Apropos the Berlin MS authored by Hakim Yahya b. al-Husain al-Shāshi

Among the manuscripts preserved in Berlin’s Central Library, there is a unique manuscript, untitled and undated, written by Hakim Yahya b. al-Husain al-Shāshi on ethical and philosophical matters in thirty-six chapters. The work is in Persian prose and of Transoxiana character that, given certain historical evidence, must have been written in the 5th H./11th CE century.Introducing this MS, the present authors have addressed the textological aspects of the manuscript at phonological, lexical, and syntactical levels. Writing in pure Persian (Farsi) is one of the marked characteristics of this MS., with few Arabic words therein. The MS is a remarkable treasure of words and expressions used in Transoxiana. Besides, despite the dominance of a moralizing aura of the text, it is far from being a work of sermons and homilies.