| Mazandarani | |
|---|---|
| Mäzandarani مازندرانی Tabari تبری |
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| Spoken in | Iran, province of Mazandaran and parts of the provinces of Tehran, Alborz, Gilan, Golestan, Semnan, Khorasan |
| Region | South coast of the Caspian Sea |
| Native speakers | 3.3 million (1993) |
| Language family | |
| Writing system | Persian alphabet |
| Official status | |
| Regulated by | Linguistic Faculty of Babol University |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | mzn |
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Areas where Mazandarani is spoken as mother tongue
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Mazandarani (مازندرانی) or Tabari (تبری) (Also known as: Mazaniki) is an Iranian language of the Northwestern branch, spoken mainly in Iran's Mazandaran, Gilan and Golestan provinces. As a member of the Northwestern branch (the northern branch of Western Iranian), genetically speaking it is rather closely related to Gilaki, and more distantly related to Persian, which belongs to the Southwestern branch.[1][2]
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The name Mazandarani (and variants of it) derives from the name of the historical region of Mazandaran (Mazerun in Mazandarani), which was part of former Kingdom of Tapuria. People traditionally call their language Gileki, the same as Gilekis do. Gileki consist of two morphemes : Gil + postfix ki. The name Tapuri (or Tabari) which was the name of an ancient language of somewhere in former Tapuria, Nowadays becomes prevalent into youth groups instead of Gileki. However, Gilan and Mazanderan were part of the same state known as Tapuria which its national language was known as Gileki.
Among the living Iranian languages, Mazandarani has one of the longest written traditions, from the tenth to the fifteenth century. This status was achieved during the long reign of the independent and semi-independent rulers of Mazandaran in the centuries after the Arab invasion.[3]
The rich literature of this language includes books such as Marzban Nameh (later translated into Persian) and the poetry of Amir Pazevari. The use of Mazandarani, however, has been in decline. Its literary and administrative rank was lost to Persian perhaps long before the ultimate integration of Mazandaran into the national administration in the early seventeenth century.[4]
The Mazandarani language is closely related to Gilaki and the two languages have similar vocabularies. In 1993, according to Ethnologue, there were more than three million native speakers of Mazandarani, speaking different dialects such as Gorgani, Ghadikolahi and Palani.[5]
Mazanderani is an inflected and gender-free language.[6] It is considered SVO.
Function Cases
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Adjectives
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The list below is a sample list obtained from the Online Mazandarani-Persian dictionary.
Locatives
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Subjectives
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Mazanderani is commonly written in the Perso-Arabic script.[7]
Spoken in a territory sheltered by the high Alborz mountains, Mazandarani preserves many Indo-European old words which are no longer in common use in many other Iranian languages such as Persian. Below, a few common Mazanderani words & their Persian cognates are listed for sample.
| English | Mazandarani | Persian | Proto-Indo-European | Example of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New | Neo | No/Now | *newos | Adjective |
| Great | Gat | Bozorg, Gonde, Katte | Adjective | |
| Better | Better | Behtar | Adverb | |
| Been | Bine | Budeh | Auxiliary Verb | |
| Being | Bien | Budan | Infinitive of Verb | |
| Moon | Moong/Mong | Mâh | *mehnos | Noun |
| Daughter | Deter | Dokhtar | *dheugh | Noun |
| Cow | Go/Gu/Guw | Gâv/Gow | Noun | |
| My | Me/Mi (before the noun) | am (after the noun), om | Verb | |
| Gab | Gap | Gap | Verb | |
| Right | Rast | Râst |
Virtually all speakers of Mazandarani are also fluent in standard Persian.[8] Some dialectologists have concluded that the language is converging with Persian.[4][9]
In Iran, there are some popular companies and products, like Rika (son) or Kija (daughter), which take their name from Mazandarani words.
There are some Mazanderani loanwords in the Turkmen language.[10]
áme kεrkā šúnnε nεfār-sar. nεfār-sar xεsέnnε. badími nεfār-sar-e čεl-o-ču hamε bapíssεnε. bāútεmε, “vačε jān! injε, kεlum-e pali, mé-vesse έttā kεrk-kεli dεrεs hā́kεn!” vε εm nεmāšun ke pe dar-biārdε, hamun šō badímε bεmúnε sεre piεr o vačε. ande-tumi piεr o vačε bεmúnε sεre, nεmāz kέrdεnε, qεzā xέrdεnε; ba:d εz nεmāz šínε ún-var, sāāt-e čār harkεt kέrdεnε.
Our chickens go onto the nefār and sleep on it. [Once] we noted that the wood of the nefār was all rotten. I told [my son], “Dear child! Here, next to the stable, make me a chicken coop.” In the evening that [my son] was setting the foundation, the father [-in-law] and [his] son came home. As soon as the father and son came home, they would say their prayers, eat something, and then, after the prayers, they would go over there (to the next room); then at four o’clock they would set off.
(from Maryam Borjian and Habib Borjian, “Ethno-Linguistic Materials from Rural Mazandaran [: Mysterious Memories of a Woman],” Iran and the Caucasus 11/2, 2007, pp. 226–254.)
mosalmunun! mέrε šabgir varέnnε āx, mέrε bā kamεr-e haftir varέnnε mέrε bavέrdεnε Tεrkεmun-e dam Tεrkεmun kāfεr o gεlilε be-ra:m Moslems! They are carrying me at the crack of dawn. O, they are taking me away with a pistol on the[ir] waist. They took me to the vicinity of the Turkmen [tribes]. Turkmen [are] unbelievers and the bullet [is] ruthless. gεtε, ašun xō badimā mεn še Ali-rε sio dasmāl davέsso še gali-rε age xā́nnε bā́urεn ámi badi-rε bázεne xεrusεk šέme gali-rε volvol sar-e dār gέnε εy zāri-zāri me gol dāš báio sarbāz-e Sāri He would say, Last night I dreamed my Ali. He [had] wrapped a black kerchief [round] his throat. If it is their intention is malignant about us, May croup-cough attack your throat! The nightingale on the tree constantly bemoans (?) My dear brother drafted in Sāri. Quatrains sang by Sabura Azizi, transcribed and translated by Habib Borjian; Ref. Habib Borjian and Maryam Borjian, “Mysterious Memories of a Woman: Ethno-Linguistic Materials from Rural Mazandaran,” Iran and the Caucasus 11/2, 2007.
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ozεrε-vâ énε dámbe sεvâí |
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At break of dawn blows the cool breeze. |
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basutέ sinέye miónnε hấreš! |
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Look at the middle of the burnt chest! |
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Dεl-e armun “Heart’s Aspiration” |
In dates given below, A.P. denotes the Iranian calendar, the solar calendar (365 days per year) which is official in Iran and Afghanistan.
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