SMC 38

This book explores multilingualism and multiscriptism in a great variety of writing cultures, offering an in-depth analysis of how diverse languages and scripts seamlessly intertwine within written artefacts. Insights into scribal practices are particularly illuminating in that respect, especially when exploring artefacts originating from multicultural communities and regions where distinct writing traditions intersect. The influence of multilingualism and multiscriptism on these writing cultures becomes evident, with essays spanning various domains, from the mundane aspects of everyday life to the realms of scholarship and political propaganda. Scholars often relegate these phenomena, despite being frequently encountered, to the status of exceptions compared to the more prevalent monolingualism and monoscriptism. However, in daring to challenge this viewpoint, this book emphasises the profound significance and relevance of multilingualism and multiscriptism in shaping the development of languages, cultures, and societies across Asia, Africa, and Europe. It caters to a diverse readership keen on delving into the intricacies of these phenomena within this rich tapestry of writing cultures.

---

FrontmatterI

ContentsV

Introduction 1
Szilvia Sövegjártó and Márton Vér

PRACTICAL MULTILINGUALISM

Written Artefacts from the Maldives: 1,500 Years of Mixing Languages and Scripts
13Jost Gippert

A Journey Through the Multilingual Landscape of Greco-Roman and Late Antique Oxyrhynchus
41Leah Mascia

Commemoration, Explication, and Obligation: The Baptismal Font of St Reinoldi in Dortmund75
Jochen Hermann Vennebusch

Multi-scriptural and Multilingual Inscriptions in Lan Na111
Apiradee Techasiriwan and Volker Grabowsky

SCHOLARLY MULTILINGUALISM

On the Emergence and Development of Middle Babylonian Bilinguals151
Szilvia Sövegjártó

Vernacular Terms in Sinitic Texts: Multilingualism in Eighth-century Japanese Documents169
Antonio Manieri

Mixing Languages and Scripts in Tamil Inscriptions and Manuscripts205
Emmanuel Francis

Sanskrit Prayers in a Theravada Kingdom: A Multilingual Siamese Grantha Manuscript from Munich235
Peera Panarut and Manasicha Akepiyapornchai

How to Spell Loanwords? Integration of Arabic Etymons in Bilingual Islamic Manuscripts of West Africa255
Dmitry Bondarev and Darya Ogorodnikova

PROPAGANDISTIC MULTILINGUALISM

Mesopotamian Bilingual Royal Inscriptions from the Third Millennium BCE: Texts with a Primary and Secondary Context309
Gábor Zólyomi

Anatolian Theonyms in the Aramaic Version of the Letoon Trilingual331
Zsolt Simon

Sanskrit Prayers in a Theravada Kingdom: A Multilingual Siamese Grantha Manuscript from Munich347
Viola Allegranzi

Bilingual Inscriptions from India: Combining Arabic and Persian with Indic Languages371
Eva Orthmann

Contributors439

General Index443