What is Classical Tibetan?
Classical Tibetan is a liturgical language of Tibetan Buddhism dating from the 9th century, used mainly for early canonical texts translated from other languages, especially Sanskrit. It is also known as Chöke in Bhutan.
Questions about Classical Tibetan
Short answers, pulled from the story.
When did Classical Tibetan develop out of Old Tibetan?
Classical Tibetan took shape after standardization during the reign of King Sadnalegs. Old Tibetan itself had been used since the 7th century, mainly to translate Sanskrit texts from the Mahayana Buddhist canon.
How many grammatical cases does Classical Tibetan have?
The classical written language has ten cases, though scholars differ in how they analyze them. Traditional Tibetan grammarians instead distribute these case morphemes, excluding -dang and -bas, into the eight cases of Sanskrit grammar.
Why is Classical Tibetan classified as a living classical language?
Classical Tibetan is grouped among a handful of living classical languages alongside Arabic, Ge'ez, and New Persian. It still differs meaningfully from Modern Standard Tibetan despite belonging to that group.
How does Classical Tibetan mark honorific speech?
Classical Tibetan verbs for everyday actions often have a separate honorific form used for someone of higher status or out of courtesy, such as lta becoming gzigs and byed becoming mdzad. When no dedicated honorific stem exists, speakers compound the ordinary stem with a general honorific stem such as mdzad.
What are the stem forms of Classical Tibetan verbs?
Classical Tibetan verbs can take up to four stem forms, labeled present, past, future, and imperative, terms borrowed from Sanskrit grammatical tradition. The so-called future stem does not mark true future time but instead conveys necessity or obligation.