Arabic Loanwords in Oldest New Persian Texts According to the Turfan Manichaean Manuscript Fragments

This article surveys a number of stylistic variables in the orthography of Turfan Manichaean manuscript pages. Some Arabic words has been used in the Classical New Persian fragments that were written in Manichaean alphabet and are introduced in this article. One of the texts in Manichaean script is contemporary with the oldest Classical Persian texts and belongs to the advent of New Persian. The study of this text and other similar fragments has brought forth the identification of about 90 Arabic loanwords in early New Persian texts. This study has reviewed stylistic variables of letters in the late Manichaean fragments, and through this, has found some missing links in the development process of Manichaean script.