Old Persian
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Old Persian | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spoken in: | ancient Iran | |
| Language extinction: | evolved into Middle Persian | |
| Language family: | Indo-European Indo-Iranian Iranian Old Persian |
|
| Writing system: | Old Persian Cuneiform | |
| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639-1: | none | |
| ISO 639-2: | peo | |
| ISO 639-3: | peo | |
| Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. See IPA chart for English for an English-based pronunciation key. | ||
| History of the Persian language |
| Proto-Iranian (ca. 1500 BCE)
Southwestern Iranian languages |
| Old Persian (c. 525 BCE - 300 BCE)
|
| Middle Persian (c.300 BCE-800 CE)
Pahlavi script • Manichaean script • Avestan script |
| Modern Persian (from 800) |
The Old Persian language is an ancient tongue of Iran (c. 600 BCE to 300 BCE). The Aryan, was the name given to the Old Persian by the Achaemenid Kings.[1] Old Persian alongside the Avestan is the oldest attested form of Iranian language. It is classified in the group of Western Iranian languages, subgroup of Indo-Iranian languages (and thus the Indo-European languages).
The language was used in the inscriptions of the Achaemenid Emperors. Old Persian texts (including inscriptions, tablets and seals) have been found in Iran, Turkey and Egypt. It evolved into the Middle Persian language (Pahlavi) of Sassanid Iran, and eventually into the modern Persian language.
Contents |
[edit] Script
Old Persian was written from left to right in Old Persian cuneiform script, a semi-alphabetic syllabic Cuneiform script. Old Persian cuneiform contains 36 signs which represent consonants, vowels, or sequences of single consonants plus vowels, a set of three numerals (1, 10, 100), a word divider, and a few ideograms.
[edit] Phonology
The following phonemes are expressed in the Old Persian script:
Vowels
- Long: /aː/ /iː/ /uː/
- Short: /a/ /i/ /u/
Consonants
| Labial | Dental/ Alveolar |
Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | p /p/ | b /b/ | t /t/ | d /d/ | c /c/ | j /ɟ/ | k /k/ | g /g/ | ||
| Nasal | m /m/ | n /n/ | ||||||||
| Fricative | f /f/ | θ /θ/ | ç /ç/ | x /x/ | h /h/ | |||||
| Sibilant | s /s/ | z /z/ | š /ʃ/ | |||||||
| Rhotic | r /r/ | |||||||||
| Approximant | v /ʋ/ | l /l/ | y /j/ | |||||||
[edit] Grammar
[edit] Nouns
Old Persian stems:
- a-stems (-a, -am, -ā)
- i-stems (-iš, iy)
- u- (and au-) stems (-uš, -uv)
- consonantal stems (n, r, h)
| -a | -am | -ā | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Dual | Plural | Singular | Dual | Plural | Singular | Dual | Plural | |
| Nominative | -a | -ā | -ā, -āha | -am | -ā | -ā | -ā | -ā | -ā |
| Vocative | -ā | -ā | -ā | -am | -ā | -ā | -ā | -ā | -ā |
| Accusative | -am | -ā | -ā | -am | -ā | -ā | -ām | -ā | -ā |
| Instrumental | -ā | -aibiyā | -aibiš | -ā | -aibiyā | -aibiš | -āyā | -ābiyā | -ābiš |
| Dative | -ahyā, -ahya | -aibiyā | -aibiš | -ahyā, -ahya | -aibiyā | -aibiš | -āyā | -ābiyā | -ābiš |
| Ablative | -ā | -aibiyā | -aibiš | -ā | -aibiyā | -aibiš | -āyā | -ābiyā | -ābiš |
| Genitive | -ahyā, -ahya | -āyā | -ānām | -ahyā, -ahya | -āyā | -ānām | -āyā | -āyā | -ānām |
| Locative | -aiy | -āyā | -aišuvā | -aiy | -āyā | -aišuvā | -āyā | -āyā | -āšuvā |
| -iš | -iy | -uš | -uv | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Dual | Plural | Singular | Dual | Plural | Singular | Dual | Plural | Singular | Dual | Plural | |
| Nominative | -iš | -īy | -iya | -iy | -in | -īn | -uš | -ūv | -uva | -uv | -un | -ūn |
| Vocative | -i | -īy | -iya | -iy | -in | -īn | -u | -ūv | -uva | -uv | -un | -ūn |
| Accusative | -im | -īy | -iš | -iy | -in | -īn | -um | -ūv | -ūn | -uv | -un | -ūn |
| Instrumental | -auš | -ībiyā | -ībiš | -auš | -ībiyā | -ībiš | -auv | -ūbiyā | -ūbiš | -auv | -ūbiyā | -ūbiš |
| Dative | -aiš | -ībiyā | -ībiš | -aiš | -ībiyā | -ībiš | -auš | -ūbiyā | -ūbiš | -auš | -ūbiyā | -ūbiš |
| Ablative | -auš | -ībiyā | -ībiš | -auš | -ībiyā | -ībiš | -auv | -ūbiyā | -ūbiš | -auv | -ūbiyā | -ūbiš |
| Genitive | -aiš | -īyā | -īnām | -aiš | -īyā | -īnām | -auš | -ūvā | -ūnām | -auš | -ūvā | -ūnām |
| Locative | -auv | -īyā | -išuvā | -auv | -īyā | -išuvā | -āvā | -ūvā | -ušuvā | -āvā | -ūvā | -ušuvā |
Adjectives are declinable in similar way.
[edit] Lexicon
| Proto-Indo-Iranian | Old Persian | Middle Persian | Modern Persian | meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| *açva | aspa | asb | asb | horse |
| *kāma | kāma | kām | kām | few, slight |
| *daiva | daiva | Div | Div | demon |
| drayah | drayā | daryā | sea | |
| dasta | dast | dast | hand | |
| *bhāgī | bāji | bāj | bāj | tribute |
| *bhrātr- | brātar | brādar | barādar | brother |
| *bhūmī | būmi | būm | būm | region, land |
| *martya | martya | mard | mard | man |
| *māsa | māha | māh | māh | Moon, month |
| *vāsara | vāhara | Bahār | bahār | spring |
| stūnā | stūn | sotūn | column | |
| šiyāta | šhād | šhād | happiness | |
| *arta | rāsti | rāsti | rasti | truth |
| *draugh- | drauga | drōgh | dorōgh | lie |
[edit] References
- Brandenstein, Wilhelm. Handbuch des Altpersischen. Wiesbaden, O. Harrassowitz 1964.
- Hinz, Walther, Altpersischer Wortschatz. Nendeln, Liechtenstein : Kraus Reprint, 1966.
- Kent, Roland G., Old Persian : grammar, texts, lexicon. New Haven, Conn. : American Oriental Society, 1953.
- Tolman, Herbert Cushing, 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, 1908.
- Rüdiger Schmitt: Altpersisch. In: R. Schmitt: Compendium linguarum Iranicarum. Reichert, Wiesbaden 1989, S. 56–85.
- Suren-Pahlav, S., The Aryan (Old Persian) Language
[edit] See also
- Persian language
- Avestan language
- Behistun Inscription
- Iranian Languages vocabulary comparison table
[edit] External links
- P. Oktor Skjaervo, Introduction to Old Persian
- Iranian Languages Group
- Aryan (Old Persian) Language
- Decipherment of Persian Cuneiform
- Old-Persian Cuneiform Inscription
- The Ancient Persian Alphabet
- OLD PERSIAN TEXTS
| Iranian Languages | |||
| Eastern Iranian | |||
| Old Iranian | Avestan † | Scythian (including Saka)† | Sogdian† | ||
| Middle Iranian | Bactrian† | Khwarezmian† | Khotanese† (possibly a Saka dialect) | Ossetic | Sacian† | ||
| Modern Iranian | Bartangi | Hidukush Group | Ishkashmi | Karakoram Group | Khufi | Munji | Oroshori | New Ossetic | Parachi | Pashto | Roshani (Roshni) | Sanglechi | Sarikoli | Shughni | Wakhi | Vanji † | Waziri | Yaghnobi | Yidgha | Yazgulami | Zebaki | ||
| Western Iranian | |||
| Old Iranian | Median† | Old Persian (Aryan)† | ||
| Middle Iranian | Parthian Pahlavi† | Sasanian Pahlavi† | ||
| Modern Iranian | Alviri (Vidâri) | Ashtiani | Azari† | Baluchi | Bashkardi | Central Iran | Persian Dari | Dari (Zoroastrian) | Gilaki | Gorani | Harzani | Judeo-Persian | Kurdish Kurmanji | Laki | Luri | Bakhtiari Lori | Mazandarani | Ormuri | Sangsari | Parachi | New-Persian | Sorani (Kurdish) | Tajik | Taleshi | Tat | Tati | Vafsi | Zazaki | ||
| Extinct † | |||
