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Document Details : Title: Three Unexplained Compounds in the Text of the Old Tibetan Funeral Ritual PT 1042 Author(s): UEBACH, Helga Journal: Journal Asiatique Volume: 302 Issue: 1 Date: 2014 Pages: 97-109 DOI: 10.2143/JA.302.1.3030679 Abstract : In the text of the Old Tibetan Funeral Ritual the meaning of a number of terms still remains unexplained. An attempt to explain three out of them has been made here. Two of them, ñam-noṅs and ñam-bag could be explained with the help of recently published Tibetan documents unearthed in Central Asia. ñam-noṅs is an euphemistic term for ‘to die’ and ñam-bag is a ‘dish of dough’ offered at the funeral ceremony. The literal meaning of the third term dbon-lob was established by grammatical analysis of the compound as ‘the so-called maternal nephew’ and actually refers to the animal sacrificed at the occasion of the funeral ritual and functioning as psychopomp, thus stressing the importance of the uterine line of relationship in Tibetan society even on the way of the deceased to the other world. Le texte des funérailles royales tibétaines présente quelques expressions dont le sens reste inexpliqué. Deux d’entre elles, ñam-noṅs et ñam-bag apparaissent aussi dans des documents tibétains retrouvés en Asie Centrale et publiés récemment. ñam-noṅs est un euphémisme pour ‘mourir’ et ñam-bag est ‘un mets de pâte’ offert au décédé. La signification littérale du troisième mot composé dbon-lob a été résolue par analyse grammaticale en tant que ‘le soi-disant neveu maternel’. Ce terme dénote un animal psychopompe sacrifié lors des funérailles et en même temps atteste l’importance attribuée à la parenté utérine dans la société tibétaine y compris sur le chemin du mort. |
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