Kambojan language

Kambojan is an extinct and poorly attested Indo-Iranian language spoken by the Kambojas tribe, a group of people that inhabited Northern Afghanistan and Central Asia. The features and the characteristics of the language is unknown.

Kambojan
Native to	Kamboja Kingdom
Region	Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan and India
Ethnicity	Kambojas
Era	600BC - ?
Language family	Indo-European Indo-Iranian (unclassified) Kambojan
Language codes
ISO 639-3	None (mis)
Glottolog	None

Etymology

The classification of Kambojan is conflicting as the word "Kambojan" is vague. Toybee, Herzfeld, Walser and Chakraberty believe the word is connected to Cambyses the Achaemenid ruler or the region Kambysene.^[1] H. W. Bailey analyzes the word "Kamboja" and believes that it can interpreted as "Kam-bauja" or "Kan-bauja" the second root word "Bauja" believes to be related to the Avestan word "baug" meaning to "bend, free, loose, deliver, save, possess or rule" related to the Sanskrit word "bhuj" meaning "rule, use, possess and govern" Bailey also believes the first word "Kam" is probably related to the Avestan word "Kan" meaning "to long, want" cognate to the Sanskrit word Kama, "desire, lust". Indologist Sylvain Lévi believed that the word is of Austroasiatic origin but this is dismissed by scholars.^[2][3]

Classification

Iranian

Gerard Fussman suggests that the unknown language in the inscriptions of Dasht-e-Nawar was perhaps spoken by Kambojas possibly an earlier Ormuri language. French linguist, Emile Benveniste believed that the Ashokan Kandahar inscriptions had two non-indo-aryan languages. He believed that the Aramao-Iranian language may have been used by Kambojas. Iranlogists Mary Boyce and Frantz Grenet also support the idea saying "The fact that Aramaic versions were made indicates that the Kambojas enjoyed a measure of autonomy, and that they not only preserved their Iranian identity, but were governed in some measure by members of their own community, on whom was laid the responsibility of transmitting to them the king's words, and having these engraved on stone."^{[4] [5]}

Vocabulary

There are many Kambojan names and words found in the inscription in the Rock Edits attributed to King Ashoka.^[6]

See also

• Kamboj
• Kambojas
• Khmer language

References

1. 1968, Ernst Herzfeld, Gerold Walser, The Persian Empire: Studies in geography and ethnography of the ancient Near East, page 345
2. 1971, H. W. Bailey, Ancient Kamboja, Iran and Islam, page 67–71
3. Tavernier, Jan (2007) Iranica in the Achaemenid Period (ca. 550–330 B.C.): Lexicon of Old Iranian Proper Names and Loanwords, Attested in Non-Iranian Texts, Peeters Publishers, page 19
4. Boyce, Mary; Grenet, F. (2 November 2015). A History of Zoroastrianism, Zoroastrianism under Macedonian and Roman Rule. BRILL. ISBN 9789004293915.
5. Schmitt, Rüdiger (2021-03-03). "Kamboja". Encyclopaedia Iranica Online. Brill. Retrieved 2023-09-25.
6. History of civilizations of Central Asia: The Development of Sedentary and Nomadic Civilizations: 700 B.C. To A.D. 250. UNESCO. 31 December 1994. ISBN 978-92-3-102846-5.