More thieves, fewer members

Extract

As Dr. Y. Yoshida, Kyoto, kindly points out to me, the Buddhist Sogdian Ýδ('k)h in P 3, 14, 87 which, following Benveniste, I took as ‘limb, member’ (BSOAS, XLVI, 3, 1983, 535) can as well, even more likely, also be translated ‘wound’, as in P 7, 64. This leaves SCE 119, 121 wxwšw Ýδ'kh as the only support for a Ýδ- ‘*limb’. There it translates indriya in , otherwise 'nδ"y. But, given the fact that the six senses are also described as ‘six great thieves’ wxwšw mz'yx t'yt, it seems all too likely that Ýδ'kh in SCE also means ‘thief’ (in the numerative), however poorly this pejorative term fits the context. This spoils my suggested pun and, until other evidence emerges, removes Ýαδ-δ ‘*limb’ from the Sogdian vocabulary, leaving only B Ýαδ- m. ‘thief’and B, Chr. Ýαδ- f. ‘wound’ (cf. Khwarezmian 'Ýδ f. idem).