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

جستارهای نوین ادبی

Article 4, Volume 45, Issue 1 - Serial Number 176, June 2013, Pages 65-73   

Document Type: Research Article

DOI: 10.22067/jls.v45i1.15990

Author

Changiz Mowlai^*

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.

Keywords

Shāh-nāme; “mar-īn”; “man-īn”; emendation