scholarly journals The Evolution of Ergativity in Iranian Languages

2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yadgar KARIMI
Keyword(s):  
Past Participle ◽  
Grammatical Structure ◽  
Bottom Line ◽  
Transitive Verb ◽  
Old Persian ◽  
Middle Persian

This paper presents an attempt to investigate the origins of ergativity in Iranian languages, drawing upon diachronic and synchronic analyses. In so doing, I will trace the development of the ergative structure back to Old and Middle Persian where, it is argued, the roots of ergativity lie. I will specifically show that the ergative pattern as currently obtained in the grammatical structure of some Iranian languages has evolved from a periphrastic past participle construction, the analogue of which is attested in Old Persian. It will further be argued that the predecessor past participle construction imparted a resultative construal in Old Persian and, subsequently, in the transition to Middle Persian, has assumed a simple past reading. The bottom-line of the analysis will be represented as a proposal regarding the nature of the ergative verb, to the effect that an ergative verb, as opposed to a regular (non-ergative) transitive verb, is semantically transitive, but syntactically intransitive.

Satzspaltung im Avestischen und Altpersischen (mit einem Ausblick auf das Mittelpersische)

2012 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 119-137
Author(s):  
Paul Widmer
Keyword(s):  
Functional Properties ◽  
Principal Function ◽  
Old Persian ◽  
Middle Persian

AbstractThis paper investigates the formal and functional properties of cleft sentences in Avestan and Old Persian, a construction whose existence has not been recognised in these languages hitherto. In Avestan, cleft sentences mainly function as focussing device, whereas in Old Persian, their principal function consists in the structuring of information on a text level. It is, furthermore, pointed to the fact that the usage of cleft sentences increases considerably in Middle Persian where this construction developed a much wider range of formal and functional properties as compared to the older stages of Iranian.

scholarly journals A Thematic and Etymological Glossary of Aquatic and Bird Genera Names in Iranian Bundahišm

2015 ◽  
Vol 62 ◽  
pp. 39-52
Author(s):  
Golnar Ghalekhani ◽  
Mahdi Khaksar
Keyword(s):  
Persian Language ◽  
Animal Names ◽  
Old Persian ◽  
Middle Persian ◽  
Animal Category ◽  
The Way

The purpose of this study is to present a thematic and etymological glossary of aquatic and bird genera names which have been mentioned in Iranian Bundahišn. In this research, after arranging animal names in Persian alphabetic order in their respective genus, first the transliteration and transcription of animal names in middle Persian language are provided. Afterwards, the part of Bundahišn that contains the actual animal names and the relevant translations are mentioned. The etymology of every animal name is described by considering the morphemic source. Finally, mention is made of the mythology connected to the animal and the animal category in Iranian Bundahišn (if available), and the way in which the words have changed from Old Persian up to now. Changes in the name of every animal from the ancient languages such as Indo-European, Sanskrit, Old Persian and Avestan to middle languages such as Pahlavi, Sogdian, Khotanese, and Chorasmian and how the name appears in new Iranian languages and dialects such as Behdini (Gabri), Kurdi, Baluchi and Yaghnobi are also referred to.

scholarly journals “The Messengers are Called Sangandai”: the Greek σαγγάνδης and its Relationship to  ἀσγάνδης/ ἀστάνδης

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-49
Author(s):  
Rafał Rosół ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Original Form ◽  
Original Meaning ◽  
Old Persian ◽  
Middle Persian ◽  
First Time ◽  
Early Byzantine

This article examines the Greek noun σαγγάνδης ‘messenger’ which is attested in two lexica, dated to the Roman or early Byzantine periods: the Cambridge Rhetorical Lexicon by an anonymous author and Difficult Words in the Attic Orators by Claudius Casilo. In both works, σαγγάνδης appears together with three words of likely Iranian provenance: ὀροσάγγης ‘benefactor of the Persian king; bodyguard’, παρασάγγης ‘parasang; messenger’ and ἄγγαρος ‘messenger, courier; workman, labourer’. The word σαγγάνδης is analysed in comparison with ἀσγάνδης/ ἀστάνδης ‘messenger’ occurring for the first time in Plutarch’s works and closely linked to the Achaemenid administration. According to the hypothesis put forward in the present paper, both σαγγάνδης and  σγάνδης (with its secondary variant  στάνδης) are connected to Manichaean Middle Persian/Parthian ižgand ‘messenger’, Sogdian (a)žγand/(ɔ) žγand/ž(i)γant ‘id.’, Jewish Aramaic ʾîzgaddā ‘id.’, Syriac izgandā/izgaddā ‘id.’, Mandaic ašganda ‘helper, assistant, servant; the Messenger’, and go back to Old Persian *zganda- or to early Middle Persian/early Parthian *žgand- (or *zgand-) with the original meaning ‘mounted messenger’. The reconstructed noun is derived from the Proto-Iranian root *zga(n)d- ‘to go on, gallop, mount’, attested in Avestan (Younger Avestan zgaδ(/θ)- ‘to go on horseback, gallop’) and in some Middle and Modern Iranian languages. The original form of the loanword in Greek was probably *σγάνδης which then underwent certain transformations.

scholarly journals Contributions to a relative chronology of Persian

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-43
Author(s):  
Agnes Korn
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Historical Phonology ◽  
Relative Chronology ◽  
Sound Changes ◽  
Word Forms ◽  
Old Persian ◽  
Middle Persian ◽  
Previous Scholarship

Abstract Old Persian shows a change of postconsonantal y, w to iy, uw, respectively. However, if one applies (pre-)Middle Persian sound changes to the Old Persian forms, the result is at variance with certain Middle Persian forms. If one were to assume a syncope reversing the Old Persian change of y, w to iy, uw, this would also affect old cases of iy, uw and likewise yield incorrect results for Middle Persian. The Old Persian change can thus not have operated in the prehistory of Middle Persian, and there is a dialectal difference between attested Old Persian and the later stages of the language, which is to be added to those already noted. The paper also discusses some sound changes that are connected to the Old Persian change in one way or the other. Cases in point are the processes called Epenthesis and Umlaut in previous scholarship, which this article suggests to interpret as occurring in different contexts and in different periods. The former is limited to Vry, which yields Vir and feeds into a monophthongisation that, as shown by some late Old Persian word forms, occurred within Achaemenid times, giving ēr and īr from ary and əry. Epenthesis did not occur in the prehistory of Parthian, whereas the monophthongisation did. The Appendix presents a tentative sequence of the processes discussed in this article, which is intended as a contribution to the relative chronology of Persian historical phonology.

Parthian moγ and Middle Persian moγ/mow in Light of Earlier Eastern and Western Iranian Sources

2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 252-271
Author(s):  
Antonio Panaino
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Western Iran ◽  
Historical Importance ◽  
Old Persian ◽  
Middle Persian

The present article analyses the historical importance assumed by Parthian and Middle Persian moγ/mow (and related words) in the framework of the religious and administrative language of Late Antiquity despite its seemingly absolute absence in the Avestan Sprachgut. Although moγ should be reasonably considered as a word of (prominent) Western Iranian derivation, i.e. from Median and Old Persian magu-, the progressive phonetic evolution toward a spelling, such as that of early Parthian and Middle Persian *moγ(u)- created a fitting resonance with a rare Avestan word (in its turn probably nonexistent in the older strata of the language, if not even a Western loanword itself), specifically moγu-°, which is attested only in the Y.Av. compound moγu.tb̰ iš-. The rising weight assumed by the priestly college of the Magi in secular activities already during the Achaemenian period promoted the preservation of this title also after the diffusion of the Avestan liturgy in Western Iran. This development also ensured that the designation of *moγ(u)- became extended to the whole family of the Zoroastrian priests following the Avestan tradition.

“Freemen” and “Nobles” in Iranian and Semitic Languages

1985 ◽  
Vol 117 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-15
Author(s):  
François de Blois
Keyword(s):  
Semitic Languages ◽  
Independent Form ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Old Persian ◽  
Middle Persian

It has been recognized for a long time that the Iranian word āzāta- covers what would seem to us to be two distinct ideas: “free” (not a slave) and “noble” (not a commoner). Avestan has āzāta-, “noble” hvāzāta-, “very noble”; Old Persian *āzāta- is attested by the phrase ’zt šbqtky bmwty, “I free you (a slave girl) at my death”, in an Aramaic document from Elephantine dated in the 38th year of Artaxerxes (427 B.C.). Early Middle Iranian forms are reflected by Hesychius' glosses , i.e. *āzāt-īh, = “freedom”, and i.e. *āzāta- with the Greek plural suffix “the intimates of the (Persian) king”. That the Arsacid Parthians used one and the same word for “free” and “noble” is evident from two passages where Josephus refers to the Parthian élite troops as “free men”. In Middle Persian and Sasanian Parthian texts āzād is extensively attested in both senses, “free” and “noble”, as are numerous derivatives. From Parthian come Armenian azat, “free, noble” and Georgian azat'i, “free”. Sogdian ”z't means “noble”, “free”, and “clear”. Khotanese has āysāta-, “well born” and “free born”. In Neo-Persian, however, āzād has become restricted to “free”, while āzāda is used for “noble”; Persian āzād (ozod, etc.) has been borrowed into most other Neo-Iranian languages, but an independent form has survived in Kurdish aza, “brave”; Ossetic azat, “free”, is perhaps borrowed from Georgian.

Typological Approaches and Dialects

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Dabir-Moghaddam
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Language Change ◽  
Geographical Area ◽  
Morphological Type ◽  
Order Parameters ◽  
European Languages ◽  
Old Persian ◽  
Middle Persian

Modern Persian reveals interesting typological properties. In terms of word order parameters, it has grammaticalized a number of OV-type and a number of VO-type parameters. As this mixed typological behaviour can be attested in Old Persian and Middle Persian, the implications of this observation for typology, formal linguistics, and theories of language change are worth pursuing. The agreement system of Modern Persian is Nominative-Accusative. However, the majority of Modern Iranian languages are split in this respect. Morphologically, Modern Persian is analytic. This morphological type can be observed in Middle Persian as well. This two-millennium-old typological property gives Persian a distinct place within the Indo-European languages. As Persian is spoken in a widespread geographical area, there are many Persian dialects currently in use. A number of grammatical features of Tajik Persian, Afghan (Dari) Persian, Isfahani Persian, and Gha’eni Persian are briefly mentioned.

From Old to New Persian

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mauro Maggi ◽  
Paola Orsatti
Keyword(s):  
Close Association ◽  
Arabic Script ◽  
Three Stages ◽  
Old Persian ◽  
Middle Persian

This chapter looks at the evolution of Persian, the only language to be substantially documented in all three periods of Old, Middle, and New Iranian on account of its close association with political centres over the centuries: Old and Middle Persian with the Achaemenids and the Sasanians, New Persian with Islamic powers. The chapter includes two parts, preceded by a survey of research on the three stages of Persian. The first part presents the documentation of Old and Middle Persian, discusses the innovations of Old Persian, and considers the transition from Old to Middle Persian. The second part deals with the rise of New Persian by taking into account Early Judaeo-Persian, Persian in Syriac script, Manichaean New Persian, and the early texts in Arabic script. It then discusses the main changes of the language in its literary and non-literary varieties until Contemporary New Persian.

Near Eastern and Old Iranian myths

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenny Rose
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
Islamic Period ◽  
Iranian History ◽  
Ancient Times ◽  
Old Persian ◽  
Middle Persian ◽  
Early Islamic Period ◽  
Different Cultures ◽  
Early Islamic

This entry concerns mythological narratives that developed in ancient times in lands extending from the eastern Mediterranean seaboard as far as Central Asia. Whereas the term Near Eastern applies to a range of different cultures—including Mesopotamian, Elamite, Hittite, Canaanite, Hebrew, Urartian, Phoenician, and Egyptian—the expression Old Iranian is used only of ancient Iranian culture as evidenced primarily in the texts of the Avesta, and in certain Old Persian inscriptions and iconography. From the early 1st millennium onwards, as ancient Iranians moved across the plateau into Mesopotamia and beyond, so Iranian culture, including its mythology, interacted with that of the Near East. The ensuing worldviews continue to impact the religions that evolved within the region, specifically, the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim traditions. Mesopotamian myths comprise the earliest literature committed to writing. Alongside the discovery of archaeological sites in which some of the myths are set and of material objects relating to those myths, these texts provide insight into the general ethos, ritual activity, and social structure of the pertinent cultures of Mesopotamia—notably, Sumerian, Babylonian, and Assyrian. The contemporary ancient Egyptians present a similar richness of material and literary culture. In contrast, the Old Iranian myths of the Avesta endured within an oral context until about the 6th century ce, with only cursory allusion to a cosmogony in Old Persian inscriptions, Achaemenid reliefs, and stamp seals. It is the Middle Persian Zoroastrian texts of the late Sasanian/early Islamic period in Iran that provide a systematized cosmology and attendant mythology, and the New Persian national epic, the Šāhnāme, that develops many of the characters and events of Old Iranian text within its dramatic re-telling of Iranian history.

scholarly journals The ‘Other’ gumēzišn. About the Final ‘Merger’ of Limited Time with Eternity

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
ANTONIO PANAINO
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
The Other ◽  
Limited Time ◽  
The World ◽  
Old Persian ◽  
Middle Persian ◽  
Technical Terms

The Middle Persian (MP) verb gumēxtan, gumēz- [gwmyhtn', gymyc-], despite its Indo-Iranian and Indo-European origins, does not offer attestations in Avestan and Old Persian. This is a very peculiar fact, because in particular a nominal derivative of this verbal stem, gumēzišn [gwmyck'], became one of the most sensible technical terms adopted in the framework of the Mazdean cosmology and theology. We can briefly recall that the gumēzišn concerns the ‘state of mixture’, the mélange produced by the irruption of Ahreman in the primordial good creation of Ohrmazd, when he pierced the heavens and entered the world.

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