The Musical Terms in Manichaean Poetry

In the study of Manichaean’s versified fragments, it must always be considered that these fragments, in general, have been used as a song or as a text’s chant. Therefore, in analysis of each poem, there are some technical terms, which apart from a try to comprehend the rhetorical phrases and discern the terminology, must be scanned carefully according to the musical terms. Due to the text format or usage, some words and phrases are not used in their typical meanings, but in specialized or figurative ones. Therefore, cognition of these terms and paying attention to their secondary meanings are the clue to solve that ambiguity.
In analyzing these poems, commonly, owing to the lack of firm evidences, the words or phrases have inevitably been translated word-byword or literally by researchers. And somehow for the discovering and discerning the correct meaning of that poetry the syntax has been changed by them. However, that fragment is yet obscure and meaningless, and the researcher’s question marks still exist. This article tries, as much as possible, due to technical and secondary meanings of the words in Manichaean Parthian and Middle Persian poems, to point out some notes and resolve some ambiguities.