Some Remarks on the Proto-Middle Persian Inscription Persis 2 and the Oblique Case

Abstract

This article deals with a pre-Sasanian inscription written in Middle Persian script recently published by N. Sims-Williams, who named it ‘Persis 2’. First, some observations on the reading and interpretation of the text are proposed. Then, it is argued that the instances of final -y in this inscription could correspond to a phonetic notation of the oblique singular ending -ē, hitherto only reconstructed for proto-Middle Persian. Finally, a discussion on the origin of heterographic writing with respect to the graphical representation of Iranian morphological endings is proposed, in the attempt to explain why a final -y for the ending -ē is not regularly noted in all the comparable documents from the middle Arsacid period.