Abstract
The paper is devoted to the Tocharian phenomenon of preposition repetition, which occurs when a preposition governs conjuncts. This phenomenon is well known in Old Russian, but it is also described for some other ancient and modern languages, e.g. Latin, Greek, Hebrew and modern French. In the majority of these languages, the occurrence of reiterated prepositions is optional. This is different in Tocharian: although there are cases of both repetition and nonrepetition of prepositions with conjuncts, repetition seems to be obligatory. On the basis of an analysis of all available contexts, it will be argued that preposition repetition in Tocharian is a regular syntactic mechanism unless metrical characteristics of particular verse texts cause omission of the preposition.
1. Introduction
The Tocharian languages (Toch A and Toch B) have only two prepositions beside a preponderance of postpositions: A śla, B śle “with” and A sne, B snai “without”, which require the Accusative case. Unlike postpositions, which can act as adverbs and preverbs, both prepositions show only adnominal use [Hackstein 1997: 55]. In addition to these features, the Tocharian prepositions share a further syntactical peculiarity which has not been previously noted: when governing conjuncts, the prepositions can either occur only with the first of them or be repeated with each conjunct. Cf. in Toch. A:
A 320 a7 śla ṣulas ṣtāmäntu tkaṃ“the earth with mountains (and) trees …”A YQ N.5 a8 sne rse sne yäslurñe“without hate, without enmity”A 63 b4–5 sne wleṣlune-yo1 sne psäl sne käs (klu)“without cultivation and without chaff, without peel (the rice …)”
And in Toch. B:
B 31 a5 snai laiwo ṣpane“without rest (and) sleep”B 197 a3 s(n)ai sa(k snai la)kle“without happiness, without suffering”B 169 a4 ///[ono]lmi snai yräm snai keś snai ṣa(ṃ)ṣäl •“[beeings] without measure, without number, without count”
In many similar cases the conjuncts apparently represent fixed collocations, which are attested without preposition as well, cf.: sne sem waste (A 168 a2) and sem waste (A 122 a4) “refuge (and) protection”; snai räser snai (śc)o(n)ai (B 259 b4) and räser ścono (B 275 b5) “hate (and) enmity”; śle ynämñanā ślye ṣlyämña[nā] (B 343 a3) and lwāsa ṣlyamñana ynamñana (B 29 b8) “running (and) flying animals”.
Cases of reiterated and single preposition show a noticeably asymmetrical distribution in poetry and prose texts: prepositions can be repeated in both prose and verse, while single prepositions are found almost exclusively in poetry. An analysis of all the contexts available in [CEToM] demonstrates that preposition repetition is a regular syntactic mechanism, unless metrical restrictions cause single preposition use.
The paper has the following structure. Section 2 presents an overview of the existing research on the phenomenon of preposition repetition in various languages. In section 3, Tocharian data is analyzed and divided into groups as follows: single preposition cases (3.1) and preposition repetition cases (3.2), which are, in turn, sorted into those cases which are definitely in verse (3.2.1) and definitely in prose (3.2.2), as well as cases whose text type remains unclear (3.2.3). In section 3.3 two further examples are considered, which are to different degrees ambiguous as to their classification in one of the preceding groups. In section 4, a preliminary interpretation of the observed cases is suggested. One possible exception to the distribution of repeated and single prepositions is discussed in section 5, and conclusions about the preposition repetition rule are drawn in section 6.
2. Preposition Repetition in Other Languages
Preposition repetition with conjoined noun phrases is attested in several Indo-European and non-Indo-European languages. According to [Gildersleeve 1903: 268], prepositions in Latin can be repeated “with different words which stand in the same connection, […] when the preposition is emphatic, or the individual words are to be distinguished”, e.g.
et ex urbe et ex agris“both from (the) city and from (the) country”2
Otherwise, if the conjoined words build a kind of hendiadys, the preposition tends to be used only once [ibid.].
A similar situation can be observed in Ancient Greek, where “for the sake of emphasis or to mark opposition and difference, a preposition is repeated with each noun dependent on the preposition” but the second preposition can be omitted “when the two nouns (whether similar or dissimilar in meaning) unite to form a complex” [Smyth 1920: 369]. Cf. examples with and without repeated preposition:
According to [Krohn 2011: 313], in Hebrew “there is a preference for repeating identical prepositions. This practice facilitates the identification of multiple object complements emanating from the same verb.” Preposition repetition with conjuncts is also attested in Standard Phoenician and in Aramaic [Garr 2004: 177]. At least in Biblical Hebrew, the repetition of prepositions can occur not only with conjoined noun phrases but also with nouns in apposition [Garr 2004: 176–177]. As far as I am aware, outside of Hebrew this feature is attested only in Old Russian, where the use of preposition repetition is significantly wider than only with conjuncts [Worth 1982, Klenin 1989, Zaliznyak 2004].
Beside Old Russian, the phenomenon is also known, although to a lesser extent, in Old Czech, Old Serbian and Lithuanian [Worth 1982: 495] and can also occur in modern Russian [Klenin 1989: 188, Satyukova 2014]. Moreover, preposition repetition exists in modern French, where “before nouns, repetition is almost universal with de, à, and en, and also with sur, sous, dans, sans, and comme” [Bissel 1944: 199]. At the same time, with part of these prepositions, namely with sur, sous, dans, sans, and comme, “one finds now and then a case of no repetition with objects that mean practically the same thing, like “mollesse” and “oisiveté” or “garde” and “protection” ” [ibid.].
Despite these descriptions, the phenomenon of preposition repetition has so far lacked a broader typological comparison of possible rules for its occurrence. The most thorough consideration of cases of preposition repetition as well as a general discussion of the nature of this phenomenon is presented in research based on Old Russian data, which should therefore be explored in more detail.
According to Worth and Zaliznyak, Old Russian preposition repetition is not an emphatic device, as assumed earlier in [Borkovskiy, Kuznetsov 1965: 450], but a purely grammatical mechanism, similar (and additional) to case marking [Worth 1982: 503; Zaliznyak 2004:164]. Differently from Worth and Zaliznyak, Klenin argues that Old Russian preposition repetition is not additional to case marking, which codes the internal syntax of noun phrases, but marks “the external syntactic status of the NP (with respect to PP control)” [Klenin 1989: 199].
To summarize Zaliznyak’s classification, Old Russian preposition repetition is attested with the three following types of prepositional object:
- (1) Noun phrase of the type (head + adjectival modifier):
ko knjazju k velikomu
“to the great knyaz”
v stanex v Moskovskix5
“in the Muscovite districts”
- (2) Appositive noun phrase (noun / pronoun + noun), i.e. without internal hierarchy between its elements:
na tebja na swoego ospodina6
“(we rely) on you, on our lord”
do posadnika do Ivana do Daniloviča7
“to the mayor Ivan Danilovič”
- (3) Conjuncts. According to Zaliznyak, this type of prepositional object is a special one: while in the two first cases there are clear rules for preposition repetition or nonrepetition depending on the noun phrase structure, in this third case the preposition is normally repeated:
ot Jakima i ot Semjuna8
“from Iakim and Semyon”
za bolšej dvor i za malyi selca9
“behind the large yard and the little villages”
Exceptions to this type are very rare; in particular, the preposition can be used once when the conjuncts governed by it constitute fixed collocations, cf.:
na toi zemli i vode and na toi zemli i na vode10“on that land and water”
This irregularity in Old Russian is quite similar to the tendency to omit the second preposition in case of semantically closely connected words in Latin, Greek and modern French, but it differs from the situation in Tocharian, where a significant part of all the examples of preposition repetition is comprised of fixed collocations, as in the above-mentioned snai räser snai (śc)o(n)ai (B 259 b4) “without hate (and) enmity”.
All the rules determining Old Russian preposition repetition are listed in [Zaliznyak 2004: 164–166]. At the same time, the implementation of the rule is optional and depends on the text genre: while preposition repetition is almost unattested in texts of an elevated style, single prepositions can be used in all text types.11 Thus, preposition repetition must have been considered by Old Russian speakers as colloquial and avoided in literary texts, as concluded in [Zaliznyak 2004: 166].
3. Preposition Repetition in Tocharian
In the Tocharian languages, preposition repetition occurs only with conjuncts. As in comparable Old Russian constructions with conjuncts, preposition repetition is significantly more frequent than single prepositions. I could find 47 clear cases of prepositions governing conjuncts in [CEToM]: in 32 of them the preposition is repeated, while in the other 15 cases it is used once. Another case (A 297 b3) is controversial and is therefore not included in this preliminary statistics, but it will be discussed further below in section 3.3.
As in Old Russian, Tocharian preposition repetition seems to depend on the text type, although the Tocharian data yield an opposite picture: preposition repetition occurs in prose as well as in poetry, i.e. the stylistically higher text genre, while the use of a single preposition is attested only in poetry.
3.1. Cases with Conjuncts Governed by Single Preposition
We have 15 examples attested with conjuncts governed by single preposition, 13 of which can be definitely attributed to poetry. Such a conclusion is based on the linguistic commentaries on the respective texts in [CEToM] as well as on the presence of such typical verse markers as signs of pāda end or stanza end, sandhi at word boundaries or devocalization of initial and final vocals. Among these 13 examples, the preposition “with” occurs four times, and the preposition “without” nine times.
A YQ I.9 a2 /// - śla tsärk karel: 1“… with lute (and) laughter”A 55 b2 /// säm sne sem waste kuṣt-lwākā tā =śśi yärtär:“This one without refuge (and) protection, where is he dragged by the predatory animals?”A 148 b4 /// [sne] rse māṃtlune krañcsaṃ tākiṣ“Without hate and anger may he be among good (people)”A 215 b1 ṣäptäñcäṃ koṃ śla klop wraṣäl ṣpät pā(k ats la)p wākñam“On the seventh day, with sorrow (and) pain, I will split your head into seven parts”12A 320 a7 /// śla ṣulas ṣtāmäntu t(k)aṃ – – – yoki:“The earth with mountains (and) trees … like …”A 337 b8 ///[ṣ]· traśe oki yiñc {p}ärmaṅk kär··- sne sem waste ānāsāṃñ puk mä - - - [2] ||“Like the blind ones they go, the hope … without refuge and protection all the miserable …”B 31 a5 aiśaumyi ceu pällāntär krento āstreṃ śaul śayeñcai wnolme: snai laiwo ṣpane ce tne ṣeme ślok akṣāme“The sages praise him as a being living a good, pure life, without lassitude or sleep. This he proclaimed to them here as a first strophe.”13B 89 b2 /// snai saim waste:“… without refuge and protection.”B 123 b2 śle śano säsuwa [ṣä] /// /// mpa ptārka wesäñ tri ///“With wife, sons … with … let our …”B 220 a4 /// sn[ai] yärm keś • ñäś ra ceṃts wsāwa ta[kä]rṣ[kñ]esa yoktsi ysāra“Without measure (and) count, I gave them to drink with belief the blood”B 241 b3 po cmelṣana astäṃtsa winaskau-c ṣpä snai yarm keś“And with heads of all rebirths I worship you without measure (and) count”B 295 a8 snai saim waste tallaw se“Without refuge (and) protection the miserable one”B 522 a4 || ku[s]e – – – – – – ñ snai śwātsi yoktsi pret[i] mä ///“Which … without food (and) drink the pretas …”
In the example A 148 b4, there are no surviving verse markers because of a lacuna of ca. 5 akṣaras directly after the given fragment. However, there is a tune name vaṃśavātraṃ introducing a verse in line b2. This tune is known for having a metrical scheme of 4х17 syllables (5/7/4).14 For this reason, the preserved text to the left of the lacuna in b4 should still belong to this verse, which probably ends immediately after the word tākiṣ.
The 14th example with single preposition cannot be attributed definitely to one of the text types because of manuscript damage, but two lines further, in 168 a4, a preserved caesura sign may speak in favour of the poetic character of this fragment:
A 168 a2 /// ·wäc sne sem waste lwe[ṃ] [c]m(olaṃ) ///15“… without refuge and protection in the animal rebirth …”
Finally, the example A 21 b5 with single preposition definitely originates from a prose text and therefore would represent an apparent exception to this group of examples. However, for various reasons this case will be discussed separately in section 5.
A 21 b5 kuntistsek śla pācar mācar pracre(s) śäṃ sewāsaśśäl ṣyak“The potter with father, mother, brothers, with wife and sons together”
3.2. Cases with Repeated Preposition
Among 32 cases of preposition repetition with conjuncts, nearly one third of the text fragments cannot be identified with respect to their text type, especially in the case of the Toch. A manuscripts. Nevertheless, the well preserved fragments show that in both Tocharian languages, preposition repetition is equally possible in prose and in poetry.
3.2.1. Cases with repeated preposition in verse
On the basis of verse markers and/or linguistic commentaries, 13 examples of preposition repetition can be unambiguously attributed to verse:
A YQ I.3 a6 sne eṃts sne ṣtare pkis ākläṣ śāsträntu“To all (five hundred) novices he teaches the śāstras without attachment, without effort.”16A 63b4–5: sne wleṣlune-yo sne psäl sne käs (klu – – – – – – –) (ṣā)rce oko swār oko:“(There was rice) without cultivation and without chaff, without peel, … ripe fruit, sweet fruit”A 94 a6 /// sne p(lān)t[o] sne tuṅk naslune: āsu truṅkäts ṣtā///“… without joy, without love, the existence, (like) a dry hollow tree …”A 405 a1 puttiśparṣās sambhāräntu sne cärk sñ= āñu kropnämāṃ“Without pause and without end collecting preparations for the rank of a Buddha …”17B PK AS 6E a7 (ai)śam(ñ)ene tsämṣeñca: mant snai māntalyñe snai (m)iyäṣṣäl(yñe) ///“… one growing in wisdom, as without anger (and) without harm …”B PK AS 17F b4–b5 pūrpar [ś]pālme(ṃ) l(a)ntuññe snai [sn](ū-ski)yai snai sanaṃ:“Receive the excellent royal dignity without the sha(dow of hat)red, without enemies.”18B 45 a7 patälwa snai ṣaṃṣäl snai yarmo (:)“… the hells without count, without measure …”B 259 b4 /// āstri indrintāsa 24 snai räser snai (śc)o(n)ai ///“… with pure senses. Without hate, without enmity …”B 343 a3 /// śle ynämñanā ślye ṣlyämña[nā] ///“… with running (and) flying (animals) …”B 362 b4 (snai) cämpamñecceṃ snai saimaceṃnne snai karuṃ ///“… in those, (who are) without power, without protection, without compassion …”19B 496 a4 śāyau karttse(ś) [ś]aulu-wärñai snai tserekwa snai tā-20“I will live (for) good lifelong, without deceit, without …”21B 591 b4 snai käṣṣiṃ cwi snai ak[ṣ]alñe āryamārg ṣ[e] twasastär:“Without his teacher, without instruction he kindles the Āryamarga”B 597 a4: ṣaṃñäññesa snai akā[lk] (snai we)lyñe pelaikne kätkre:“The deep righteousness (is) by nature without wish, without speech”
3.2.2. Cases with repeated preposition in prose
The following 10 cases originate from prose texts (only examples for the preposition “without” are attested):
A 2 a3: kyalte neṣ wrasaśśi sne wāwleṣu sne psäl klu śwātsi ṣeṣ“Because earlier the nourishment for beings was rice without cultivation, without chaff.”A 2 a5 sne wāwleṣu sne psäl klu naktäm“The rice without cultivation, without chaff disappeared for them”A 14a3–4 sne ime sne kā – – – – (–) ārkiśoṣ(y)ac ymāṃ tāṣ“If (a being) is going to (another) world without consciousness, without …”22A 69 b6 /// k tärkorä(ṣ) sne siṃñlune sne yāṅklune waśirr o(ki)“… having left without satiation, without delusion, like a diamond …”B PK AS 19.19.X a3 (mā)ntal[ñ]en[ts]e ṣarm[t]sa snai wäste snai (pä)rmaṅ[k] ///“Because of evil mind, without refuge, without hope …”B 169 a4 ///[ono]lmi snai yräm snai keś snai ṣa(ṃ)ṣäl •“… beings without measure, without number, without count”B 197 a3 s(n)ai [sa](k snai la)k[le] palsko tseṅketrä“Without happiness, without suffering the thought arises.”B 251 b2 • sn[ai] treṅ[käl] snai krämpālyñetse •“without attachment, without disturbance”23B 392 a4 /// || tumeṃ walo snai yärm snai ///“Thereupon the king without measure, without …”B 558a1–a2 sū no mäsketrä snai kuhākäṃñe snai tarśauna“This one becomes without trickery, without deception.”
3.2.3. Preposition repetition in texts of unknown type
Finally, there is a group of eight fragmentary cases, whose text type cannot be identified. Nevertheless, on the basis of the preserved contexts a more or less plausible stylistic attribution of these examples can be suggested. The fragment A 320 b7 represents, in my opinion, a verse passage:
A 320 b7 /// (a)ñumāski lyalyutäk täm (ṣurmaṣ sne) yärm sne kaś wrasañ ///“… made marvelous. For this reason, the beings without measure, without number …”
The line itself contains no verse indications, but its poetic character may be assumed because of its environment: in a6 the tune name || (ni)ṣkramāntaṃ || introduces a verse, which ends possibly in line b8 with the symbol “||”usually marking verse boundaries. In the lines between a6 and b8, several pāda end signs as well as a stanza end number by the end of b6 can be seen. Thus, the fragment in line b7 seems to be located inside a verse passage.
On the contrary, the following seven fragments are more likely to be prose according to the preserved environment:
A 387 a3 • ākāś sne arämpātum sne wrātal • ///“The air without form, without shape”24A 57 b2 /// sne yärm sne mem sukaṣinās okontu eṣäntās pñintu“… the merits, giving fruits of happiness without measure, without count”A YQ N.5 a8 pkis cesmi ālam wcanaṃ sne rse sne yäslurñe kās[w](one) ///25“For all of them, each other without hate, without enmity, the virtue …”A YQ II.9 b3 /// (sne yä)rm sne mem kinnareñ gandharveñi lāñś āṣānikāṃ metrakäṃ rājavartt yokās ///“… The innumerable and countless kings of the Kinnaras and Gandharvas (saw) the venerable Metrak (with his) multi-colored …”26A YQ III.9 b2 /// [p]t[ā]ñkät käṣṣinā ākāśś oki sne mem sne āk wewñu •“… said by the Buddha-god the teacher (to be) like the sky without measure [and] without end.”27A YQ III.9 b8 /// (spa)ltkasuntāp el wawurā sne mem sne kaś cmoläntwaṃ o(ko)“… Having given a gift to a striving (person), in births without measure, without number the fruit …”A 43 + #: 52 b1–2 /// (sne) mewlune s[n]e [w](ā)[skl]une ṣulis tsäṅkraśśäl tāskmāṃ“… Without quaking, without shaking, comparable to a mountain peak … “
3.3. An intermediate case in verse
One further example requires a separate commentary, because the preposition there is reiterated only with some of the conjuncts:
A 297 b3 || maitraṃ || meṣ tkaṃ śla ṣulas śla [ri]s waṣtu ṣtāmä[ntu] ///“In the tune “m.”: The earth quakes with mountains, with towns, houses (and) trees …”
This fragment definitely belongs to poetry, which is introduced by the tune name (maitraṃ). Here the preposition is repeated before the first and the second of at least four conjuncts, i.e. the last three conjuncts are governed by a single preposition. Thus, the fragment A 297 b3 represents an example of preposition repetition and, at the same time, a particular case of nonrepetition in poetry.
As can be observed from the cases presented, examples with the preposition A śla, B śle “with” are significantly less frequent in comparison with those with the preposition A sne, B snai “without”. This fact can be explained by the possibility of expressing the comitative meaning alternatively with the Comitative suffix A -aśśäl,28 B -mpa. In particular, the occurrence of the latter is conditioned by lexemes usually governing the Comitative case (e.g. the adverb A syak “together”); moreover, the suffix A -aśśäl, B -mpa is preferred to the preposition A śla, B śle when used with extended noun phrases, see [Itkin 2004]. But despite its low frequency, the existing examples for the preposition A śla, B śle speak in favour of the proposed distribution rule as well.
In addition to the examples already given above, there is one more example in Toch. B where two prepositional phrases with the same preposition (“without”) are divided by a stanza boundary, marked with the number of an ending stanza. In the translation suggested in the edition of this text (G.-J. Pinault in collaboration with M. Malzahn and M. Peyrot [CEToM]), the two prepositional phrases are treated as belonging to different clauses:
B PK AS 7M b1 • klutkästrä eśne taṅ[k]i pilko sn[ai ptsa]k 2(4)sn(ai) [pe]ñy[ai] (l)[k](ā)ṣṣäṃ krākṣträ ersna wämpasträ“It turns both eyes into a blank gaze without blinking. [24d]He [= the old/ill person] sees without brilliance, [the eyesight] becomes blurred, it blurs [all] forms.”
According to this translation, the verb klutkästrä (3.Sg.Mid.Kaus.) “to turn” governs a double accusative with eśne (Nom.-Acc.Dual.) “eyes” and pilko (Nom.-Acc.Sg.) “view”. This construction should indicate X to be an element of the class Y, cf. some other examples of double accusatives with the same verb: B THT 3597 a5 prakkreṃ ṣäñ-āñm klyautkatai “You made yourself firm” (“you” ∈ “firm”), or B 108 b9 pratiharintasa ceyna takarṣ(k)aṃ kekl(yu)tkormeṃ “by these wonders having made them believers”29 (“they” ∈ “believers”). Compared to these examples, the suggested interpretation of B PK AS 7M b1 does not seem to be optimal (“the eyes” ∉ “a gaze”). At the same time, the verb klutk- can also have the meaning of physical turning together with the meaning “make, turn into”, cf. B 30 b6 kauc ette kluttaṅkentär toṃ pwenta “the spokes turn up (and) down.” Furthermore, it can be argued that the nouns in both prepositional phrases, ptsak “blinking” and peñiyo “shine, splendor”, can represent a fixed collocation due to their semantics, so the sequence snai ptsak snai peñyai can be interpreted as a case of preposition repetition. If the assumptions above are true, the following translation is possible: “He (the sick person) turns up his eyes, (his) eyesight looks completely without blinking, without glancing, becomes blurred and makes the forms vague.” On the one hand, we have no attestations of possible compatibility of the noun pilko “view” with the verb läk- “to look”; on the other hand, the translation suggested in [CEToM] implies a subject for the predicate krākṣträ which is a synonym of pilko: “[the eye sight] becomes blurred”. Following this analysis, this fragment would be an additional example of preposition repetition in poetry. Nevertheless, as there is no certainty as to whether conjuncts can be divided by a stanza boundary,30 it remains questionable whether this example indeed belongs to the discussed phenomenon.
4. Interpretation of the observed examples
The data from all the cases discussed in section 3 is presented in the table below. Examples whose text type or entire interpretation (as in B PK AS 7 M b1) is not definite are indicated with a question mark. The fragment A 297 b3 is counted twice as yielding both preposition repetition and nonrepetition in verse (see section 3.3):
Aside from one exception (A 21 b5, see further section 5), single preposition with conjuncts can occur only in poetry. On the contrary, preposition repetition is equally frequent in both verse and prose.
It is probable that the Tocharian phenomenon represents the same syntactic mechanism as in Old Russian (section 2). At the same time, omission of preposition repetition appears to be caused by purely metrical peculiarities of the respective verse texts and not by the elevated style itself, as is the case in Old Russian, because in Tocharian preposition repetition is possible in verse in principle. This means that the second preposition is omitted only when the maximum number of syllables in a pāda would otherwise be exceeded. For example, the manuscript line A 215 b1 has a metrical schema of 8/7/7 syllables: the first caesura here immediately follows the prepositional phrase, and preposition repetition would give a redundant 9th syllable.
A 215 b1 ṣäptäñcäṃ koṃ śla klop wraṣäl | ṣpät pā(k ats la)p wākña-ci | …“On the seventh day, with sorrow (and) pain, I will split your head into seven parts”
Metrical reasons for the failure of preposition repetition are more evident in the example A 405 a1. The second preposition is preserved because it can be devocalized before the initial vowel of the following word (sandhi, noted “=”) and does not yield a superfluous syllable:
A 405 a1 puttiśparṣās sambhāräntu sne cärk sñ= āñu kropnämāṃ“Without pause and without end collecting preparations for the rank of a Buddha …”
As many Tocharian manuscripts represent translations from Sanskrit, one could expect the occurrence of preposition repetition in Tocharian texts to be influenced by the syntax of their Sanskrit equivalents.31 However, there is no significant evidence for such an influence. Sanskrit parallels are available for three of the fragments discussed above. Two of them contain the translation in the same manuscript line:
B 251 b2 • asaṅgam anapagraham • sn[ai] treṅ[käl] snai krämpālyñetse •A 387 a3 • ākāśam arupi • ākāś sne arämpātum sne wrātal •.
In the third case, the line B 31 a5 has a direct correspondence in the Sanskrit version of Udānavarga, Book 13 (Satkāravarga) [Bernhard 1965: 204, CEToM], cf.:
Uv 13.12 taṃ praśaṃsanti śuddhājīvam atandritam ||32B 31 a5 aiśaumyi ceu pällāntär krento āstreṃ śaul śayeñcai wnolme: snai laiwo ṣpane“The sages praise him as a being living a good, pure life, without lassitude or sleep” [CEToM]
While in B 251 b2 the Tocharian conjuncts with repeated preposition render two Sanskrit compounds with the negation prefix a(n)-, in both A 387 a3 and B 31 a5 the Tocharian translation appears more free and redundant by comparison with the single Sanskrit words arupi and atandritam respectively.33
5. An Exception
As already mentioned above, I have found only one occurrence of a single preposition in prose:
A 21 b5 kuntistsek śla pācar mācar pracre(s) śäṃ sewāsaśśäl ṣyak“The potter with father, mother, brothers, with wife and sons together”
The preposition śla “with” is followed here by five nouns, the last of them with the Comitative ending -aśśäl. The occurrence of the Comitative here is caused by the postposition ṣyak “together”, which always governs this case. Consequently, one part of this chain of nouns should belong to the prepositional phrase, and the other part to the postpositional phrase. However, group inflection,34 which is typical for Tocharian, makes it impossible to define the boundary between the prepositional and the postpositional phrase. At the same time, it is remarkable that the word combination pācar mācar “father (and) mother” can also function as a compound with the meaning “parents”, cf. A YQ II.3 b5 pācar mācar-ṣiṃ kāpñune (Adj.Acc.) “parental love”, where the adjectival suffix -ṣi joins only the second of the two words. Therefore, on the one hand, the example A 21 b5 allows us to propose the following syntactical segmentation, which would not contradict the generalization that single prepositions are possible only in verse:
A 21 b5 kuntistsek śla pācar mācar | pracre(s) śäṃ sewāsaśśäl ṣyak“The potter with parents, with brothers, wife and sons together”
On the other hand, according to Burlak and Itkin this example can be interpreted as a special construction type with double marking of the comitative meaning (via preposition and case suffix), which is attested at least twice, both times in prose [Burlak, Itkin (in print)]. As the second example of this construction type, the authors mention A 254 b2 ś[l]a niṣpal yātluneyaśśäl “with possessions and might”, where two nouns are framed by the preposition “with” and the Comitative marker. Both examples A 21 b5 and A 254 b2 are also mentioned in [SSS § 390, 281, note 1] with the commentary that the function of śla is “closely connected” to that of Comitative. However, Thomas [1979] considers these two examples as “Aneinanderreihung zweier Glieder unterschiedlichen grammatischen Baus”, not as an autonomous construction, and supposes them to present a purely stylistic peculiarity [1979: 152–153]. Thomas argues that the preposition A śla, B śle builds such “Aneinanderreihungen” not only with the Comitative but also with the Perlative (B PK AS 13A a5, B IOL 188 b1)35 and Instrumental (A 272 a4). At any rate, the lines B PK AS 13A and A 272 a4 are also prose, like A 21 b5 and A 254 b2. As in these examples it cannot be determined whether we are dealing with a special frame construction or with a series of grammatically different phrases, both interpretations can be considered acceptable.
Nevertheless, the fact that a framelike phrase marking is typologically possible follows once again from the Old Russian material. As noted by Klenin [1989: 202], “The Laurentian Manuscript contains some half dozen examples of prepositions being omitted before the intermediate NPs in a chain of conjuncts, but then reappearing before the last conjunct” cf.:
k Romanu i Kostjantinu i k Stefanu36“to Roman, Konstantin and Stefan”
Coming back to Tocharian, the two following cases can also be cited as possible examples, if the assumption about a frame construction in A 21 b5 and A 254 b2 is correct:
A 350 a3 /// ṣyak śäṃ sewā[s] ckācräsaśśäl ///“… together with wife, sons and daughters …”
If the adverb ṣyak “together” here functions as a preposition rather than a postposition, then it frames three conjuncts together with the Comitative ending -aśśäl. A similar interpretation can be supposed in the verse fragment B 123 b2, already cited in section 3.1. The Comitative ending -mpa is preserved here to the right of the lacuna:
B 123 b2 śle śano säsuwa ṣä /// /// mpa ptārka wesäñ tri ///“… with wife and sons … together let our …”
One should concede however that the exact length of the lacuna in the manuscript is unknown, so it remains unclear whether the Comitative ending could still belong to the chain of conjuncts to the left of the lacuna.
In all three examples, A 21 b5, A 350 a3 and B 123 b2, the sequences of conjuncts are quite similar with respect to their lexical content and can constitute fixed collocations, which could speak in favour of their syntactic similarity as well. Therefore, it is not improbable that the example A 21 b5 illustrates a special frame construction, which differs from those discussed in this paper and does not represent a real exception to the distribution rule for preposition repetition and nonrepetition in Tocharian.
6. Conclusion
In this paper I have analyzed 49 contexts with prepositions governing conjuncts in Tocharian A and B. In 33 cases the preposition is reiterated with each conjunct, while in the other 16 cases the preposition is used only with the first of them. The cases of preposition repetition are equally frequent in verse and in prose, whereas single prepositions are found almost exclusively in verse. There is only one definite example of a single preposition in prose (A 21 b5), which however can represent another construction type, as has been argued in section 5. At the same time, some well preserved poetic contexts like A 215 b1 or A 405 a1 clearly show the presence or the absence of preposition repetition depending on the number of syllables in the respective pāda. On the basis of the observed contexts, the rule of preposition repetition in both Tocharian languages may be formulated as follows: when governing conjuncts, a preposition is obligatorily repeated with each of them, while the single occurrence of a preposition is possible only for reasons of metrical exigency.
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I wish to sincerely thank Ilya Itkin for discussions and assistance in preparing this paper.
-yo can be interpreted here as both a conjunction and an Instrumental suffix, cf. [Thomas 1967: 273, Thomas 1976: 73]; in the latter case sne wleṣlune-yo would not belong to the sequence of conjuncts with repeated preposition. However, a similar context in A 2 a3 (see 3.2.2) speaks in favour of the interpretation of sne wleṣlune-yo as the first of three conjuncts.
Cicero, In Catilinam II, 21. Translation according to [Gildersleeve 1903: 268]. According to Roman Zlatinskiy [private communication], in this example preposition repetition may be obligatory due to formal reasons, namely reiteration of the conjunction et.
Plato, Timaeus 18c; translation according to [Smyth 1920: 369].
Thucycides, 3.10; translation according to [Smyth 1920: 369].
Cited in [Worth 1982: 495] without indication of source.
Birch bark letter no. 310.
[GVNP: 130].
Birch bark letter no. 735.
[GVNP: 122].
[GVNP: 302, 291].
Cf. in Greek: “In poetry a preposition may be used only with the second of two nouns dependent on it”, e.g. Δελφῶν κἀπὸ Δαυλίᾱς “from Delphi and Daulia” (Sophocles, Oedipus Tyrannus 734) [Smyth 1920: 369].
Translation according to [CEToM].
Translation according to [CEToM].
See [CEToM].
Restored according to [SSS 1931: 27]; cf. also lweṃ cmolaṃ in YQ III.9 b3.
Translation according to [CEToM].
Translation according to [CEToM].
Translation according to [CEToM].
I should add as a caveat that the interpretation of this line is hindered by its fragmentary character. The second conjunct, snai saimaceṃnne, is an Adjective in Loc.Pl. Due to group inflexion, the Locative marker -ne should belong to this and to the preceding prepositional phrase, (snai) cämpamñecceṃ (if the restoration of the preposition here is correct), but possibly not to the following phrase snai karum.
On suggested restorations of the last word, see the philological commentaries to this text in [CEToM].
Translation according to [CEToM].
Two restorations are possible: kā(pñes) “love” or kā(ruṃ) “compassion”.
The manuscript contains the Sanskrit equivalent asaṅgam anapagraham.
The manuscript contains the Sanskrit equivalent ākāśam arupi.
As A 262 b7 represents a copy of the same text, I do not count it twice.
Translation according to [CEToM].
Translation according to [CEToM].
On the etymology of A śla, B śle and Comit. A -aśśäl, see [Gippert 1987: 33].
Translation according to [Adams 1999: 225].
This passage can be however compared to A #: 230 b2–3 mā cimṣā: 59 prasku lyalypūräṣ “… I could not; I was afraid of Karma” [Itkin 2014: 41].
I am grateful to Hannes Fellner for his remarks at the 2nd Indo-European Colloquium in Wurzburg (2016) where this work was first presented.
See [Bernhard 1965: 204].
The lines B PK AS 6E a7 and B 45 a7 also originate from texts whose Sanskrit parallels are known: B PK AS 6E corresponds with Udānavarga, Book 31 (Cittavarga) and B 45 corresponds with Udānavarga, Book 1 (Anityavarga) [CEToM]; but no exact matches to these two lines can be found.
See [Krause, Thomas 1960: 91], [Gippert 1987: 24].
However, in IOL 188 b1 there is one more Perlative form to the left of the prepositional phrase, so the PP can be an attribute of the second of the Perlatives, cf.: kwri nta kca āstasa ṣpä śle yasar misaiwentas(a) “if by any bones and meat pieces with blood …”.
Laurentian Chronicle 6453 (945).
- 5
Cited in [Worth 1982: 495] without indication of source.
- 29
Translation according to [Adams 1999: 225].
- 32
See [Bernhard 1965: 204].
- 34
See [Krause, Thomas 1960: 91], [Gippert 1987: 24].