A. Del Tomba, “Action nouns in *-i̯a- and a new verbal stem jsīn- ‘to kill’ in Khotanese”, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 87, 2024, 479-488.

This article addresses derivational issues related to palatalization in Khotanese, focusing on action nouns of the kīra– type (< *-i̯a-). It is argued that diachronic palatalization conforms to the rules of synchronic palatalization and that the origin of the hapax legomenon jsīna– “killing” (Z 13.124), which apparently violates these rules, needs to be interpreted differently. It is traced back to a reduplicated Indo-Iranian verbal stem *ǰa–g^hn– (cf. Young Avestan jaɣn-) < Proto-Indo-European *g^whé–g^whn– “to strike repeatedly” → “to kill”. This stem is also reflected in the Khotanese gerundive jsīñaa– “to be killed” < *dzai̯n–i̯a– ← *dzaɣn– < Iranian *ǰa–gn-. The article contributes additional evidence supporting the development of the preconsonantal voiced velar fricative *ɣ into *i̯ in pre-Khotanese.