Parsing Two Ezāfe Chains on a Replica Seal
In a Level 3 grammar tutorial, eight students parse a short formula written on a classroom replica seal: 'pad nām ī yazdān' on one face and 'xwarrah ī šāh ī šāhān' on the other. The teacher asks them to mark every ezāfe linker, identify the head noun in each chain, and produce one literal and one natural English rendering. One student says 'yazdān' must be the subject because it is plural and comes last; another says 'ī' always means 'of' and can be translated mechanically. The class has a glossary but no full grammar. The teacher warns that 'ī' also appears as a relative pronoun and that not every English 'of' should be reproduced.
1. Parse the two phrases: which words are linked by ezāfe, and what is the head of each chain? Explain how you decide.
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In pad nām ī yazdān, pad is a preposition ('in, with, by'); the head noun is nām 'name'; ī is the ezāfe linker; yazdān 'gods' is the dependent noun. There is no verb, so yazdān cannot be the subject of a clause; it is governed by the ezāfe chain. In xwarrah ī šāh ī šāhān, xwarrah 'glory' is the head; the first ī links šāh 'king' to xwarrah; the second ī links šāhān 'kings' to šāh. The chain is nested: glory of the king of kings. Decide by dependency, not by position: each ī after a noun or adjective introducing another noun or adjective is ezāfe; if a verb-bearing clause follows and ī introduces it, it is relative.
2. A student translates 'pad nām ī yazdān' as 'by the name, the gods' and 'xwarrah ī šāh ī šāhān' as 'glory and king and kings'. Identify the grammatical errors and give better renderings.
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The first rendering turns the ezāfe into a list and makes yazdān an appositional afterthought; it should be 'in/by the name of the gods'. The second rendering replaces both ezāfe links with 'and', flattening a nested possessive chain; it should be 'the glory of the king of kings'. Literal: 'in the name of the gods'; 'the glory of the king of the kings'. Natural: 'in the name of the gods'; 'the glory of the king of kings'. The error is not vocabulary but syntax: ī marks dependence, not coordination.
3. Why is 'ī always means of' unsafe? Give one test.
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Because ī can be an ezāfe linker or a relative pronoun ('who, which') introducing a clause. Test: look at what follows. If a noun, pronoun, or adjective follows and no verb is present, ezāfe is likely: nām ī yazdān. If a verb-bearing clause follows, ī is likely relative: ... ī ... dārēd. Also, English 'of' is not always natural; translate the relationship, not the word. In the seal phrases there is no verb, so both ī forms are ezāfe, but the mechanical rule would still fail in other sentences.