Khotanese <i>dīñ</i> - “overthink” and Avestan <i>daēnā</i> - “view, vision”

Abstract Two new folios from the Old Khotanese epic Buddhist poem the Book of Zambasta have recently come to light. One folio contains the word dīñu which is thrice attested elsewhere in both Old ( dīñi, dīña ) and Late Khotanese ( dīñä ) and has been puzzling. The new attestation provides context which helps to establish the approximate meaning of the word. It also provides a new shape (- u ) which establishes the morphology. Most shapes (- u, -i, -ä ) attest a second singular imperative middle of dīñ - “to overthink”. This finding improves the translation of several passages. dīñ - appears to be a denominal verb from * dīnā - “thought”, cognate to Avestan daēnā - “view, vision” and related to Vedic dhī - “think, reflect”. The semantic development appears to be “see” → “think” → “overthink”.