Old Persian

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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.
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

Old Persian is one of the two attested forms of Old Iranian languages. 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.

Contents

[edit] Relationship to other languages

Comparative linguistics classifies Old Persian as a Southwestern Iranian language, in the group of Iranian languages, which is one of the two subgroups of Indo-Iranian languages. This latter group is one of the branches of the Indo-European language family.

Unlike Avestan, which is the other attested Old Iranian language, Old Persian remained a living language. By the late Achaemenid era, Old Persian had begun to evolve into Middle Persian, which eventually became the language of state under the Sassanids (3rd-7th c. CE). Middle Persian is in turn the precursor of the Modern Persian language.

Old Persian "presumably"[1] 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 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.)." [1]

[edit] Script

Main article: Old Persian cuneiform 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] Verbs

Voices
Active, Middle (them. pres. -aiy-, -ataiy-), Passive (-ya-).

In Old Persian were used mostly the forms of first and third persons. Only Dual form used was ajīvatam 'both lived'.

Present, Active
Athematic Thematic
'be' 'bring'
Sg. 1.pers. ahmiy barāmiy
3.pers. astiy baratiy
Pl. 1.pers. ahmahiy barāmahiy
3.pers. hatiy baratiy
Imperfect, Active
Athematic Thematic
'do, make' 'be, become'
Sg. 1.pers. akunavam abavam
3.pers. akunauš abava
Pl. 1.pers. akumā abavāmā
3.pers. akunava abava
Present participle
Active Middle
-nt- -amna-
Past participle
-ta-
Infinitive
-tanaiy

[edit] Lexicon

Proto-Indo-Iranian Old Persian Middle Persian Modern Persian meaning
*açva aspa asb asb horse
*kāma kāma kām kām desire
*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 arta ard ord truth
*draugh- drauga drōgh dorōgh lie

[edit] See also

[edit] References and Bibliography

  1. ^ a b Skjærvø, Prods Oktor (2005), An Introduction to Old Persian (2nd ed.), Cambridge: Harvard, <http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~iranian/OldPersian/opcomplete.pdf>
  • 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, vol. 7, Cosa 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

[edit] Further reading

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Iranian languages
Old
Middle
Modern
 Legend: † Extinct language (no surviving native speakers and no spoken descendant)
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Persian"
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