This paper offers an analysis of the currently attested and decipherable paradigm of the Middle Kitan verb *uw- ‘to give’ in both Kitan Assembled Script (i.e., the putative 小字 ‘Small Script’) and Kitan Linear Script (i.e., the putative 大字 ‘Large Script’). My analyses consider recent research on the 1084 Salbar Uul Inscription in Khentii province, Mongolia, funerary epitaphs and other texts from China, and important secondary studies such as Matsukawa (2008), Kim & Kim (2019), and Bao Aruna (2021), among others.
As I demonstrate in this paper, the Kitan verb *uw- ‘to give’ is widely attested in both Assembled Script and Linear Script sources. Simultaneously examining both textual corpora facilitates the decipherment of other Kitan words, thereby expanding our understanding of the Kitan lexicon and morphology.
After examining textual attestations of Middle Kitan *uw- ‘to give’, I offer an etymological analysis of this Kitan verb and its cognates in Middle Mongol and modern Mongolic daughter languages. This paper offers a text- and usage-based approach toward Kitan decipherment and Serbi-Mongolic historical-comparative linguistics and identifies several Mongolic cognates in the process.