An Old Letter from Khotan: A Review of an Early Judeo-Persian Letter Called Dandān-Uiliq II

This paper deals with an old Judeo-Persian letter called Dandān-Uiliq II (Abbreviated as DU II); which probably dates back to 9th century CE and further to its contents, has some important linguistic features, often without existence in later Persian texts written in Arabic script, for instance, the use of the adverb bē = but (as in Qur’an-e Qods translation), use of the conjunction kū, the use of the verb h- (to be) and ancient subjunctive mood. This paper also presents a new translation of the letter and its ancient linguistic features discussed in comparison to Early Persian texts (in Perso-Arabic script) and some early Persian translations of Qur’an, especially Qur’an-e Quds (probably written in Sistan in 12th CE). These features represent language transmission from Middle Persian to Neo-Persian (Dari). The given translation is not the same as previous English and Chinese versions and reflects my understanding of its syntax and morphology.