Proto-Iranian language

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Proto-Iranian
PIr, Proto-Iranic
Reconstruction of
Proto-Indo-European
  • Proto-Indo-Iranian

Proto-Iranian or Proto-Iranic

Kurdish, Talysh and others. Its speakers, the hypothetical Proto-Iranians, are assumed to have lived in the 2nd millennium BC and are usually connected with the Andronovo archaeological horizon (see Indo-Iranians
).

Proto-Iranian was a

satem language descended from the Proto-Indo-Iranian language, which in turn, came from the Proto-Indo-European language. It was likely removed less than a millennium from the Avestan language, and less than two millennia from Proto-Indo-European.[2]

Dialects

Skjærvø postulates that there were at least four dialects that initially developed out of Proto-Iranian, two of which are attested by texts:[3]

  1. Old Northwest Iranian (unattested, ancestor of Ossetian)
  2. Old Northeast Iranian (unattested, ancestor of Middle Iranian
    Khotanese and modern Wakhi
    )
  3. Old Central Iranian (attested, includes , ancestor of most modern Iranian languages)
  4. Old Southwest Iranian (attested, includes )

Note that different terminology is used for the modern languages: Ossetian has often been classified as a "Northeast Iranian" language, while "Northwest Iranian" usually refers to languages to the northwest of Persian, such as Zaza or the Caspian languages.

Phonological correspondences

PIE[4]
Av
PIE Av
*p p *ph₂tḗr "father" pitar- "father"
*bʰ b *réh₂tēr "brother" bratar- "brother"
*t t *túh₂ "thou" tū- "thou"
*d d *dóru "wood" dāuru "wood"
*dʰ d *oHneh₂- "grain" dana- "grain"
*ḱ s *m̥t "ten" dasa "ten"
z *ǵónu "knee" zānu "knee"
*ǵʰ z *ǵʰimós "cold" ziiā̊ "winterstorm"
*k x ~ c *kruh₂rós "bloody" xrūda "bloody"
*g g ~ z *h₂éuges- "strength" aojah "strength"
*gʰ g ~ z *dl̥h₁ós "long" darəga- "long"
*kʷ k ~ c *ós "who" kō "who"
*gʷ g ~ j *ou- "cow" gao- "cow"
Proto-Iranian
Avestan[5]
Old Persian Persian Zaza Kurdish Vedic Sanskrit
*ph₂tḗr "father"[6][7][8] pitār pidar پدر pedār pi/pêr bav pitaraa
*méh₂tēr "mother"[a][9][10] mātar mādar مادر mādar ma/mare dayk maataraa
*Hácwah 'horse' aspa asa (native word)[11] اسب asb (< Median) astor hesp áśva
*bagáh 'portion, part' baγa baga (god) باج bâj (tax) parçe bhága
*bráHtā 'brother' brātar brātā برادر barâdar bırar bira(der) bhrā́tr̥
*búHmiš 'earth, land' būmi būmiš بوم bum bûm
bhū́mi
*mártyah 'mortal, man' maṣ̌iia martiya مرد mard (man) merde, merdım mêr(d) (man) mártya
*mā́Hah 'moon' mā̊ māha ماه mâh (moon, month) aşme mang (moon), meh (month) mā́sa
*wáhr̥ 'spring' vaŋri vahara بهار bahâr wesar bihar vāsara 'morning'
*Hr̥táh 'truth'
aša
arta راست râst (correct) raşt rast
r̥tá
*drúkš 'falsehood' druj drauga دروغ dorugh (lie) zûr diro, derew (lie) druh-
*háwmah 'pressed juice' haoma hauma-varga هوم hum hum sóma

Development into Old Iranian

The term

Wave theory
). Additionally, most Iranian languages cannot be derived from either attested Old Iranian language: numerous unwritten Old Iranian dialects must have existed, whose descendants surface in the written record only later.

Vocalization of laryngeals

The Proto-Indo-European laryngeal consonants are likely to have been retained quite late in the Indo-Iranian languages in at least some positions.

*l > *r

This change is found widely across the Iranian languages, indeed Indo-Iranian as a whole: it appears also in

Zazaki. These include e.g. Persian lab 'lip', līz- 'to lick', gulū 'throat' (compare e.g. Latin gula); Zazaki 'fox' (compare e.g. Latin vulpēs). This preservation is however not systematic, and likely has been mostly diminished through interdialectal loaning of r-forms, and in some cases extended by the loaning of words from smaller western Iranian languages into Persian.[12]

*s > *h

This change occurs in all Iranian languages, but is regardless sometimes thought to be later than Proto-Iranian, based on the Old Persian name Huša, thought to refer to Susa.

Aspirated stops

The Proto-Indo-Iranian aspirated stops *pʰ, *tʰ and *kʰ were spirantized into *f, *θ and *x in most Iranian languages. However, they appear to be retained in

Gāndhārī Prakrit
is likely.

*c, *dz > *s, *z

The Proto-Indo-European palatovelars *ḱ, *ǵ (and *ǵʰ) were fronted to affricates *ć, *dź in Proto-Indo-Iranian (the affricate stage being preserved in the Nuristani languages). The development in the Old Iranian period shows divergences: Avestan, as also most newer Iranian languages, show /s/ and /z/, while Old Persian shows /θ/ and /d/. (Word-initially, the former develops also into /s/ by Middle Persian.) — The change *c > *s must be also newer than the development *s > *h, since this new *s was not affected by the previous change.

*cw > *sp

This change also clearly fails to apply to all Iranian languages. Old Persian with its descendants shows /s/, possibly likewise Kurdish and Balochi.[13] The Saka languages show /š/. All other Iranian languages have /sp/, or a further descendant (e.g. /fs/ in Ossetian).

*θr > *c

This change is typical for Old Persian and its descendants, as opposed to Avestan and most languages first attested in the Middle or New Iranian periods. Kurdish and Balochi may again have shared this change as well.[13]

Notes

  1. Gaulish Dea Matrona ('Divine Mother Goddess'); Sanskrit Matrikas
    ('Divine Mothers').

References

  1. .
  2. OCLC 139999117.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link
    )
  3. ^ Skjærvø, Prods Oktor (2009). "Old Iranian". In Windfuhr, Gernot (ed.). The Iranian Languages. Routledge. pp. 50–51.
  4. OCLC 37931209.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link
    )
  5. ^ Skjærvø, Prods Oktor (2003). "Glossary". An Introduction to Young Avestan.
  6. ^ Dnghu, p. 2394.
  7. ^ Pokorny, p. 829.
  8. ^ Mallory & Adams (2006), p. 210.
  9. ^ Dnghu, pp. 1993-1994.
  10. ^ Pokorny, pp. 700-701.
  11. .
  12. .
  13. ^ a b Korn, Agnes (2003). "Balochi and the Concept of North-Western Iranian". In Jahani, Carina; Korn, Agnes (eds.). The Balochi and Their Neighbours. Ethnic and Linguistic Contact in Balochistan in Historical and Modern Times. Wiesbaden: Reichert. pp. 49–60.

Further reading