Twice ToldNöldeke, Geschichte des Artachsîr i Pâpakân (Göttingen, 1878): the name Haftânbôcht, p. 49, and the Worm's end, pp. 56 to 57
- Language
- German
- Reading
- transcribed from the page image
- Translation
- ours
- Retrieved
- 6 October 2026
Theodor Nöldeke’s German translation of the Kārnāmag, with notes. Iranica cites the Worm episode in it as pp. 49 to 57.
[p. 49, text] Aber das Heer des Haftânbôcht, des Herrn des Wurmes, …
[p. 49, note 4] Die Eigennamen mit bôzet „er erlöst” und bôcht „er hat erlöst” sind wahrscheinlich Nachbildungen christlicher … Darnach ist nun auch Haftânbôcht gebildet: „die Sieben haben erlöst”. Haftân „die Sieben” bedeutet aber nur die „Planeten”, welche ahrimânisch sind; für ein ahrimânisches Wesen passt eben ein Name, welcher …
[p. 56, text] Sobald aber der Wurm den Rachen aufriss, um das Blut zu trinken, goss ihm Artachsîr das geschmolzene Erz in den Rachen; als ihm dies in den Leib drang, zerplatzte er in zwei Stücke.
[p. 56, note 4] Bei Fird. lebt der Drache seltsamerweise von Milchreis
[p. 57, note 3] Tabari und cod. Spr. 30 haben von der Wurmgeschichte folgende Reflexe: … Dass der Drache bei den Geschichtschreibern verschwunden ist, darf uns nicht Wunder nehmen.
Translation
[p. 49, text] But the army of Haftanbocht, the lord of the Worm, …
[p. 49, note 4] The proper names with bôzet “he redeems” and bôcht “he has redeemed” are probably imitations of Christian ones … Haftanbocht is formed on that model: “the Seven have redeemed”. But Haftân, “the Seven”, only means the “planets”, which are Ahrimanic; for an Ahrimanic being a name that … fits [the sentence breaks off at the page end; the note continues on p. 50].
[p. 56, text] But as soon as the worm opened its jaws to drink the blood, Artachsîr poured the molten metal (Erz) into its jaws; when this entered its body it burst into two pieces.
[p. 56, note 4] In Ferdowsi the dragon, oddly, lives on milk rice.
[p. 57, note 3] Tabari and cod. Spr. 30 have the following echoes of the worm story: … That the dragon has vanished from the historians should not surprise us.
Notes
- “Erz” is a general word for ore or metal and Nöldeke does not gloss it. His “geschmolzenes Erz” is the Middle Persian word that Sanjana (1896, p. 33 n. 11) glosses as rûyîn, “brazen, bronze”, and Antia (1900) translates “brass”.
- Nöldeke’s note 4 on p. 49 is the source of the reading “the Seven have redeemed” that Darmesteter (1883) called too ingenious and Shaki (Encyclopaedia Iranica) discusses.
- The ellipses mark parts of long notes that we do not need; the page images show them in full.