“Chorasmian” (with or without the adjective “Late”) is used to refer to the stage or variety of the language written in a variant of the Arabic script and attested primarily in Arabic-language literary works (approximately during the early 11th-14th centuries).
Text Editions & Reference Works
Benzing, Johannes. 1968. Das chwaresmische Sprachmaterial einer Handschrift der “Muqaddimat al-Adab” von Zamaxšari. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
Reviews: Emmerick in JRAS 1 (1970), 67–70; Klíma in Archiv Or. 39 (1971), 217–220; Schwartz in ZDMG 120 (1970), 288–304; Sundermann in OLZ 66 (1971), 517–580. This work cannot be used without these or MacKenzie’s very extensive review articles (1970-72, see below).
Benzing, Johannes. (ed. Zahra Taraf). 1983. Chwaresmischer Wortindex, mit einer Einleitung von Helmut Humbach. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
Reviews: Yoshida in JAAS 31 (1983), 172–176; Schmidt in WZKM 77 (1987), 213–217; Skjærvø in ZDMG 142/1 (1992), 175–185; Sundermann in Kratylos 29 (1985), 55–59.
Henning, Walter B. & David N. MacKenzie. 1971. A Fragment of a Khwarezmian Dictionary. London.
Henning was working on a Chorasmian dictionary when he died in 1967—MacKenzie published the entries he had completed, and the Fragment thus contains only 260 full entries, from ’- to ’kw-, with 140 additional entries supplied by MacKenzie where cross-references were needed. Reviews: Humbach in ZDMG 124 (1974), 175–176; Khoroche in BSOAS 35/2 (1972), 431; Schmitt in WZKM 65/66 (1973/74), 351–353; Windfuhr in JAOS 95/2 (1975), 298–299.
MacKenzie, David N. 1990. The Khwarezmian Element in the Qunyat al-munya. London: SOAS.
Reviews: Sims-Williams in ZDMG 141/2 (1991), 442; Skjærvø in BSOAS 54/3 (1991), 496–505; Yoshida in JAOS 112 (1992), 535–537.
Samadi, Mahlagha. 1986. Das chwaresmische Verbum. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
Reviews: Frye in JRAS (1989) 109/1, 164; Sims-Williams in BSOAS 52/2 (1989), 255–264; MacKenzie in JRAS (1988), 197–199; Schlachter in ZDMG 138/1 (1988), 195.
Togan, A. Zeki Velîdî. 1951. Documents on Khorezmian Culture, Pt. 1: Muqaddimat al-Adab, with the translation in Khorezmian (Horezm Kültürü Vesikları. Kısım 1: Horezmce tercümli Muqaddimat al-Adab). Istanbul: Sucuoǧlu Matbaasi.
Facsimile publication of Yusuf Aǧa ms. 5010 with English-Turkish introduction and a reprint of Togan’s article about Khwarizm in the Turkish version of the Encyclopedia of Islam.
Togan, A. Zeki Velîdî. 1927. Khwarezmische Sätze in einem arabischen Fiqh-werke. Islamica 3. 190–213. PDF
Announcement of Togan’s discovery of Chorasmian sentences in manuscripts of the Yatimat al-Dahr, with edition of some of the relevant parts.
Yüce, Nuri & Johannes Benzing. 1985. Chwaresmische Wörter und Sätze aus einer choresmtürkischen Handschrift der Muqaddimat al-Adab. Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenländischen Gesellschaft 135(1). 92–103.
Edition of over 100 Chorasmian sentences from yet another manuscript of the Muqaddima.
Grammatical Sketches
Durkin-Meisterernst, Desmond. 2009. Khwarezmian. In The Iranian Languages, ed. G. Windfuhr. 336–376. London: Routledge.
The most recent sketch of Chorasmian grammar, based on the texts in Arabic script, presented in a clear fashion and incorporating the last works of MacKenzie on the subject. Its transcription of Chorasmian is still tentative, however.
Edelman, Djoi A. 2000. Khorezmijskij Jazyk [The Khwarezmian Language]. In Jazyki Mira. Iranskie Yazyki: III Vostochnoiranskie yazyki. 95–105. Moscow: Indrik.
Humbach, Helmut. 1989. Choresmian. In Compendium Linguarum Iranicarum, ed. R. Schmitt. 193–203. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. PDF
Humbach's contribution to the CLI, the first published sketch of Chorasmian grammar, was reviewed (or rather criticized) in some detail by MacKenzie, BSOAS 54/1, 172–176.
Studies
Benkato, Adam. 2017. The hypothetical life of an Middle Iranian particle. DABIR 1(3). 26–38. (open access)
A comparative study of the hypothetical particle an in Sogdian, Bactrian, and Chorasmian, arguing in particular for its existence in the latter.
Benkato, Adam. 2021. Ibn Sīnā’s Remarks on a Khwarizmian Sound. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 31/1. 433–445. (open access)
In his study of Arabic phonetics, Asbāb ḥudūṯ al-ḥurūf (The Causes of the Genesis of the Consonants), Ibn Sīnā briefly surveys some speech sounds found in languages other than Arabic, among them one particular to Khwarizmian, an Iranian language attested primarily in glosses to Arabic manuscripts of the 13th century. This study attempts to elucidate the sound Ibn Sīnā describes both through reference to his own system of phonetic terminology and through comparison with extant material in the Khwarizmian language.
Benkato, Adam. 2023. Khwarazmian [Data set]. In IE-CoR, ed. Paul Heggarty, Cormac Anderson, & Matthew Scarborough. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8089434 (Available online at http://iecor.clld.org/contributions/287)
A set of 155 lexemes with etymologies contributed to the IE-CoR (cognate relationship) project.
Bogoljubov, Mikhail N. 1961. Chastitsy v khorezmijskom jazyke [Particles in the Khwarezmian language]. Uchenye zapiski Leningradskogo Gosudarst-vennogo Universiteta 12. 81–84. PDF
Bogoljubov, Mikhail N. 1961. O nekotorykh osobennostiakh arabo-khorezmijskoi pis’mennosti [About some peculiarities of the Arabo-Khwarezmian writing system]. Narody Asii i Afriki 4. 182–187. PDF
Bogoljubov, Mikhail N. 1962. Lichnye mestoimeniia v khorezmijskom jazyke [Personal pronouns in the Khwarezmian language]. Uchenye zapiski Leningradskogo Gosudarst-vennogo Universiteta 16. 6–15. PDF
Bogoljubov, Mikhail N. 1963. Mestoimenija v khorezmijskom jazyke [Pronouns in the Khwarezmian language]. Kratkie soobshchenija Instituta narodov Azii 67. 99–103. PDF
Bogoljubov, Mikhail N. 1985. Khorezmijskie kalendarnye glossy v “Khronologii Biruni” [Khwarezmian calendrical glosses in Biruni’s Chronology]. VIa 1. 28–33.
Bogoljubov, Mikhail N. 1985. Khorezmijskie kalendarnye glossy v “Khronologii” Biruni” II [Khwarezmian calendrical glosses in Biruni’s Chronology II]. VIa 6. 35–39.
Bogoljubov, Mikhail N. 1985. Prazdnik ‘Sokrušeniya’ v Drebnem Khorezme. Izv. AN SSSR 44(3). 195–203.
Bogoljubov, Mikhail N. 1999. Khorezmijskaya Glagol’naya Glossa [Khwarezmian verbal glosses]. In Изучение культурного наследия Востока. Культурные традиции и преемственность в развитии культур и цивилизаций. 14–16. St. Petersburg.
Durkin-Meisterernst, Desmond. 2003. Khwarezmische Lexikographie. In Wörterbuchstadt Göttingen, eds. V. Harm & M. Schlaefer. 86–97. Göttingen. PDF
Durkin-Meisterernst, Desmond. 2005. Khwarezmian lexicology. In Middle Iranian Lexicography, eds. C.G. Cereti & M. Maggi. 147–166. Rome. PDF
Durkin-Meisterernst, Desmond. 2008. Khwarezmian in the Islamic Period. In Islamisation de l’Asie centrale: Processus locaux d’acculturation du VIIe au XIe siècle (Cahiers de Studia Iranica 39), ed. É. de la Vaissière. 199–213. Paris. PDF
A brief of overview of later Chorasmian sources, together with some comments on Arabic loans in the language and their semantic and cultural background.
Freiman, A. A. 1939. Khorezmijskij jazyk [The Khwarezmian Language]. Zapiski Instituta vostokovedenija AN SSSR 7. 306–319.
Together with S.L. Volin, “Novyj istočnik dlja izučenija chorezmijskogo jazyka [A new source for the study of the Khwarezmian language],” 79–91, essentially copies the reports of Togan and Henning presented in ZDMG 1936.
Freiman, A. A. 1944. Sogdo-khorezmijskie dialektologičeskie otnošenija [Sogdian-Khwarezmian dialectological connections]. Sovetskoe Vostokovedenie 4. 157–170.
Freiman, A. A. 1950. Obrazovanie prośedšego vremeni v khorezmijskom jazyke [The formation of the past tense in the Khwarezmian language]. Učenye Zapiski Leningradskogo Gosudarstvennogo Universiteta no. 60, Serija filol. nauk, vyp. 6.
Freiman, A. A. 1951. Khorezmijskij jazyk. Materialy i issledovanija. [The Khwarezmian Language. Material and Research]. Moscow-Leningrad.
An edition of some 275 sentences from the Qunya and Risāla, often taken out of context and lacking their Arabic or Persian translations, based on ms. C2311 but possibly combined with another unidentified manuscript. Also contains reprints several of Freiman's previous articles on Chorasmian. The commentary on Chorasmian was "vigorously criticized" by Henning (1955). Reviews: Bogoljubov, Voprosy jazykoznanija 6 (1953), 147–151. PDF
Henning, Walter B. 1936. Über die Sprache der Chvarezmier. Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenländischen Gesellschaft 90. *30*–*34*.
Henning, Walter B. 1955. The structure of the Khwarezmian verb. Asia Major 4. 43–49. PDF
Henning, Walter B. 1956. The Khwarezmian Language. In Zeki Velidi Togan’a armaǧan. 421–436. Istanbul. PDF
Mostly corrects the many mistakes and problems found in Freiman’s works before proceeding to a discussion of phonological principles.
Henning, Walter B. 1958. Mitteliranisch. In Handbuch der Orientalistik 1.4.1. 20–130. Leiden: Brill. PDF
An overview of the Middle Iranian languages and writing systems generally, still considered to be a standard reference. See particularly 56–58, 81–83, 109–119 for discussion of Chorasmian.
Humbach, Helmut. 1973. Neue chwaresmologische Arbeiten. Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenländischen Gesellschaft 123, 84–98.
Essentially a critical review article of MacKenzie's reviews (1970-72) of Benzing's edition of the Muqaddimat al-Adab together with MacKenzie's edition of Henning's dictionary fragment (1971), of which Humbach also wrote a separate review (see above).
Livšic, Vladimir A. 2011. Ličnyje imena v xorezmijskom jazyke [Personal names in the Khwarezmian language]. Vestnik drevnej istorii 4. 156–166.
Lurje, Pavel. 2020. Etymologies of Selected Terms for Weapons in Chorasmian. In Sabir Badalkhan, Gian Petro Basello & Matteo de Chiara (eds.), Iranian Studies in Honor of Adriano V. Rossi, vol. 2, 511–518. Unior: Naples.
MacKenzie, David N. 1970. The Khwarezmian Glossary (I). Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 33. 540–49.
This and the following four articles are detailed, lemma-by-lemma corrections, critiques, and re-analyses of the material published by Benzing in his Das chwaresmische Sprachmaterial einer Handschrift der “Muqaddimat al-Adab” von Zamaxšari (1968). Many of Benzing's readings of the Chorasmian are corrected; in fact, his book is not usable without MacKenzie's series of reviews alongside.
MacKenzie, David N. 1971. The Khwarezmian Glossary (II). Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 34(1). 74–90.
MacKenzie, David N. 1971. The Khwarezmian Glossary (III). Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 34(2). 314–330.
MacKenzie, David N. 1971. The Khwarezmian Glossary (IV). Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 34(3). 521–537.
MacKenzie, David N. 1972. The Khwarezmian Glossary (V). Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 35. 56–73.
MacKenzie, David N. 1975. Khwarezmian Imperfect Stems. In Mélanges Linguistiques Offerts à Émile Benveniste. 389–395. Paris. PDF
Overviews the formation of the imperfect stem of the verb, in particular the behavior of the historical augment and the innovative m- imperfect prefix.
MacKenzie, David N. 1983. Khwarazmian language and literature. In The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. III/2, ed. E .Yarshater. 1244–1249. Cambridge.
A brief overview for general readership, of texts from Middle to Late Chorasmian.
MacKenzie, David N. 1988. Khwarezmian and Avestan. East and West 38. 81–92.
Summarizes the history of scholarship on Chorasmian until the mid-1980s before offering some comments on Chorasmian-Avestan cognates and potential importance for the connection of Chorasmian to early Zoroastrianism.
MacKenzie, David N. 1989. Khwarezmian in the Law Books. In Études Irano-Aryennes Offertes à Gilbert Lazard (Cahiers de Studia Iranica 7). 265–276. Paris. PDF
A brief comparison of the Qunya and Risāla, with argument that the use of tašīd in the Arabo-Chorasmian script serves to indicate stress at the word level.
MacKenzie, David N. 1991. Chorasmia III: The Chorasmian Language. Encyclopedia Iranica. Online. (open access)
MacKenzie, David N. 1993. Clitics in Khwarezmian. In Medioiranica. Proceedings of the International Colloquium organized by the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven from the 21st to the 23rd of May 1990 (Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 48), ed. W. Skalmowski & A. van Tongerloo. 135–145. Louvain. PDF
MacKenzie, David N. 1996. Khwarezmian Enigma Variations. Bulletin of the Asia Institute 10. 141–147.
An attempt to re-read the corrupted Chorasmian material of the Yatimat al-Dahr in light of parallel phrases from the Qunyat al-Manya, improving on the first readings by Togan (1927).
Rast, N. n/d. Zabān-i xwārazmi [The Khwarezmian language]. Majalli-yi Dāneškada-yi Adabiyāt-i Širāz 1(4). 11–38. PDF
Rysiewicz, Z. 1954. Optativus w funkcji czasu przeszłego w chorezmijskim [The optative in the function of the past in Khwarezmian]. Bjuletin Polskiego Towarszysta Jȩzykoznawcego 13. 93–98. PDF
Schwartz, Martin. 2005. On the Khwarezmian loss of -R-. In Languages of Iran: Past and Present. Iranian Studies in memoriam David Neil MacKenzie (Iranica 8), ed. D. Weber. 165–166. Harrassowitz: Wiesbaden. PDF
Sims-Williams, Nicholas. 1996. On the historical present and injunctive in Sogdian and Choresmian. Münchener Studien zur Sprachwissenschaft 56. 173–189. PDF
Teubner, Johann K. 1974. Einige chwaresmische Tiername. In Rüdiger Schmitt (ed.), Antiquitates Indogermanicae. Gedenkschrift Hermann Günter, 301–305. Innsbruck. PDF
Teubner, Johann K. 1977. Chwaresmisch Kancik und das eurasisch-afrikanische Wanderwort Hemd/Camisia/Kanzu. Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft Supplement III(2). 1084–1087. PDF
Togan, A. Zeki Velîdî. 1936. Übern Sprache und Kultur der alten Chwarezmier. Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenländischen Gesellschaft 90. *27*–*30*.
Yarshater, Ehsan. 1332. Čand nuqta dar bāra-yi zabān-i xwārazmī [Some points regarding the Khwarezmian language]. Majalli-yi Dāneškada-yi Adabiyāt o ‘olūm-i Insāni-yi Dānešgāh-i Tehrān 1(2). 41–49. PDF