§ 1. 'Jede Übersetzung der alten Lieder des Avesta, welche den Namen Gāthā führen, ist bei dem Stand unserer Kenntnisse ein Versuch. Aber nur widerholte Versuche kónnen uns fórdern 1 .' I venture to apply to my own work this quotation from one of the earliest and greatest of Avestan scholars, Roth. Although our knowledge of Avestan has advanced considerably since these words were written, they are as true now as they were in 1876. It seems, indeed, both rash and presumptuous for a very tyro in Avestan studies to attempt a novel or original translation of the Gāthās into English, but that which is now appended to my discussion of certain syntactic problems is only the result of a natural growth from very modest beginnings. Meillet, commenting on Yasna 29.3 2 , makes the following statement : 'Les paroles prononcées sont attribuées à Aša, qui serait désigné à l'instrumental. Mais bien que pareille hypothèse ait été faite pour plus d'un passage, il n'est pas admissible que, dans un texte de la forme archaïque des Gāthā, le sujet soit exprimé à l'instrumental. ' With this opinion of Meillet as a starting-point, the present investigation was begun. A study of the uses of the instrumental led to the problem of the plural as found in words agreeing with a word indicating Ahura, to the question of the form and position of the vocative, to a definition of certain technical terms, and to many and various points of interpretation. To discuss these matters and to support my conclusions, it was necessary to quote a very great number of passages, with a correspondingly great number of cross-references, and it soon became evident that a complete translation, with commentary, was the only practical means of presenting all this material clearly and systematically. The transliterated text was added as a convenience to both reader and writer. My main conclusions are as follows :
A Sun, study studied this question.