“Mar” (مر ) or “Man” (من ) ? A Suggestion on the Emendation of a Verse in the Shāh-nāme

Document Type : Research Article

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Abstract

One of the important and fundamental problems relating to the emendation of the old texts which has many claims to our attention is the recognition of the pseudo-archaic forms of the words in the manuscripts. Such readings, because of their tempting forms, sometimes, mislead the editors in identifying the original one. The reading of "mar-īn" ( مر این ) in the second line of the first couplet excerpted from the Shāh-nāme is one of such pseudo-archaic forms:
اگر کشته گشتی تو در چنگ اوی مر ایـــن گرز و این مغفر کینه جوی
چـگونـه کشیـدی بـه مـازنـدران کــــمند و کـمــان تیر و گرز گران
Amongst twelve manuscripts of the Shāh-nāme used by Dr. Khaleghi-Motlagh in editing the second volume, the reading of "mar-īn" has been recorded only in Florence manuscript and the editor has opted for this form as a lectio difficilior, whereas other original manuscripts (including the recently discovered manuscript in the Oriental Library of Saint Joseph University NC. 43, Beirut ) instead of "mar-īn" have "man-īn” ( من این ( whose correctness and genuineness is confirmed by various evidences reported and commented on in the present article.

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