User talk:Nepaheshgar/On the term Persian

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In some sources today, the term Persian as language mainly references "Parsi-ye Dari" or modern Farsi, which is one of the SW Iranian languages. However, the term Persian before and during the Islamic era has had a wide range of meaning and encompassed various Iranic languages. That is speakers of these languages consider themselves Persian. Overall during the Sassanid era, a homogeneous Iranian identity was created and Medes, Old Persians, Parthians, etc. were simply integrated and mixed with in each other to the extent that they were just called Iranians/Persians irregardless of regional dialect divergences.

1) For example, Abu Rayhan Biruni, a native speaker of the Eastern Iranian language Chorasmian mentions in his Āthār al-bāqiyah ʻan al-qurūn al-xāliyah that: "the people of Khwarizm, they are a branch of the Persian tree."[1]. Translation: And the people of Khwarizm, they are a branch of the Persian tree.

2) The Arab historian Masudi also refers to various Persian dialects and the speakers of these various Persian dialects as Persian. While considering modern Persian (Dari) to be one of these dialects, he also mentions Pahlavi and Azari, as well as other Persian languages. Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn al-Husayn Al-Masudi (896-956), the Arab historian states:

“ The Persians are a people whose borders are the Mahat Mountains and Azarbaijan up to Armenia and Aran, and Bayleqan and Darband, and Ray and Tabaristan and Masqat and Shabaran and Jorjan and Abarshahr, and that is Nishabur, and Herat and Marv and other places in land of Khorasan, and Sejistan and Kerman and Fars and Ahvaz...All these lands were once one kingdom with one sovereign and one language...although the language differed slightly. The language, however, is one, in that its letters are written the same way and used the same way in composition. There are, then, different languages such as Pahlavi, Dari, Azari, as well as other Persian languages.[2] ”

3) The Mazbannama was originally written in the Tabari (Mazandarani) Iranic language. The language used in the ancient Marzbānnāma was, in the words of the 13th historian Sa'ad ad-Din Warawini, “ the language of Ṭabaristan and old, original Persian (fārsī-yi ḳadīm-i bāstān)”[3].

4) The language of Tabriz, being an Iranian language during the time of Qatran Tabrizi, was not the standard Khurasani Parsi-ye Dari. Qatran Tabrizi(11th century) has an interesting couplet mentioning this fact:[4]

“

بلبل به سان مطرب بیدل فراز گل

گه پارسی نوازد، گاهی زند دری

Translation: The nightingale is on top of the flower like a minstrel who has lost her heart It bemoans sometimes in Parsi (Persian) and sometimes in Dari (Khurasani Persian)

 ”


5)


Lady (Mary) Shiel in her observation of Persia during the Qajar describes the Persian tribes and Koords/Laks identified themselves and were identified commonly as Old Persians[5]:

“

The PERSIAN TRIBES. The tribes are divided into three races-Toorks, Leks, first are the invaders from Toorkistan, who, from time 'immemorial, have established themselves in Persia, and who still preserve their language. The Leks form the clans of genuine Persian blood, such as the Loors, BekhtiaTees, &c. To them might be added the Koords, as members of the Persian family; but their numbers in the dominions of the Shah are comparatively few, the greater part of that widely-spread people being attached to Turkey. Collectively the Koords are so numerous that they might be regarded as a nation divided into distinct tribes. Who are the Leks, and who are the Koords? This in- quiry I cannot solve. I never met any one in Persia, either eel or moolla, who could give the least elucidation of this question. All they could say was, that both these races were Foors e kadeem,-old Persians. They both speak dialects the greater part of which is Persian, bearing a strong resemblance to the colloquial language of the present day, divested of its large Arabic mixture. These dialects are not perfectly alike, though it is said that Leks and Koords are able to comprehend each other. One would be disposed to consider them as belonging to the same stock,. did they not both disavow the connection. A Lek will- admit that a Koord, like himself, is an 11 old Persian," but he denies that the families are identical, and a Koord views the question in the same light.

 ”

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Abu Rahyan Biruni, "Athar al-Baqqiya 'an al-Qurun al-Xaliyyah"(Vestiges of the past : the chronology of ancient nations), Tehran, Miras-e-Maktub, 2001. Original Arabic of the quote: "و أما أهل خوارزم، و إن کانوا غصنا ً من دوحة الفُرس"(pg 56)
  2. ^ (Al Mas'udi, Kitab al-Tanbih wa-l-Ishraf, De Goeje, M.J. (ed.), Leiden, Brill, 1894, pp. 77-8). Original Arabic from www.alwaraq.net: فالفرس أمة حد بلادها الجبال من الماهات وغيرها وآذربيجان إلى ما يلي بلاد أرمينية وأران والبيلقان إلى دربند وهو الباب والأبواب والري وطبرستن والمسقط والشابران وجرجان وابرشهر، وهي نيسابور، وهراة ومرو وغير ذلك من بلاد خراسان وسجستان وكرمان وفارس والأهواز، وما اتصل بذلك من أرض الأعاجم في هذا الوقت وكل هذه البلاد كانت مملكة واحدة ملكها ملك واحد ولسانها واحد، إلا أنهم كانوا يتباينون في شيء يسير من اللغات وذلك أن اللغة إنما تكون واحدة بأن تكون حروفها التي تكتب واحدة وتأليف حروفها تأليف واحد، وإن اختلفت بعد ذلك في سائر الأشياء الأخر كالفهلوية والدرية والآذرية وغيرها من لغات الفرس.
  3. ^ Kramers, J.H. "Marzban-nāma." Encyclopaedia of Islam. Edited by: P. Bearman , Th. Bianquis , C.E. Bosworth , E. van Donzel and W.P. Heinrichs. Brill, 2007. Brill Online. 18 November 2007 <http://www.brillonline.nl/subscriber/entry?entry=islam_SIM-4990>
  4. ^ Riyahi Khoi, Mohammad Amin. “Molehaazi darbaareyeh Zabaan-I Kohan Azerbaijan”(Some comments on the ancient language of Azerbaijan), ‘Itilia’at Siyasi Magazine, volume 181-182. رياحي خويي، محمدامين، «ملاحظاتي درباره‌ي زبان كهن آذربايجان»: اطلاعات سياسي - اقتصادي، شماره‌ي 182-181 Also available at: [[1]]
  5. ^ Shiel, Lady (Mary). Glimpses of Life and Manners in Persia. London: John Murray, 1856. See here:[2]