• -i‑ (e.g. JP 21.1 cįttraką̄ for citrako ‘wild leadwort [Plumbago zeylanica Linn.]’; JP 44.1 vr̥śį for vr̥ṣaiḥ ‘Malabar nut [Justicia adhatoda Linn.]’; JP 50.1 maṃjįṣṭā for mañjiṣṭhā ‘Indian madder [Rubia cordifolia Linn.]’).

Cases of unetymological anusvāras with ‑ī‑ and ‑ū̆‑ are rare (e.g. JP 59.4 dārų̄ṇād asya for dāruṇaḥ tasya ‘severe’); no such cases are attested with ‑e‑, ‑ai‑, or ‑au‑. As the examples above demonstrate, unetymological anusvāras are not consistently conditioned by the presence of an etymological nasal, and their function, if any, remains unclear.

Conversely, omissions of anusvāras are also attested, pointing to scribal carelessness (e.g. JP 5.1 majäṣṭā for maṃjiṣṭhā ~ mañjiṣṭhā ‘Indian madder [Rubia cordifolia Linn.]’; JP 14.1 haigū for hiṃgu ~ hiṅgu ‘asa foetida’; JP 25.1 paṭālābūda for paṭolāmbuda ‘wild snake gourd (and) nut grass [Cyperus rotundus Linn.]’; JP 81.4 sayūktä for saṃyuktaṃ ‘together with’).¹⁶

3.3 Fremdvokal ä and the Subscript Hook

Two diacritics appear throughout the manuscript: the vowel ‑ä and the so-called subscript hook -ʾ, both of which are distinctive features of Khotanese Brāhmī.¹⁷

The Fremdvokal ä is used to write a variety of Sanskrit vowels: (1) Skt. i (all positions), (2) Skt. a (mostly in unstressed position and as the final vowel of compounds), (3) Skt. e (mostly in unstressed position), (4) ai (mostly in unstressed position).¹⁸ Note that similar spelling oscillations are also attested in Late Khotanese manuscripts.¹⁹

Although rare, the presence of the subscript hook in the Sanskrit section aligns with patterns observed in many Late Khotanese texts.²⁰ Specifically, the subscript hook is found in the Jīvakapustaka with:

• kṣʾ (e.g. JP 2–3.20 vrraikṣaʾ for vr̥kṣān; JP 9.7 akṣaʾ for akṣa ‘a measure’; JP 20.2 kṣāʾraṃ for kṣāra ‘caustic’);

• hʾ (e.g. JP 4.9 prramehāʾ for pramehāḥ (?) ‘urinary disease’; JP 12.1 rauhaʾṇī for rohiṇī ‘black hellebore [Helleborus niger Linn.]’; JP 21.3 prravāhaʾkā for pravāhikām ‘diarrhoea’);

• śʾ (e.g. JP 30.1 uśīʾrä for uśīra ‘vetiver [Vetiveria zizanioides Linn.]’; JP 81.1 uśīʾra for uśīra);

• ṣʾ (e.g. JP 2–3.2 sarvi:ṣāʾ for sarveṣām).²¹

Among these, the most readily interpretable cases are those involving ś and ṣ, as they reflect conventions of the so-called late orthography of Khotanese, where ś and ṣ represent voiceless consonants [ʃ] and [ʂ], while śʾ and ṣʾ indicate their voiced counterpart ([ʒ], [ʐ]). The form uśīʾra ‘vetiver (Vetiveria zizanioides Linn.)’, in particular, is best understood not as an orthographic anomaly but as a reflex of the Khotanese word uśīʾra‑, itself a loanword from a Gāndhārī continuant of Skt. uśīra‑, in which sonorisation of intervocalic ś occurred. The preservation of Khotanese śʾ in this case points to a transcriptional interference by a scribe trained in Khotanese script and its orthographic norms. Notably, instances where uśīra‑ appears without subscript hook in the Sanskrit text only occur in sandhi contexts (e.g. JP 38.1 ttraphalāśīra‑ for tri-phalośīra‑ ‘the three fruits (and) vetiver’; JP 50.3 vyāghrrīśīra‑ for vyāghrośīra‑ ‘nightshade [Solanum virginianum Linn.] (and) vetiver’; JP 79.1 padmakauśīra‑ for padmakośīra‑ ‘wild Himalayan cherry [Prunus cerasoides Don.] (and) vetiver’).

The use of the subscript hook with kṣʾ and hʾ, although common in Late Khotanese manuscripts, is more difficult to interpret. In Old Khotanese, the subscript hook occurs regularly in environments where earlier consonants had been lost or modified. As for Late Khotanese, Emmerick suggests that, in these cases, the hook does not mark a specific phoneme but rather a prosodic or articulatory feature that encompasses voicing, aspiration, or breathiness.²² He argues that Late Khotanese clusters with kṣ were frequently marked with a hook to signal aspiration or frication, a convention that would also account for its use with h. It is worth noting that, in the Late Middle Chinese Vajracchedikā in Brāhmī script, h followed by a visarga appears to represent a voiceless velar fricative [x].²³ In contrast, the Turkish-Khotanese bilingual text mostly employs h:ʾ to represent Turkic [ɣ], e.g. T-K 27 (P 2892 line 173) kūdäsähą̄ʾ:nä /qudisɣon/ ‘crupper strap’. In this latter text, h: (without hook) is only found in word-final position, e.g. T-K 17 (P 2892 line 172) īḍaihä: /iliɣ/ ‘attachment [to the harness]’, T-K 20 (2892 line 172) eʾmäysīhä: /emziɣ/ ‘the extremity of the saddlebow’, etc.

3.4 Use of rr in Ligatures

Throughout the manuscript rr is almost consistently used in place of r in consonant clusters with the rhotic as second member.²⁴ In particular, rr is generalised with the exception of ⟨gr⟩, which appears less frequently than ⟨grr⟩ (13 vs. 23 occurrences), ⟨śr⟩, which is more frequent than ⟨śrr⟩ (31 vs. 20 occurrences), and ⟨ttr⟩. On the other hand, in pre-consonantal position r is generally used, with a couple of exceptions (JP 86.1 carrjājaka for cāturjātaṃ ‘the four substances’; JP 87.5 chvarrdaṃ for chardikam ‘vomiting’). Radical rr is only used once in JP 38.3 rrisi for rrasam ‘juice’.²⁵

3.5 Unetymological ṇ before ḍ

Finally, it is not infrequent to find unetymological ṇ before ḍ. Examples include: JP 8.1 viṇḍaga for viḍaṅgaṃ ‘false black pepper (Embelia ribes Burm.f.)’; JP 14.1 dāṇḍäma for dāḍima ‘pomegranate (Punica granatum Linn.)’; JP 61.1 gūṇḍäsya for guḍasya ‘from crude sugar’, gūṇḍānvattä for guḍānvitam ‘crude sugar mixed together’; JP 92.1 dāṇḍama for dāḍimaṃ. Since Khot. ḍ may have been pronounced closer to a lateral sound (possibly, palatal [l^j] or [ʎ]),²⁶ ṇ may have been inserted to signal the retroflex pronunciation of the following consonant.²⁷

This practice is not unique of this text as it occasionally surfaces in the Conversation Manual, where ṇḍ is used to write Skt. ṭ (CM 131 ų̄tpaṇḍąyamī for 1sg.prs.act. utpāṭayāmi ‘I pull’), ḍ (CM 111 ttaṇḍąya for 2sg.impv. tāḍaya ‘strike!’), and ḍh (CM 168 aʾṇḍą for āḍhaka ‘a measure’), and in other Sanskrit loanwords in Khotanese texts, such as LKhot. viṇḍaṃgä (Si 2.24 [Ch. ii.002 fol. 13 v4; P 2892 line 148]) ← Skt. viḍaṅga‑ ‘false black pepper’, LKhot. garuṇḍa (KBT 25.86) ← Skt. garuḍa‑ ‘Garuḍa’.

4.1 Writing of Skt. a

If approached from the perspective of standard Sanskrit, Skt. a is generally written Skt.^JP a in all positions (ca. 85 % of the times):

• Word-initial: e.g. JP 5.3 akṣāśe for akṣāṃśaiḥ ‘an akṣa of each’; JP 8.3 ape for api ‘even’; JP 18.4 anūttamä for anuttamam ‘excellent’;

• Word-internal: e.g. JP 5.1 vakrra° for vakra° ‘Indian valerian (Valeriana jatamansi Don)’; JP 5.3 sarpaṣi for sarpiṣaḥ ‘with ghee’;

• Word-final of compounds: e.g. JP 14.1 dāṇḍäma° for dāḍima° ‘pomegranate (Punica granatum Linn.)’; JP 21.3 gūda° for guda° ‘intestine’; JP 25.1 vatsa° for vatsa° ‘kurchi (Holarrhena pubescens Wall.)’.

It is therefore hardly questionable that it phonologically corresponds to anything other than the central vowel /a/. This is confirmed not only by the predominant spelling of LKhot. a as continuing OKhot. a,²⁸ but also in the way ⟨a⟩ is used to transcribe Turk. a in the Turkish-Khotanese bilingual, and Chin. a in the Chinese Vajracchedikā in Brāhmī script.

Among the cases where Skt. a is not represented as a, spellings with Skt.^JP ‑ä-/‑i‑ are among the most common. They are especially prevalent at the end of compounds, where ‑ä° is more frequent than ‑i°:

• ä for a: JP 5.3 kalyą̄ṇäkaṃ for kalyāṇakaṃ ‘Excellent ghee’; JP 8.3 kāsä for kāsaṃ ‘cough’; JP 20.2 pūṣkärä for puṣkaraiḥ ‘Indian lotus (Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn.)’; JP 29.1 kalkenä for kalkena ‘from the paste’; JP 37.3 rahtä° for rakta° ‘blood’; JP 60.2 siṃdäva for saindhava ‘rock salt’; JP 86.2 dāṇḍamāṣṭäka for dāḍimāṣṭakaḥ ‘Dāḍimāṣṭaka’; JP 92.3 vaśūdhanä for viśodhanaṃ ‘a cleanser’;

• i for a: JP 14.1 vyāṣi° for vyoṣa° ‘the three hot ones’; JP 20.2 yivānī° for yavānī° ‘ajwan (Trachyspermum ammi Sprague)’; JP 26.1 dipyąki° for dīpyaka°; JP 28.1 sa-hayiska for sa-payaskaṃ ‘with milk’; JP 38.3 iṣṭi-gūṇa for aṣṭa-guṇe ‘eight times as much’; JP 43.1 ttrāyittī for trāyantī, JP 50.3 saprriyaujayittä for samprayogitam ‘(if one) administers’; JP 93.1 hiraṇva for hareṇu ‘a kind of pea’.

It seems that Skt.^JP a more frequently corresponds to Skt. a when it is stressed according to the rules of standard Sanskrit, while Skt.^JP ‑ä‑/-i‑ is more frequently used for Skt. ‑a‑ in post- or pretonic position. Skt.^JP i for Skt. a occurs very frequently in the proximity of y or front vowels. Stressed a written ä/i only occurs in JP 18.3 jvära° for jvara ‘fever’, JP 38.3 rrisi for rasam ‘juice’, 38.4 mittä for matam ‘(it) is thought’. The rationale behind the distribution of ⟨ä⟩ ~ ⟨i⟩ for Skt. a makes it clear that stress should have played a role (cf. Table 2).

As in Late Khotanese, also in Old Khotanese ä [ə] is used for indicating a reduced vowel, such as the outcome of vowel weakening of a in unstressed syllables. Synchronically, OKhot. ä mostly alternates with i. Diachronically, in word-final position LKhot. ä started to represent several reduced short vowels. The reduced vowels are mostly from the central or, more frequently, from the front region (i.e. ‑e, ‑i > ‑ä). It thus seems that already in Old Khotanese ä started to oscillate with i; just as ä goes with the front region, so also LKhot. a sometimes alternates with front vowels. Under stress, the differentiation between the two is generally maintained in Old Khotanese, even though oscillations are attested. In unstressed syllables, ‑i‑ appears for ‑ä‑ with a higher degree of frequency. It seems that while the occasional shift of ‑ä‑ to ‑u‑ is conditioned by the phonetic context, ä for i is unconditioned. Indeed, all occurrences of Skt.^JP ū for Skt. a are in the proximity of labial or velar consonants and/or back vowels (JP 8.2 vāttū pāyayīttą for vātaṃ pāyayīta; JP 8.3 vāttū gūlma for vāta-gulmaṃ ‘tumours caused by wind’; JP 41.1 cattūprra for catasraḥ ‘four’; JP 41.2 mūdhakisyā for madhukasyā ‘liquorice [Glycyrrhiza glabra Linn.]’; JP 41.5 mūdhūnaṃ for madhunaḥ ‘with honey’).

Occasionally, Skt. a can be written as ā, mostly at word-final position for ‑a ~ -am ~ -aṃ and in word-initial position (JP 14.2 gūlmą̄° for gulma° ‘internal tumour’; JP 18.1 parūṣakā for parūṣakam ‘phalsa [Grewia asiatica Linn.]’; JP 21.1 nāgarā for nāgaraṃ ‘dry ginger [Zingiber officinale Roscoe]’; JP 38.3 kalkattā for kalkitam ‘with a paste’; JP 92.4 ārśauvakāra° for arśovikāra ‘disease of piles’). If not mere writing mistakes, the occasional interchangeability of Skt.^JP ā and Skt.^JP a for writing Skt. ā̆ may find partial confirmation in the Conversation Manual, where ⟨a⟩ is used for both a and ā.²⁹ It is likely that the composer of this text applied the Khotanese pronunciation, in which LKhot. a was used to represent a central vowel /a/. What remains to be fully clarified is whether ⟨a⟩ may also have had a long pronunciation [aː] in Late Khotanese, at least in cases of later vowel contraction (e.g. OKhot. nom.sg. pratara [praʔaɾa] ‘nature’ > LKhot. prrara [pra(ː)ɾa]).

4.2 Writing of Skt. ā

Skt. ā is written as Skt.^JP ā the great majority of the time (ca. 95 %). There are a few cases where Skt.^JP a or aṃ is used for ā (e.g. JP 18.3 kaṃsaṃhara for kāsahara ‘(it) removes cough’; JP 25.2 maṇḍittā for pāṇḍutā ‘yellow disease’; JP 41.5 prrasthadha for prasthārdhaṃ ‘half a prastha’; JP 90.2 śvāsarūcä for śvāsāruci ‘uncomfortable breathing (and) loss of appetite’). More rarely, Skt.^JP au is used for Skt. ā as in JP 8.2 vapaucayeta for vipācayet ‘one should cook’, JP 21.3 aunāha for ānāha ‘constipation’, JP 37.4 kaumala for kāmalāṃ ‘jaundince’, JP 41.3 śriṃgaudaka for śr̥ṃgāṭakaṃ ‘water caltrop (Trapa natans Linn.)’. Although in Old Khotanese it was in functional distribution with a, LKhot. ā clearly indicates a back vowel. Reverse spellings between ⟨ā⟩, ⟨o⟩, and ⟨au⟩ are attested in the Jīvakapustaka manuscript (cf. §§ 4.9 and 4.10) and, more generally, in Late Khotanese manuscripts, cf. uysnaura‑, uysnāra‑ ‘living being’ < OKhot. uysnora‑, uysnaura‑ or nāma, noma, nauma ‘name’ < OKhot. nāma.³⁰

4.3 Writing of Skt. i

Skt. i is represented in various ways. It may be written as Skt.^JP i (ca. 30 %). Examples include: JP 18.1 kaśmīryą̄ṇi for kāśmaryāṇi ‘white teak (Gmelina arborea Roxb.)’; JP 21.1 bilva for bilvaṃ ‘Indian bael (Aegle marmelos Linn.)’; JP 21.3 vyapauhatti for vyapohati ‘(it) is a remover’; JP 25.2 sidha for siddhaṃ ‘properly cooked’; JP 38.4 pittauthaṃ for pittottha ‘(diseases) arising from bile’. However, the most common way to write Skt. i is with Skt.^JP a (ca. 50 % of the occurrences). Less frequent spellings include ä, ī, ai and e.

• a for i: JP 5.1 vaśālā for viśālā ‘the cucumber plant (Cucumis sativus Linn.)’; JP 8.1 ttrakaṭūka for trikaṭukaṃ ‘the three spices’; JP 20.2 dāḍamaṃ for dāḍima ‘pomegranate (Punica granatum Linn.)’; JP 21.2 vapācayit for vipācayet ‘one should cook’; JP 29.1 ttamīrä for timira ‘darkness of the eye’; JP 38.1 ttahtta for tiktā ‘kurroa (Picrorhiza kurroa Royle ex Benth.)’; JP 60.1 prasādhattä for prasādhitam ‘prepared’; JP 63.1 pācana for pācitaṃ ‘boiled’; JP 86.1 dva for dvi ‘two’; JP 86.2 kapathāṣṭakaṃ for kapitthāṣṭaka ‘the Kapitthāṣṭaka (kind)’; JP 90.1 marąca for maricaṃ ‘black pepper (Piper nigrum Linn.)’; JP 91.1 maraca for marica ‘black pepper’; JP 92.1 yivą̄nī for yavānīṃ ’ajwan (Trachyspermum ammi Sprague)’.

• ä for i: JP 14.1 dāṇḍäma for dāḍima ‘pomegranate (Punica granatum Linn.)’; JP 21.3 gūda-bhrräśārttäm for guda-bhraṃśārtim ‘prolapsus of the intestines’; JP 38.1 śārävį for śārive ‘the two sarsaparilla (Smilax ornata Lem.)’; JP 50.3 dhvasä for dhvaṃsi ‘(it) removes’; JP 56.1 häṃgū for hiṅgu ‘asa foetida’; JP 85.1 maräcāgna for maricāgni ‘black pepper (Piper nigrum Linn.) (and) leadwort (Plumbago zeylanica Linn.)’; JP 86.2 dāṇḍämā for dāḍimād ‘from pomegranate’.

• ī for i: JP 8.3 plīhārttau for plīh⟨ārś⟩ārtau ‘affliction of piles and spleen’; JP 28.1 ttamīrą̄ṇḍy for timirāṇy ‘darkness of the eye’; JP 29.1 ttamīrä for timira; JP 41.4 bīdārīkṣu for vidārīkṣu ‘milky yam (Ipomoea digitata Linn.) (and) sugar-cane (Saccharum officinarum Linn.)’; JP 43.2 vīdä for vidha ‘kind’; JP 92.2 marīcasya for maricasya ‘of black pepper (Piper nigrum Linn.)’.

• ai for i: JP 8.2 saidha for siddhaṃ ‘properly cooked’; JP 14.1 haigū for hiṅgu ‘asa foetida’, caittrakai for citrakaiḥ ‘with wild leadwort (Plumbago zeylanica Linn.)’; JP 25.1 ttaihttą̄ for tiktā ‘kurroa (Picrorhiza kurroa Royle ex Benth.)’; JP 41.4 civam for caivam ‘and so on’.

• e for i: JP 5.4 pettāsr̥iga for pittāsr̥k ‘bile-blood’; JP 41.6 lehyāmāttrā for lihyānmātrāṃ ‘(one) should take (it) by licking the right measure’.

The rationale behind the distribution of ⟨a⟩ ~ ⟨ä⟩ makes it clear that stress must have played a role (cf. Table 3).

Final ‑a is also used in some cases to represent Skt. ‑i in the Conversation Manual (cf. CM 101 aśūca for aśuci ‘impure’). It seems that stressed short i was pronounced as more central already in Old Khotanese (for instance, [ɨ] or [ɪ]) and that, particularly in unstressed syllables, it merged with ä [ə]. Oscillations between OKhot. i and ä in stressed syllables may be due to the (later) spoken language of scribes. This scenario could explain oscillations between ‑a‑, ‑i‑, and ‑ä‑: stressed ‑a‑ mostly corresponds to [a], while stressed ‑i‑ mostly corresponds to [ɪ]. In unstressed position, however, both phonemes tend to be reduced to ä [ə].

On the other hand, some peculiar spellings found in the Jīvakapustaka are lexically motivated. Thus, Skt. vidārī ‘milky yam (Ipomoea digitata Linn.)’ is consistently written bīdārī, and Skt. timira ‘darkness of the eye, first stage of cataract’ is consistently written ttamīra (with initial ⟨a⟩ and medial ī). In Khotanese, the corresponding loanwords are bīdara‑ and ttamīra-/ttimīra‑, so that the irregular spellings might have been driven by the Khotanese correspondent. Otherwise, Skt.^JP ī (and ai) writes a stressed Skt. i.

4.4 Writing of Skt. ī

The majority of the time, Skt. ī is written Skt.^JP ī. Sporadically, we also find short i for long ī (e.g. JP 5.2 jātti for jātī ‘white nutmeg [Myristica fragrans Houtt.]’; JP 85.1 pįpali for pippalī ‘long pepper [Piper longum Linn.]’), and short a for long ī (e.g. JP 21.1 pipala for pippalī; JP 85.3 cūrṇāttasāra for cūrṇotīsāra ‘a powder (against) diarrhoea’). At word-end, Skt. ī can be written i or a (e.g. JP 5.2 jātti-pūṣpa for jātī-puṣpaṃ ‘white nutmeg [Myristica fragrans Houtt.]’; JP 8.1 harīttakī for harītakī ‘chebulic myrobalan [Terminalia chebula Retz.]’; ‑a° JP 21.1 pipala° for pippalī° ‘long pepper [Piper longum Linn.]’; JP 41.4 dhāttra° for dhātrī° ‘emblic myrobalan [Phyllanthus emblica Linn.]’). With the exception of JP 26.1 dipyąki for dīpyaka, all occurrences of i or a for ī in the examined corpus are cases where ī was unstressed. In the Conversation Manual, ⟨ī⟩ is used for Skt. ī, while in the Turkish-Khotanese bilingual both i and ī are used for /i/ and /ï/.

4.5 Writing of Skt. u

Almost universally, Skt. u is written ū. In the examined corpus, there are only nine occurrences of Skt.^JP u, and in each case, it corresponds to Skt. u (e.g. JP 5.1 kuṣṭelā for kuṣṭailā ‘costus [Dolomiaea costus Kasana & A.K.Pandey] (and) cardamom [Elettaria cardamomum Thwaites]’; JP 20.4 kāsäṣu for kāseṣu ‘(in cases of) cough’; JP 41.4 bīdārīkṣu for vidārīkṣu ‘milky yam [Ipomoea digitata Linn.] (and) sugar-cane [Saccharum officinarum Linn.]’; JP 50.1 surasā for surasā ‘holy basil [Ocimum sanctum Linn.]’; JP 92.1 uṣäkalpayita for upakalpayet ‘he should prepare’), with the single exception of JP 44.1 gūṇḍuci for guḍūcī ‘guduch (Tinospora cordifolia Willd.)’ (by apparent metathesis). Other notations are rare, such as a (e.g. JP 39.2 pāṇḍattā for pāṇḍutā ‘yellow disease’; JP 60.2 gą̄kṣarā for gokṣurāt ‘with caltrop [Trapa natans Linn.]’), ä (JP 38.4 pauṇḍä-jätta for pāṇḍu-jit ‘(it) is a remover of jaundice’), ā (JP 50.2 dārā for dāru ‘deodar [Cedrus deodara G. Don]’), au (JP 37.4 kauṣṭä for kuṣṭhaṃ ‘costus [Dolomiaea costus Kasana & A.K.Pandey]’).

4.6 Writing of Skt. ū

Skt. ū occurs rarely. It is almost always written Skt^JP ū (e.g. JP 5.5 daśa-mūla-va for daśa-mūla-vat ‘and the ten roots’; JP 56.1 pūraṇä for pūraṇaṃ ‘a medicinal oil’), with one case of Skt^JP u (JP 44.1 gūṇḍuci for guḍūcī ‘guduch [Tinospora cordifolia Willd.]’, by apparent metathesis).

4.7 Writing of Skt. e

Skt. e not occurring at word-end can be written Skt.^JP e, as well as Skt.^JP ai (JP 14.1 vaittasaṃ for vetasa ‘rattan [Calamus rotang Linn.]’; JP 28.1 kąlkaina for kalkena ‘from the paste’; JP 38.2 viśālaidrriṃ for viśālendra ‘cucumber [Cucumis sativus Linn.] (and the seeds of) Pala indigo plant [Wrightia tinctoria B.Heyne ex Roth]’). Alternative notations, however, are even more frequent:

• Skt.^JP i: JP 5.4 mihārśa for mehārśaḥ ‘urinary diseases (and) piles’; JP 21.2 kalkariṃṣā for kalkair eṣāṃ ‘with paste of these (ingredients)’; JP 28.1 itaṃ for etan ‘this’; JP 38.3 iṣā for eṣāṃ ‘of these’; JP 41.1 midā for mede ‘(the two) medās’; JP 43.2 jayit for jayet ‘it will remove’, ikādaśa for ekādaśa ‘eleven’; JP 61.1 pavittä for pibet ‘one should drink’; JP 63.1 harittä for haret ‘it will remove’; JP 92.1 uṣäkalpayita for upakalpayet ‘he should prepare’; JP 93.1 hrrīvira for hrīvera ‘Ceylon swamp mallow (Pavonia zeylanica Linn.)’.

• Skt.^JP a: JP 5.3 paṃcattāyä for pacet toya ‘one should cook (it) with water’; JP 8.2 attas for etais ‘with these (ingredients)’; JP 29.2 jāyätta for jāyate ‘it arises’; JP 41.1 dva for dve ‘two’; JP 60.1 prrastha for prasthe ‘a measure’.

• Skt.^JP ä: JP 5.5 kṣīräṇa for kṣīreṇa ‘with milk’,³¹ ąttad for etad ‘this’; JP 14.2 pacätä for pacet ‘one should cook’; JP 20.4 sarvakāsäṣu for sarvakāseṣu ‘against all types of cough’; JP 81.2 hirivära for hrīvera ‘Ceylon swamp mallow (Pavonia zeylanica Linn.)’.

Usually, Skt. e is written Skt.^JP i when it is not stressed or when occurring in particles. Very rarely, ī is also used for e, such as in JP 21.4 cāgīrī for cāṃgerī ‘horned wood-sorrel (Oxalis corniculata Linn.)’ and JP 36.3 prramīhaṃ for pramehaṃ ‘urinary disease’.

The rationale behind the distribution of ⟨a⟩ ~ ⟨ä⟩ ~ ⟨i⟩ to write Skt. e makes it clear that stress should have played a role (cf. Table 4).

4.8 Writing of Skt. ai

Skt. ai not occurring at word-end can be written Skt.^JP ai. Just like Skt. e, however, so too Skt. ai can be written Skt.^JP e (JP 5.1 kuṣṭelā for kuṣṭhailā ‘costus [Dolomiaea costus Kasana & A.K.Pandey] (and) cardamom [Elettaria cardamomum Thwaites]’; JP 14.2 ą̄jāgaṃvelā for ājagandhailā ‘shrubby basil [Ocimum villosum Weinm.] (and) cardamom’), i (e.g. JP 20.4 kalkisnatta for kalkaistat ‘this with pastes’; JP 41.6 pattrįlā for patrailā ‘Indian bay leaf [Cinnamomum tamala T.Nees & Eberm.] (and) cardamom’), and ä (e.g. JP 20.2 pūṣkärä for pauṣkaraiḥ ‘with Indian lotus [Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn.]’; JP 20.3 gaukṣarakä for gokṣurakaiḥ ‘with tribulus [Tribulus terrestris Linn.]’).

4.9 Writing of Skt. o

Skt. o is written Skt.^JP au (e.g. JP 20.3 gaukṣarakä for gokṣurakaiḥ ‘with tribulus [Tribulus terrestris Linn.]’; JP 26.2 yauna for yoni ‘womb’; JP 29.2 pittauṣa for pittoṣma ‘bile, warmth’, saśauṣā for saṃśoṣāj ‘dryness’; JP 37.4 raugaṃ for rogaṃ ‘disease’) or ā (e.g. JP 25.1 paṭālābūda for paṭolāmbuda ‘pointed gourd [Trichosanthes dioica Roxb.] (and) nut grass [Cyperus rotundus Linn.]’, viṣphāṭä for visphoṭa ‘boils’; JP 26.1 vyą̄ṣa for vyoṣa ‘the three hot ones’, kālā for kola ‘the fruit of the jujube [Zizyphus jujuba Lam.]’; JP 41.5 prrasthānmitta for prasthōnmitaṃ ‘the measure of a prastha’; JP 93.1 cą̄rakā for coraka ‘fenugreek [Trigonella corniculata Linn.]’). In the examined corpus, Skt. o is written twice as Skt.^JP ū (JP 81.1 lūdrä for lodhram ‘lodhra [Symplocos racemosa Roxb.]’; JP 92.3 vaśūdhanä for viśodhanaṃ ‘a cleanser’).

4.10 Writing of Skt. au

Skt. au not occurring at word-end is not frequent. It is generally written Skt.^JP au. More rarely, we also find ū (e.g. JP 20.2 pūṣkärä for pauṣkaraiḥ ‘with Indian lotus [Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn.]’) and, word-finally, ā(ṃ) (e.g. JP 5.2 paṇyą̄ for parṇyau ‘(the two) parṇīs’).

4.11 Writing of Skt. r̥

Skt. r̥ is exceptionally retained. As a rule, it is changed to r/rr with some supporting vowel, usually a. In a few cases, the apparent retention of the vowel r̥ alongside supporting vowel ‑i‑ is due to scribal carelessness. Examples include:

• Skt.^JP r/rra: JP 5.1 brrahattī for br̥hatī ‘Indian nightshades (Solanum virginianum Linn.)’; JP 5.5 smrratta for smr̥tam ‘it is named’; JP 8.2 ghrrątta for ghr̥ta ‘ghee’; JP 18.2 ghrrattā for ghr̥tāt ‘from the ghee’, radhā for r̥ddhi ‘r̥ddhi’; JP 20.3 śragī for śr̥ṅgī ‘water caltrop (Trapa natans Linn.)’; JP 28.1 śrrattä for śr̥tam ‘boiled’.

• Skt.^JP r/rri: JP 8.3 hrrid-rraugaṃ for hr̥d-roge ‘in (the case of) heart disease’; JP 38.2 krriṣṇā for kr̥ṣṇā ‘long pepper (Piper longum Linn.)’; JP 41.3 śriṃgaudaka for śr̥ṅgāṭakaṃ ‘water caltrop (Trapa natans Linn.)’.

• Skt.^JP rī: JP 41.2 rīdhī for r̥ddhiṃ.

• Skt.^JP r̥i: JP 5.4 pettāsr̥iga for pittāsr̥k ‘bile blood’; JP 25.1 kr̥iṣaṇiṃ for kr̥ṣṇa ‘long pepper (Piper longum Linn.)’; JP 26.2 hr̥itta for hr̥t ‘heart’; JP 37.4 hr̥įd for hr̥d ‘heart’; JP 38.2 vr̥iśā for vr̥ṣā ‘Malabar nut (Justicia adhatoda Linn.)’; JP 41.2 mrrįkṣīkā for mr̥dvīkāṃ ‘grape (Vitis vinifera Linn.)’, śriṃgaudaka for śr̥ṅgāṭakaṃ ‘water caltrop (Trapa natans Linn.)’; JP 41.9 hr̥ina for hr̥d; JP 81.6 asr̥įgadrrajä for asr̥gdara ‘irregular menstruation’. JP 85.2 kr̥itta for kr̥taḥ ‘made’.

• Skt.^JP r̥: JP 18.3 hr̥t for hr̥t ‘heart’; JP 20.2 vr̥śtīva for vr̥ścīra ‘hogweed (Boerhavia procumbens Banks ex Roxb)’; JP 44.1 vr̥śį for vr̥ṣaiḥ ‘Malabar nut (Justicia adhatoda Linn.)’, spr̥ttä for smr̥tam ‘it is named’; JP 56.1 śr̥ttä for śr̥taṃ; JP 60.2 kr̥cha for kr̥tsna ‘all’; JP 92.4 hr̥t for hr̥t.

5.1 Devoicing and Voicing

Cases of irregular devoicing and voicing can be found.

• Devoicing: JP 41.4 āttyą̄ni for ādīni ‘and so on’; JP 50.3 cattūrthā for caturdhā ‘four ways’; JP 60.1 kāṃcaka for kāñjika ‘gruel’.

• Voicing: JP 5.4 pettāsr̥iga for pittāsr̥k ‘bile blood’; JP 18.1 drrūṣaṇī for tryūṣaṇaṃ ‘Tryūṣaṇa’; JP 50.1 tvaga for tvak ‘cinnamon (Cinnamomum zeylanicum Garcin ex Blume)’.

5.2 Deaspiration

Even more frequent are irregular deaspiration of consonants, whether they are velar, dental, retroflex, or labial.

• JP 5.1 majäṣṭā for mañjiṣṭhā ‘Indian madder (Rubia cordifolia Linn.)’; JP 14.2 śaṭī for śaṭhī ‘white turmeric (Curcuma zedoaria Roxb.)’; JP 18.1 pāṭi for pāṭhe ‘the (two) velvetleaves (Cissampelos pareira Linn.)’; JP 37.4 kauṣṭä for kuṣṭhaṃ ‘costus (Dolomiaea costus Kasana & A.K.Pandey)’; JP 39.1 śūṭī for śuṇṭhī ‘dry ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe)’; JP 41.2 bārgī for bhārgīṃ ‘clerodendrum (Clerodendrum Linn.)’; JP 43.2 vīdä for vidha ‘kinds’; JP 56.1 kuṣṭa for kuṣṭha; JP 60.1 dady° for dadhy° ‘thick sour milk’; JP 60.2 siṃdäva for saindhava ‘rock salt’; JP 85.1 dyą̄na for dhānya ‘coriander (Coriandrum sativum Linn.)’; 91.2 kaṇva for kaṇṭhe ‘throat’.

As can be seen, the majority of deaspiration cases involve ṭh and the Sanskrit voiced aspirated stops. Both phenomena can be understood within the framework of Khotanese phonology. Khot. ṭh likely represented a somewhat different sound from Skt. ṭh,³² while Khotanese phonology lacked voiced aspirated stops altogether. As a result, Khotanese scribes perceived the unaspirated voiced stops as closer equivalents to the Sanskrit voiced aspirates and often substituted them accordingly. Such oscillations between voiced aspirated and unaspirated stops are attested even in Sanskrit loanwords in Khotanese, reflecting this phonological adaptation. Occasional instances of hypercorrection also occur (e.g. JP 20.4 kaṃṭhakārī for kaṇṭakārī ‘wild eggplants [Solanum virginianum Linn.]’; JP 92.1 badhari for badaraṃ ‘jujube tree [Zizyohus jujuba Lam.]’).

Aspirated consonants that are more regularly written are the voiceless ones, as they are also used in Khotanese phonology or, more generally, in Khotanese Brāhmī to write inherited words:

• kh (JP 5.5. evākhalārtta for evākhilārti ‘(it) indeed (removes) all diseases’; JP 18.4 vikhyāttam for vikhyātam ‘notorious’; JP 28.1 myakhi for mukhe ‘in the night’; JP 41.3 khajūrā for kharjūra ‘Indian date [Phoenix sylvestris Linn.]’; JP 61.2 khādi for khāded ‘eating’).

• th (e.g. JP 5.3 prrastha for prasthaṃ ‘a measure’; JP 8.1 ttathā for tathā ‘and so also’; JP 20.2 pathyā for pathyā ‘chebulic myrobalan [Terminalia chebula Retz.]’; JP 26.1 grrathąkį for granthikaiḥ ‘root of long pepper [Piper longum Linn.]’; JP 29.2 gūthakā for gūthakāḥ ‘disease of the ear’).

• ph (e.g. JP 5.2 ttraphalā for triphalā ‘the three fruits’; JP 20.4 kapha for kapha ‘phlegm’; JP 25.2 viṣphāṭä for viṣphoṭa ‘boils’; JP 29.1 phala for phala ‘fruit’; JP 41.4 phalāna for phalāni).

The more regular use of aspirated voiceless stops in the Jīvakapustaka may be explained along two primary lines of interpretation. The first, and more straightforward, is phonological in nature. If kh, th, and ph were indeed real voiceless aspirated phonemes in Khotanese, it is not surprising that scribes reproduced them more accurately in Sanskrit words as well. This interpretation would support the reconstruction of voiceless aspirated stops as part of the Khotanese phonemic inventory.³³

However, even if the voiceless aspirates were not genuine phonemes, but rather orthographic devices conventionally used to represent fricative sounds,³⁴ the scribes were nonetheless clearly familiar with these graphemes. Their frequent deployment of kh, th, and ph in Sanskrit loanwords may therefore reflect orthographic competence rather than phonological precision. That is, irrespective of whether these symbols denoted voiceless aspirated stops or voiceless fricatives in the Khotanese system, scribes had mastered their use and applied them confidently in the transcription of Sanskrit forms.

5.3 Degemination

Degemination of Sanskrit geminated consonants is frequent. This mostly affects words that have also been borrowed into Khotanese and are typically written with a single consonant.

• JP 18.3 saidha for siddhaṃ ‘properly cooked’ (cf. LKhot. saidha in JP 1.1); JP 21.1 pipala for pippalī ‘long pepper (Piper longum Linn.)’ (cf. LKhot. papala, pipala); JP 86.2 kapathāṣṭakaṃ for kapitthāṣṭaka ‘Kapitthāṣṭaka’.

The opposite development, i.e. duplication of consonants, although not attested in the corpus examined here, does occur sporadically in other sections of the Jīvakapustaka.

5.4 Retroflexion, Deretroflexion, and Contextual Assimilation

Irregular retroflexion (JP 20.4 śaṣyatti for śasyate ‘recommended’) and deretroflexion (JP 61.1 rasādhakiṃ for rasāḍhake ‘in an aḍhaka of juice’; JP 41.3 śriṃgaudaka for śr̥ṃgāṭakaṃ ‘water caltrop [Trapa natans Linn.]’) of consonants are rare but nevertheless attested. Occasional contextual assimilations are attested, such as JP 5.2 śą̄:mā for śyāmā ‘black grass (Alopecurus myosuroides Huds.)’, where Skt. śy is written ś plausibly because the palatal y is assimilated to the preceding palatal consonant and then lost (as in Gāndhārī).

5.5 Unetymological Consonants

Except for unetymological anusvāras, which are widespread,³⁵ unetymological consonants frequently occur. The most frequent are:³⁶

• Unetymological r, mostly by anticipation: JP 26.2 varṣākārśau for vipākārśaḥ ‘indigestion (and) piles’; JP 63.1 śrįgrū for śigru ‘horse-radish (Moringa pterygosperma Gaertn.)’; JP 81.2 sāttavirṣā for sātiviṣā ‘and Indian aconite (Aconitum heterophyllum Wall.)’.

• Unetymological y by metathesis: JP 85.1 dyą̄na for dhānya ‘coriander (Coriandrum sativum Linn.)’; JP 85.3 yikṣa for kṣaya ‘consumption’.

• Unexpected unetymological g: JP 21.2 dagdhā for dadhnā ‘in thick sour milk’.³⁷

• Unexpected unetymological v: JP 81.1 bvilva for bilvaṃ ‘Indian bael (Aegle marmelos Linn.)’; JP 90.2 chvarda for chardi ‘vomiting’.

5.6 Deletion of Consonants

Irregular deletion of consonants is also attested, such as:

• Deletion of nasals (cf. § 3.2).

• Deletion of r: JP 25.1 mūvā for mūrvā ‘bowstring hemp (Dracaena zeylanica Linn.)’; JP 41.5 prrasthadha for prastārdhaṃ ‘half a prastha’, śakkarādhaṃ for śarkarārdha ‘half of sugar’; JP 41.9 mūcchā for mūrcchā ‘fainting’; JP 91.1 vivadhattį for vivardhitaiḥ ‘increased’.

• Deletion of k: JP 91.1 sūṣmilā for sūkṣmelā ‘small cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum Thwaites)’.

• Deletion of g: JP 41.1 nądądhakā for nidigdhike ‘(the two) wild eggplants (Solanum virginianum Linn.)’.

5.7 Interchange of Consonants

Interchanges of consonants are frequently attested. Representative examples include:

• b for v: JP 14.1 bīṇḍda for viḍa ‘black salt’; JP 18.2 bīdārī for vidārīṃ ‘milky yam (Ipomoea digitata Linn.)’; JP 41.4 bīdārīkṣu for vidārīkṣu ‘milky yam (and) sugar-cane (Saccharum officinarum Linn.)’.

• v for b: JP 18.3 pavetta for pibet ‘one should drink’; JP 61.1 pavittä for pibet.

• dh for v: JP 21.1 yädhą̄nakā for yavānikām ‘ajwan (Trachyspermum ammi Sprague)’; JP 63.1 nādhana for nāvanaṃ ‘sternutatory’.

• dv for kv: JP 26.2 padva for pakva ‘boiled’; JP 28.1 dvą̄tha for kvātha ‘decoction’.

• śc for śt: JP 14.2 sūrsaś ta for surasaiś ca ‘and with holy basil (Ocimum sanctum Linn.)’; JP 20.2 vr̥śtīva for vr̥ścīra ‘hogweed (Boerhavia procumbens Banks ex Roxb)’; JP 59.3 rasaś tiṃva for rasaś caiva ‘and juice’; JP 61.1 variktaś ta for viriktaś ca ‘and evacuation’; JP 92.3 śarkarāyāś tū for śarkarāyāś ca ‘and with ground sugar’.

• bd for ml: JP 14.1 dhą̄nyābda for dhānyāmla ‘sour rice gruel’.

• br(r) for ml: JP 60.1 abrra° for amla° ‘sour’.

• bl for ml: JP 85.2 vribla for vr̥⟨ṣā⟩mla ‘sour Malabar nut (Justicia adhatoda Linn.)’.

• l for ḍ: JP 92.1 rmitalīka for tintiḍīkaṃ ‘tamarind (Tamarindus indica Linn.)’.

• tc for rc: JP 20.2 sauvatcalai for sauvarcala ‘sochal salt’.

• th for ph: JP 5.4 śautha for śopho ‘swelling’; JP 25.2 śauthārśą̄ for śophārśo ‘swelling (and) piles’.

• ya for r̥: JP 5.4 kyächanū for kr̥cchra-nut ‘(it) overcomes pain’.

• ht for kt: JP 25.1 ttaihttą̄ for tiktā ‘kurroa (Picrorhiza kurroa Royle ex Benth.)’; JP 25.2 rahta for rakta ‘blood’; JP 37.3 rahtä° for rakta°; JP 38.1 ttahta for tiktā, mahāttįhtta for mahā-tiktaṃ ‘Mahātikta’.

• ch for ts: JP 60.2 kr̥cha for kr̥tsna ‘all’.

Some of these alternations likely result from the graphic similarity of certain akṣaras (cf. § 2.4), but others may have a phonetic aspect to be considered.

The interchange between b and v may have been influenced by either the Khotanese or Middle Indic pronunciation. Thus, initial b‑ in Khot. bidāra‑ ‘milky yam (Ipomoea digitata Linn.)’ ← MInd. (likely Gāndhārī, cf. Skt. vidārī) is also found in Tocharian (cf. TB biḍari in THT2676 + THT3211 v6; Dieter Maue apud Peyrot 2014: 140), and Tibetan (cf. frequent bi da ri ← Skt. vidārī in the Siddhasāra).³⁸ The occasional reverse alternation of b > v in medial position might reflect a fricativisation of the original stop. Relevant parallels appear in the Conversation Manual, where intervocalic Skt. b and bh are often written v (e.g. CM 28 avīdarma for abhidharma ‘Buddhist dogmas’), and Skt. v may appear as b after r or a nasal (e.g. CM 18 sarba for sarva ‘whole’, CM 7 sabatsara for saṃvatsara ‘year’).

Likewise, the Jīvakapustaka manuscript consistently renders śc as śt. These might be understood as hypercorrect forms. In Late Khotanese, similar spelling oscillations in clusters containing a sibilant and a stop are indeed frequent, e.g. hīvyauṣṭā‑ < OKhot. hävyauṣcā‑ ‘appropriation’; ṇaʾstyauña‑ < OKhot. *nätaʾscauña‑ ‘limit’. Alternations between śc and śt are also attested in the Conversation Manual (e.g. CM 124 paśtatta for paścāt ‘behind’) and elsewhere in Khotanese manuscript tradition (cf. sūśca ~ sūśta; harśca ~ harśta; hīścä ~ hīśtä).

The substitution of kt with ht in Indic loanwords is particularly noteworthy.³⁹ Since the cluster [kt] does not occur in inherited Khotanese vocabulary and is rare even in borrowed Sanskrit terms, its systematic rendering as ht ([ɦt] or [ht]) may reflect the actual vernacular pronunciation of Sanskrit at the time, as well as articulatory difficulty on the part of Late Khotanese speakers. Similarly, in the Conversation Manual, kt is either written as ht (e.g. CM 137 rahta for rakta ‘blood’) or broken up with an epenthetic vowel (e.g. CM 60, 63 bhakatta for bhakta ‘appetite’).

Finally, occasional instances of Skt.^JP ch for ts may result from reverse spellings, with ts being substituted for cch in some contexts. Compare also similar spellings in the Conversation Manual: CM 90 prraitsa for pr̥ccha ‘ask!’, CM 108 prratsadaya for pracchādaya ‘cover!’, CM 44 gatsa for gaccha ‘go!’, etc.

6.1 Final Vowels of Compounds

Correct renderings of the final syllables of the Sanskrit original occur only occasionally. This is particularly evident in the case of nominal compounds: a‑stems can be written with final a° (e.g. JP 5.1 vakrra-ttālīsa° for vakra-tālīsa° ‘Indian valerian [Valeriana jatamansi D.Don] (and) East Himalayan fir [Abies spectabilis D.Don]’; JP 8.1 yava-kṣāra vi{ṇ}ḍaga for yava-kṣāra-viḍaṅga ‘alkali made of barley, false black pepper [Embelia ribes Burm.f.]’, etc.), ā‑stems with final ā° (e.g. JP 5.1 kuṣṭelā° for kuṣṭhailā° ‘costus [Dolomiaea costus Kasana & A.K.Pandey] (and) cardamom [Elettaria cardamomum Thwaites]’; JP 20.2 pathyā° for pathyā° ‘chebulic myrobalan [Terminalia chebula Retz.]’, etc.), and ī‑stems with final ī° (e.g. JP 5.2 kauttī° (?) for kauntī° ‘fragrant pepper’; JP 14.2 śaṭī° for śaṭhī° ‘white turmeric [Curcuma zedoaria Roxb.]’; JP 20.2 brrahattī° for br̥hatī° ‘Indian nightshades [Solanum virginianum Linn.]’). Occasionally, even the stem-final vowel of i‑stems is written correctly (e.g. JP 39.1 kr̥iṣṇāgni° for kr̥ṣṇāgni° ‘long pepper [Piper longum Linn.] (and) leadwort [Plumbago zeylanica Linn.]’).

However, all the alternative spellings for Skt. a, ā, ī, and i discussed in previous sections also occur in compound-final position, where final vowels are frequently not rendered accurately. Examples include:

• a-stems: ‑ä° JP 5.3 varṇä° for varṇa° ‘complexion’, JP 5.4 śvāsä° for śvāsa° ‘uncomfortable breathing’; ‑i° JP 14.1 vyāṣi° for vyoṣa° ‘the three hot ones’, JP 26.1 dipyąki° for dīpyaka°; ‑ai° JP 5.4 haikā-grrai for hikkogra ‘hiccup (and) severe (pain)’.

• i‑stems: ‑a° JP 5.5 evākhalārtta-ghna for evākhilārti-ghnaṃ ‘(it) indeed removes all diseases’, JP 14.1 pūṣkarājāja° for puṣkarājāji° ‘Indian lotus (Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn.) (and) cumin (Cuminum cyminum Linn.)’; ‑ī° JP 41.1 parṇīnī° for parṇinīr° ‘parṇinī plant’.

• ī‑stems: ‑i° JP 5.2 jātti-pūṣpa for jātī-puṣpaṃ ‘white nutmeg (Myristica fragrans Houtt.)’, JP 8.1 harīttakī° for harītakī° ‘chebulic myrobalan (Terminalia chebula Retz.)’; ‑a° JP 41.4 dhāttra° for dhātrī° ‘emblic myrobalan (Phyllanthus emblica Linn.)’.

• u‑stems: ‑ū° JP 14.1 haigū° for hiṅgu° ‘asa foetida’, JP 50.1 ttūlādhāṃbū for tulārdhāmbu ‘the liquid (obtained by boiling) half tulā’; ‑ā° JP 50.2 dārā for dāru ‘deodar (Cedrus deodara G. Don)’, etc.

• as‑stems: ‑ā° for ‑o° JP 25.2 śauthārśą̄ for śophārśo.

6.2 Case Markers

With only a few exceptions (e.g. JP 5.2 haraidrre for nom.acc.du. haridre ‘turmeric [Curcuma longa Linn.] and bitter ginger [Zerumbet zingiber T.Lestib.]’), case forms are generally not written correctly:

• nom.acc.du. of ā‑stems: ‑a for ‑e JP 5.2 śarāva for śārive ‘the (two) sarsaparillas (Smilax ornata Lem.)’; ‑i for ‑e JP 38.1 śārävį for śārive, JP 38.2 naśi for niśe ‘the (two) turmerics (Curcuma longa Linn.)’.

• nom.acc.du. of neuter a‑stems: ‑a for ‑e JP 41.2 pūnarṇavä for punarṇave ‘the (two) punarṇavas’.

• instr.abl.pl.: ‑aṃ for ‑aiḥ JP 5.2 padama-kesaraṃ for pad{a}ma⟨ka⟩-kesaraiḥ ‘filament of the lotus (Lotus Linn.)’.⁴⁰

• loc.sg. of a‑stems: ‑a for ‑e JP 18.3 kṣīra for kṣīre ‘in milk’, JP 20.1 rasāḍhaka for rasāḍhake ‘in an aḍhaka of juice’; ‑aṃ for ‑e JP 5.3 cattūragūṇaṃ for catur{a}guṇe ‘in four times’, JP 18.3 cattūrgūṇaṃ for caturguṇe; ‑ä for ‑e JP 37.1 daśūgūṇä for daśaguṇe ‘in ten times’.

• nom.sg.m. of in‑stems: ‑ä for ‑i JP 50.3 dhvasä for dhvaṃsi ‘it removes’.

• nom.acc.du. of masculine a‑stems: ‑ā(ṃ) for ‑au JP 5.2 vaḍagau for viḍaṅgau ‘the (two) false black pepper (Embelia ribes Burm.f.)’, paṇyą̄ for pa⟨r⟩ṇyau ‘the (two) pointed-leaved uraria (Uraria picta Desv.)’.

6.3 The Visarga and the Colon

Errors in the writing of case markers are due not only to variation in vowel notation, which certainly leads to confusion between stems and endings, but also to the erratic and inappropriate use of certain diacritics.

In particular, the manuscript does not clearly distinguish between the colon as a punctuation mark and the visarga. As a result, some colons transcribed as such by Bailey might in fact represent visargas. However, the inconsistency in the presence or absence of colons means that a number of case endings (such as nom.sg. ‑aḥ of a‑stem, nom.sg. ‑iḥ of i‑stems, instr.pl. ‑aiḥ, nom.acc.pl. ‑āḥ of ā-stems) are frequently rendered incorrectly. Since most of the colons occur at the end of verses, it seems likely that the scribe often misinterpreted the visarga as a punctuation mark indicating verse-end. The following examples illustrate both the omission and placement of colons in correspondence with the Sanskrit visarga:

• Unwritten colon in verse-final position (15×):

  • ‑V̄̆ for ‑V̄̆ḥ: JP 5.1 °dārv-elavālakā for °dārv-elavālukāḥ ‘elephant apple (Dillenia indica Linn.)’; JP 38.2 °vr̥iśā for °vr̥ṣāḥ ‘Malabar nut (Justicia adhatoda Linn.)’.

  • ‑a/ą for ‑aiḥ: JP 5.2 °kesarą for °kesaraiḥ ‘filament of the lotus (Lotus Linn.)’; JP 37.1 °caṃdąną̄tpala for °candanotpalaiḥ ‘with white sandal (Santalum album Linn.) (and) water lily (Nymphaea Linn.)’.

  • -i/į for ‑aiḥ: JP 25.1 °parpaṭį for °parpaṭaiḥ ‘with diamond flower (Oldenlandia corymbosa Linn.)’; JP 39.1 palāmatti for palonmitaiḥ ‘the measure of a pala’.

  • -ä for ‑aiḥ: JP 20.2 °pūṣkärä for °pauṣkaraiḥ ‘with Indian lotus (Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn.)’.

  • ‑i for ‑aḥ: JP 41.4 payi for payaḥ ‘milk’.

  • ‑ā for ‑aiḥ: JP 85.1 °nāgarā for °nāgaraiḥ ‘with euphorbia (Euphorbia Antiquorum Linn.)’.

  • ‑a for ‑āḥ: JP 92.2 cādha-kārṣarka for cārdhakārṣikāḥ ‘and half a kārṣika’.

• Unwritten colon in non-verse-final position (20×):

  • -V̄̆ for ‑V̄̆ḥ: JP 41.1 cattūprra for catasraḥ ‘four’; JP 85.3 °sādārśa for °sādārśaḥ ‘exhaustion (and) piles’.

  • -e for ‑aiḥ: JP 5.3 akṣāśe for akṣāṃśaiḥ ‘an akṣa of each’.

  • -i/-į for ‑aḥ: JP 5.3 sarpaṣi for sarpiṣaḥ ‘with ghee’; JP 26.1 °grrathąkį for °granthikaiḥ ‘root of long pepper (Piper longum Linn.)’.

  • -i/-į for ‑aiḥ: JP 39.1 °kṣāri for °kṣāraiḥ ‘with caustic’; JP 50.3 ąkṣāśakį for akṣāṃśikaiḥ ‘with the amount of an akṣa’.

  • ‑a/-ą for ‑aiḥ: JP 43.2 piṣṭaṃ for piṣṭaiḥ ‘(he) grinds’.

  • ‑ā/-ą̄ for ‑āḥ: JP 20.1 °pattrāyāṃ for patrāyāḥ ‘with the leaf’.

  • -ä for ‑aiḥ: JP 20.3 gaukṣarakä for gokṣurakaiḥ ‘with tribulus (Tribulus terrestris Linn.)’; JP 43.2 ttūlyāśä for tulyāṃśaiḥ ‘in equal portion’.

  • ‑au for ‑oḥ: JP 29.2 karṇayau for karṇayoḥ ‘in the ear’.

• Written colon in verse-final position (11×):

  • -V̄̆: for ‑V̄̆ḥ: JP 14.1 dīpyakai: for dīpyakaiḥ ‘with dīpyaka’; JP 29.2 karṇą-gūthakā: for karṇa-gūthakāḥ ‘disease of the ear’; JP 90.1 dhyattā: for dhr̥tāḥ ‘increased’.

  • -ä: for ‑aḥ: JP 43.2 rā-yikṣmaṇä: for rā⟨ja⟩-yakṣmaṇaḥ ‘great consumption’.

  • -i/į for ‑aḥ: JP 86.2 krrįttį: for kr̥taḥ ‘made’.

  • -i/į for ‑aiḥ: JP 56.1 sidhavį: for saindhavaiḥ ‘rock salt’; JP 85.1 samį: for samaiḥ ‘with the same (amount of)’.

In general, where the colon appears in the expected position of a visarga, it typically coincides with the end of a verse. However, the colon is also frequently used verse-finally even in cases where no visarga is expected.

6.4 Word-Final Nasals

Word-final nasals are only rarely written. This not only applied to plain nasals, i.e. ‑m and ‑n, but also to the anusvāra.

• ‑aṃ (correct): JP 5.3 kalyą̄ṇąkaṃ for kalyāṇakaṃ ‘Kalyāṇaka’; JP 8.1 °caittrakaṃ for °citrakaṃ ‘wild leadwort (Plumbago zeylanica Linn.)’; JP 18.2 karṣa-samaṃ for karṣa-samaṃ ‘a karṣa each’; JP 37.3 visarpaṃ for vīsarpaṃ ‘erysipelas’.

• ‑am (correct): JP 8.3 vajrram for vajram ‘thunderbolt’; JP 18.4 vikhyāttam for vikhyātam ‘notorious’.

• ‑a for ‑am: JP 5.3 °kara for °karam ‘promoter’; JP 5.4 vaṣāpaha for viṣāpaham ‘(it) removes poison’; JP 5.5 smrratta for smr̥tam ‘so-called’; JP 18.4 kṣayāpaha for kṣayāpaham ‘(it) cures consumption’, etc.

• ‑a for ‑aṃ: JP 5.2 jātti-pūṣpa for jātī-puṣpaṃ ‘white nutmeg (Myristica fragrans Houtt.)’; JP 5.5 evākhalārtta-ghna for evākhilārti-ghnaṃ ‘(it) indeed removes all diseases’; JP 8.2 ghrrątta-prrastha for ghr̥ta-prasthaṃ ‘a prastha of ghee’; JP 14.2 ghrrartta for ghr̥taṃ ‘ghee’; JP 18.2 ttrąkaṃṭhaka for trikaṇṭakaṃ ‘caltrops (Pedalium murex Linn.)’, etc.

• ‑ä for ‑am: JP 5.1 °brrahattī-dvayä for °br̥hatī-dvayam ‘with the two Indian nightshades (Solanum virginianum Linn.)’; JP 5.2 sa-dāḍamä for sa-dāḍimam ‘and pomegranate (Punica granatum Linn.)’; JP 14.2 tavāreṇä for nivāraṇam ‘(it) relieves’; JP 28.1 śrrattä for śr̥tam ‘boiled’; JP 37.3 jvarä for jvaram ‘fever’.

• ‑ä for ‑aṃ: JP 8.3 kāsä śvāsä for kāsaṃ śvāsaṃ ‘cough (and) uncomfortable breathing’; JP 18.4 drrūṣaṇä for tryūṣaṇaṃ ‘Tryūṣaṇa’; JP 21.3 °dauṣä for °doṣaṃ ‘disturbance’.

• ‑i for ‑aṃ: JP 25.2 prrasthi for prasthaṃ ‘a measure’.

• ‑ā for ‑āṃ: JP 8.1 vacā for vacāṃ ‘sweet flag (Acorus calamus Linn.)’; JP 18.1 ttraphalā for triphalāṃ ‘the three fruits’.

• ‑a for ‑āṃ: JP 37.4 kaumala for kāmalāṃ ‘jaundice’; JP 41.2 ātmagūpta for ātmaguptāṃ ‘velvet beans (Mucuna pruriens Linn.)’.

• ‑ā for ‑am: JP 38.3 kalkattā for kalkitam ‘with a paste’.

• ‑äm for ‑im: JP 21.3 gūda-bhrräśārttäm for guda-bhraṃśārtim ‘prolapsus of the intestines’.

• ‑ī for ‑īṃ: JP 8.1 kaṭūka-rą̄haṇī for kaṭuka-rohiṇīṃ ‘kaṭuka-rohiṇī’; JP 18.2 bīdārī for vidārīṃ ‘milky yam (Ipomoea digitata Linn.)’.

As expected, word-final ‑m and ‑n are more regularly written when the following word begins with a vowel (e.g. JP 18.4 vikhyāttam attam anūttamä for vikhyātam e⟨tad dhr̥⟩tam anuttamam ‘this notorious (ghee), (when) applied, is excellent’; JP 21.3 gūda-bhrräśārttäm aunāha-hattam itta for guda-bhraṃśārtim ānāha-ghr̥tam eta⟨d⟩ ‘this ghee (prevents) prolapsus of the intestines (and) suppression of urine’).

6.5 The Notation of Word-Final Consonants

As with the nasals, final consonants in the Jīvakapustaka manuscript are rendered inconsistently. Nonetheless, certain tendencies emerge. Final ‑ś is most consistently written after c‑ as ‑ś t‑ (e.g. JP 14.2 sūrsaś ta for surasaiś ca ‘and with holy basil [Ocimum sanctum Linn.]’; JP 92.3 śarkarāyāś tū for śarkarāyāś ca ‘and with sugar’), while other consonants, particularly ‑r (and ‑m/n), tend to be written only when followed by a vowel (e.g. JP 8.2 akṣa-prramą̄ṇär attas for akṣa-pramāṇair etais ‘[one should cook a prastha of ghee] with these (ingredients) in the measure of one akṣa’, JP 50.3 piṣṭar ąkṣāśakiṃ for piṣṭair akṣāṃśikaiḥ ‘ground with the amount of an akṣa’).

Another recurrent scribal issue concerns the use of the virāma. The proper form of this diacritical mark was a downward-opening curve above the consonant. However, it is very rarely written as such. Instead, in the position where a virāma is expected, we typically find either the anusvāra (e.g. JP 8.2 vapaucayetaṃ for vipācayet; JP 81.5 cadāpayataṃ for pradapayet) or the vowel ‑ä. The most frequent word-final consonant is ‑t, for which the following spellings are attested:⁴¹

• ‑tˎ (written virāma) ~ -t (8×): JP 21.2 vapācayitˎ for vipācayet ‘one should cook’; JP 39.1 °nūtˎ for °nut ‘(it) overcomes’; JP 43.2 jayitˎ for jayet ‘it will remove’.

• -ta ~ -tta (9×): JP 5.4 pettāsr̥iga-vātta-ttūtta for pittāsr̥k-vāta-nut ‘(it) overcomes bile-blood (and) wind-blood’; JP 8.2 vapaucayeta for vipācayet ‘one should cook’; JP 90.1 nūtta for nut ‘(it) overcomes’; JP 92.1 uṣäkalpayita for upakalpayet ‘one should prepare’; JP 92.3 cūrṇayita for cūrṇayet ‘one should reduce it in powder’.

• -tä ~ -ttä (7×): JP 14.2 pącätä for pacet ‘one should cook’; JP 20.3 pacättä for pacet ‘id.’; JP 26.2 °jita for °jit ‘it removes’; JP 61.1 pavittä for pibet ‘one should drink’; JP 63.1 harittä for haret ‘it removes’.

• -tte (1×): JP 8.2 srrāvaye:tte for srāvayet ‘one should cause [the wind] to flow’.

• -ti ~ ‑tti (3×): JP 26.2 °nūtti for °nut ‘(it) overcomes’; JP 81.4 pīṣayittąti for peṣayet ‘he should cause to grind’.

• -tī (1×): JP 37.3 vapācayätī for vipācayet ‘one should cook’.

• -∅ (11×): JP 5.3 etta for etat ‘this’, P 5.5 daśa-mūla-va for daśa-mūla-vat ‘the ten roots (previously) mentioned’; JP 18.2 ghrrattā for ghr̥tāt ‘from the ghee’; JP 41.5 kuryā for kuryāt ‘one should prepare’; JP 41.9 °nū for °nut ‘(it) overcomes’; JP 60.1 °balā for °balāt ‘with sida root (Sida cordifolia Linn.)’; JP 91.1 syā for syāt ‘it should be’.

It is plausible that the original manuscript contained the virāma in its proper form. The few cases where unexpected anusvāras appear in place of the virāma likely reflect the copyist’s attempt to reproduce a sign unfamiliar to him, namely the virāma, by substituting it with a sign with which he was more familiar. Elsewhere, however, the scribe appears to have developed a set of alternative strategies to mark final consonants. Crucially, the practice of writing Cä# or Ca# for C# is paralleled in other manuscripts where final consonants are expected.

In the Conversation Manual, which, apart from one exception (CM 1 śar(ī)rä for śarīra ‘relating to the body’) avoids the ä‑diacritic, the following strategies are observed:

• -∅: CM 148 ada for adhas ‘below, down’, CM 32, 37 aha for aham ‘I’, CM 13 īdanī for idānīm ‘now’, CM 79 ttątta for tatas ‘thus’, CM 33 ttavatta for tāvat ‘so great …’, CM 33 yava for yāvat, CM 32, 58, 59, 156 śīgrra for śīghram ‘quickly’;

• -Ca: CM 36 ūttaiṣṭava{da}tta for uttiṣṭhavat, CM 124 paśtatta for paścāt ‘again’, CM 54 mahatta for mahat ‘great’, CM 38 yavatta for yāvat, CM 41 śīlavatta for śīlavat.

In both the Turkish-Khotanese bilingual and the Chinese Vajracchedikā, final consonants are consistently represented using ‑Cä, sometimes alternating with ‑Ci in the latter manuscript. As Emmerick & Pulleyblank (1993: 46) note, ‘i shares with ä the function of the epenthetic vowel after a Chinese final consonant’, although ‘ä greatly predominates in this role and, unlike i, is probably never found standing for the main vowel of a Chinese syllable’.

This brings us to the key point that Khotanese had no sign for the virāma in its Brāhmī inventory. This absence is historically explicable: when the script was first adopted in the Old Khotanese period, all word-final segments were vocalic, rendering the adoption of the virāma unnecessary. Indeed, the only consistent use of the virāma in both Old and Late Khotanese in the auspicious word siddhamˎ, a learned formula likely adopted as a sort of logogram.⁴²

Yet as Khotanese evolved, particularly in the transition to its late stage, phonological reduction processes (including apocope of both vowels and consonants) created the need to represent final consonants more systematically. Since the virāma was not part of the Khotanese script, scribes devised phonographic workarounds.

This raises a crucial question: can the sequences Ca (unmodified akṣara) and Cä (reduced vowel) signal final consonants? For instance, in Old Khotanese, the nominative singular of a-stem nouns ended in ‑ä, while the nominative plural ended in ‑a—forms generally retained in conservative Late Khotanese. In proper Late Khotanese texts, however, we often find an apparent reversal: the nominative singular appears with final ‑a, and the nominative plural with ‑ä. This mismatch may be explained by assuming a phonological weakening in final position, with loss of the shwa in the singular (reflected by an unmodified consonant) and weakening of ‑a to ‑ä in the plural.⁴³

Supporting this interpretation, the only consonants for which the Khotanese Brāhmī had a dedicated final marker were nasals, which may potentially be marked with the anusvāra. In fact, the anusvāra is only used for the nominative (< OKhot. ‑Nä), accusative (< OKhot. ‑Nu), and genitive-dative singular (< OKhot. ‑Ni) of Late Khotanese a‑stem nouns, while endings that contained a final ‑a in Old Khotanese (e.g. the nominative-accusative plural ‑Na or the instr.abl.pl. ‑äna) are generally written ‑Na or ‑Nä (with variant spellings) and never ‑ṃ. Compare the following:⁴⁴

• -ṃ: e.g. nom.sg. avąjsaṃ (Rāma) < avajsamä ‘unhonoured’; nom.sg. āvaṃ (Bcd), ātaṃ (Rāma) < OKhot. ātamä ‘wish, desire’; nom.sg. pajsaṃ (Avdh, Rāma) < OKhot. pajsama‑ ‘veneration, honour’; nom.sg. phāṃ (PiŚ) < OKhot. phānä; nom.acc.sg. r(r)ūṃ (PiŚ, Si) < nom.sg. rrūṇä, acc.sg. rrūṇu ‘oil’; nom.sg. viysaṃ (Si) < OKhot. viysamä ‘unequal, incompatible’; nom.sg. vyasthāṃ (Sudh^F) < OKhot. vyasthānä ‘establishment’; nom.sg. śāśaṃʾ (Bcd, Rāma) < OKhot śśāśanä ‘teaching’; nom.sg. śaudūvaṃ (Sudh^A) < OKhot. śśädūtanä ‘Śuddhodana’, gen.dat.sg. Suvarṇabhāsauttaṃ (Suv^P; vs. conservative nom.sg. Suvarṇabhāsauttamä Suv^P) < OKhot. Suvarṇabhāsottamä;

• -Na: e.g. nom.acc.pl. avajsama (Rāma) < avajsama ‘unhonoured’; nom.acc.pl. āvama (Bcd, Suv^P) < OKhot. ātama ‘wishes’; āysana (Vim) < OKhot. āysana ‘seats’; nom.acc.pl. jų̄na (PiŚ) < OKhot. gyūna ‘times (Fr. fois)’; nom.acc.pl. natca-ųṇa (Rāma) < OKhot. natca-ūṇa ‘senseless’; nom.acc.pl. pajsama (Suv^P) < OKhot. pajsama ‘venerations, honours’; instr.abl.sg. pajsamäna (Avdh) < OKhot. pajsamäna; nom.acc.pl. padauna (Sudh^P) < OKhot. padāna ‘authorities’; nom.acc.pl. bhavana (Rāma) < OKhot. bhavana ‘dwelling-places’; instr.abl.sg. rūṃna (PiŚ) < OKhot. rrūṇäna ‘with the oil’; nom.acc.pl. rrųna (Si) < OKhot. rrūṇa ‘oils’; nom.acc.pl. sāna (Sudh^C), sauna (Sudh^P) < OKhot. sāne ‘enemies’; nom.acc.pl. viysama (Si) < OKhot. viysama ‘unequal, incompatible’.

• -Nä: e.g. nom.acc.pl. graunä (Sudh^P) < OKhot. grauna ‘garlands’, instr.abl.sg. rūṃnä (PiŚ) < OKhot. rrūṇäna ‘with the oil’.

Whether ‑Ca# and ‑Cä# function systematically to indicate final consonants will be examined in future publications.