Old_Persian

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Old Persian language Old Persian language Old Persian Spoken in Language extinction Language family Ancient Iran Evolved into Middle Persian Indo-European Indo-Iranian Iranian Old Persian Old Persian Cuneiform geographic division as Old Persian and is typologically distinct. Language evolution By the 4th century, the late Achaemenid period, the inscriptions of Artaxerxes II and Artaxerxes III differ enough from the language of Darius’ inscriptions to be called a "pre-Middle Persian," or "post-Old Persian."[2] Old Persian subsequently evolved into Middle Persian, which is in turn the nominal ancestor of New Persian. Professor. Gilbert Lazard, a famous Iranologist and also the writer of the book Persian Grammar states: The language known as New Persian, which usually is called at this period (early Islamic times) by the name of Dari or Parsi-Dari, can be classified linguistically as a continuation of Middle Persian, the official religious and literary language of Sassanian Iran, itself a continuation of Old Persian, the language of the Achaemenids. Unlike the other languages and dialects, ancient and modern, of the Iranian group such as Avestan, Parthian, Soghdian, Kurdish, Pashto, etc., Old Middle and New Persian represent one and the same language at three states of its history. It had its origin in Fars (the true Persian country from the historical point of view) and is differentiated by dialectical features, still easily recognizable from the dialect prevailing in northwestern and eastern Iran[3]. Consequently, Modern Persian is one of the few IndoEuropean languages which has extant writing in its old, middle and modern form. Comparison at each stage of the language shows great simplification in grammar and syntax. Writing system Language codes ISO 639-1 ISO 639-2 ISO 639-3 None peo peo History of the Persian language Proto-Iranian (ca. 1500 BCE) Southwestern Iranian languages Old Persian (c. 525 BCE - 300 BCE) Old Persian cuneiform script Middle Persian (c.300 BCE-800 CE) Pahlavi script • Manichaean script • Avestan script Modern Persian (from 800) Perso-Arabic script The Old Persian language is one of the two attested Old Iranian languages (besides Avestan). Old Persian appears primarily in the inscriptions, clay tablets, seals of the Achaemenid era (c. 600 BCE to 300 BCE). Examples of Old Persian have been found in present-day Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Egypt[1] the most important attestation by far being the contents of the Behistun inscription (dated to 525 BCE). Classification Old Persian is an Old Iranian language, a member of the Southwestern Iranian language group. As an Iranian language, Old Persian is a member of the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family. Avestan, the only other attested Old Iranian language, does not belong to the same Substrates Old Persian "presumably"[2] has a Median language substrate. The Median element is readily identifiable because it did not share in the developments that were peculiar to Old Persian. Median forms "are found only in personal or geographical names [...] and some are typically from religious vocabulary and so could in principle also be influenced by Avestan." "Sometimes, both Median and 1 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Labial Plosive Nasal Fricative Sibilant Rhotic Approximant -a Singular Nominative Vocative Accusative -a -ā -am Dual -ā -ā -ā -ā, āha -ā -ā v /ʋ/ f /f/ p /p/ b /b/ m /m/ θ /θ/ s /s/ z /z/ r /r/ l /l/ -am Plural Singular -am -am -am -ā -ahyā, ahya -ā Dual -ā -ā -ā -ā -ā -ā y /j/ Dental/ Alveolar t /t/ d /d/ n /n/ ç /ç/ š /ʃ/ Palatal c /c/ j /ɟ/ Old Persian language Velar k /k/ x /x/ g /g/ h /h/ Glottal -ā Plural Singular Dual Plural -ā -ā -ām -āyā -āyā -āyā -ā -ā -ā -ā -ā -ā Instrumental -ā Dative Ablative Genitive Locative -ahyā, ahya -ā -ahyā, ahya -aiy -aibiš aibiyā -aibiš aibiyā -aibiš aibiyā -āyā -āyā -aibiš aibiyā -aibiš aibiyā -aibiš aibiyā -āyā -āyā -ābiš ābiyā -ābiš ābiyā -ābiš ābiyā -āyā -āyā -ānām -āšuvā -ānām -ahyā, ahya -aiy aišuvā -ānām -āyā -āyā aišuvā Old Persian forms are found, which gave Old Persian a somewhat confusing and inconsistent look: ’horse,’ for instance, is [attested in Old Persian as] both asa (OPers.) and aspa (Med.)."[2] Consonants Grammar Nouns Old Persian stems: • a-stems (-a, -am, -ā) • i-stems (-iš, iy) • u- (and au-) stems (-uš, -uv) • consonantal stems (n, r, h) Adjectives are declinable in similar way. Script Old Persian was written from left to right the syllabic Old Persian cuneiform script. The Old Persian cuneiform contains 36 signs representing vowels and consonants, 8 logograms, and 3 signs which can be combined to represent any numeral, although only a few numbers are actually attested in the inscriptions. Verbs Voices Active, Middle (them. pres. -aiy-, -ataiy-), Passive (-ya-). Mostly the forms of first and third persons are attested. The only preserved Dual form is ajīvatam ’both lived’. Phonology The following phonemes are expressed in the Old Persian script: Vowels • Long: /aː/ /iː/ /uː/ • Short: /a/ /i/ /u/ Lexicon 2 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia -iš Nominative Vocative Accusative -iš -i -im -īy -īy -īy -iya -iya -iš -iy -iy -iy -iy -auš -aiš -auš -aiš -in -in -in -īn -īn -īn -uš -uš -u -um -auv -auš -auv -auš Old Persian language -uv -ūv -ūv -ūv -uva -uva -ūn -uv -uv -uv -auv -auš -auv -un -un -un Singular Dual Plural Singular Dual Plural Singular Dual Plural Singular Dual P -ū -ū -ū Instrumental -auš Dative Ablative Genitive Locative -aiš -auš -aiš -auv -ībiš ībiyā -ībiš ībiyā -ībiš ībiyā -īyā -īyā -īnām -ībiš ībiyā -ībiš ībiyā -ībiš ībiyā -īyā -īyā -īnām -ūbiš ūbiyā -ūbiš ūbiyā -ūbiš ūbiyā -ūvā -ūvā -ū ūbiyā -ū ūbiyā -ū ūbiyā -ūvā -ūvā -ūnām -auš -ušuvā -āvā -ū -išuvā -auv -išuvā -āvā -u Present, Active Athematic ’be’ Sg. Pl. 1.pers. 3.pers. 1.pers. 3.pers. ahmiy astiy ahmahiy hatiy Imperfect, Active Athematic ’do, make’ Sg. Pl. 1.pers. 3.pers. 1.pers. 3.pers. akunavam akunauš akumā akunava Present participle Active -ntMiddle -amnaPast participle -taInfinitive -tanaiy Thematic ’be, become’ abavam abava abavāmā abava Thematic ’bring’ barāmiy baratiy barāmahiy baratiy See also • Iranian languages • Old Persian cuneiform script • Iranian Languages vocabulary comparison table References and Bibliography [1] Roland G. Kent, Old Persian, 1953 [1] [2] ^ Skjærvø, Prods Oktor (2005), An Introduction to Old Persian (2nd ed.), Cambridge: Harvard, 3 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Proto-IndoIranian *açva *kāma *daiva Old Persian aspa kāma daiva drayah dasta *bhāgī *bhrātr*bhūmī *martya *māsa *vāsara bāji brātar būmi martya māha vāhara stūnā šiyāta *arta *draugharta drauga Middle Persian asp kām div drayā dast bāj brādar būm mard māh Bahār stūn šād ard drōgh Modern Persian asb ‫بسا‬ kām ‫ماک‬ div ‫وید‬ daryā ‫ایرد‬ dast ‫تسد‬ bāj ‫ژاب/جاب‬ barādar ‫ردارب‬ būm ‫موب‬ mard ‫درم‬ māh ‫هام‬ bahār ‫راهب‬ sotūn ‫نوتس‬ šād ‫داش‬ ord ‫درُا‬ dorōgh ‫غورد‬ Old Persian language meaning horse desire demon sea hand tribute brother region, land man moon, month spring column (related to stand) happy order(Ask for something) lie http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~iranian/ OldPersian/opcomplete.pdf [3] (Lazard, Gilbert 1975, “The Rise of the New Persian Language” in Frye, R. N., The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 4, pp. 595-632, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. • Brandenstein, Wilhelm (1964), Handbuch des Altpersischen, Wiesbaden: O. Harrassowitz • Hinz, Walther (1966), Altpersischer Wortschatz, Nendeln, Liechtenstein: Kraus • Kent, Roland G. (1953), Old Persian: Grammar, Texts, Lexicon, New Haven: American Oriental Society • Sims-Williams, Nicholas (1996), "Iranian languages", Encyclopedia Iranica, 7, Costa Mesa: Mazda : 238-245 • Schmitt, Rüdiger (1989), "Altpersisch", in R. Schmitt, Compendium linguarum Iranicarum, Wiesbaden: Reichert : 56–85 • Tolman, Herbert Cushing (1908), Ancient Persian Lexicon and the Texts of the Achaemenidan Inscriptions Transliterated and Translated with Special Reference to Their Recent Re-examination, New York/ Cincinnati: American Book Company Further reading • Skjærvø, Prods Oktor (2005), An Introduction to Old Persian (2nd ed.), Cambridge: Harvard, http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~iranian/ OldPersian/opcomplete.pdf • Peterson, Joseph H. (2006), Old Persian Texts, Herndon, VA: avesta.org, http://www.avesta.org/op/op.htm • Windfuhr, Gernot L. (1995), "Cases in Iranian languages and dialects", Encyclopedia Iranica, 5, Costa Mesa: Mazda, pp. 25–37 • Stolper, Matthew W. & Jan Tavernier (1995), "From the Persepolis Fortification Archive Project, 1: An Old Persian Administrative Tablet from the Persepolis Fortification", Arta, 2007:1, Paris: Achemenet.com • University Of Chicago (2007, June 22). Everyday Text Shows That Old Persian Was Probably More Commonly Used Than Previously Thought.[2][3] External links • "Old Persian Master Glossary" by Jonathan Slocum and Scott L. Harvey 4 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Old Persian language Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Persian_language" Categories: Persian language, Southwestern Iranian languages, Old Persian language This page was last modified on 20 May 2009, at 16:27 (UTC). All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details.) Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a U.S. registered 501(c)(3) taxdeductible nonprofit charity. Privacy policy About Wikipedia Disclaimers 5