Morphology of the Khotanese verbs in ‑Vṣ‑

All Khotanese verbs in -Vṣ- with attested third singular present indicative have been regarded so far as type B verbs, that is, synchronically, verbs with no intervening vowel between the present stem and the third singular endings -itä active < Iranian *-a-ti and -te middle < Iranian *-a-tai̯ (variously assimilated to the stem finals, e.g. -ʾtä, -ṣ-ḍe). Besides, all of them have been considered to be middle verbs with third singular present indicative -ṣḍe apart from the active verbs *käṣ- ‘to think; to protect’, and *häṣ- ‘to send’ with third singular present indicative -ʾtä. This article shows that, among the verbs in -Vṣ-, some of the type B verbs (*druṣ- ‘to bite’, *biräṣ- ‘to split’, *ṣṣäṣ- ‘to cling’, *haräṣ- ‘to burst’) are active, not middle, and that *käṣ- and *häṣ- are not type B, but type A verbs, that is, verbs with the active ending -ätä (as against B -itä) < Iranian *-a-ti. It also suggests etymologies for ttäṣ- ‘to sprinkle’ and *bruṣ- ‘to break up’.