- Pahlavi also spelled:
- Pehlevi
- Related Topics:
- Middle Persian language
Pahlavi language
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What is the Pahlavi language?
Pahlavi is an extinct Middle Persian language from the Iranian language group, used from the end of the Achaemenian dynasty (559â330 BCE) to the advent of Islam in the 7th century CE. It is derived from a dialect of Parthian and became the official language of the Parthian empire in the 1st century CE.
The Pahlavi sound system included short and long vowels, diphthongs, and consonants. While Old Persian had singular, dual, and plural forms, Pahlavi simplified this to singular and plural, dropping Old Persian distinctions in noun case and gender.
The earliest examples of written Pahlavi are inscriptions and coins from Susa and Dura-Europus. The Pahlavi alphabet, based on Aramaic, had fewer letters than sounds, leading to varied pronunciations based on placement in a word. The text of the Avesta, the sacred book of Zoroastrianism, was transcribed into Pahlavi during the Sasanian period. Pahlavi eventually became the foundation for modern Persian languages like Persian and Dari.
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Where and when was Pahlavi language spoken?
The Pahlavi language was a Middle Persian language primarily spoken from the end of the Achaemenian dynasty (559â330 BCE) to the advent of Islam in the 7th century CE. It descended from a dialect of Parthian, becoming widespread when it was made the official language of the Parthian empire.
The Pahlavi alphabet, used for writing the language, dates back to as early as the 2nd century BCE. It was used until the 7th century CE. Earliest examples of written Pahlavi have been discovered on coins and inscriptions at Susa and Dura-Europus. After the Islamic conquest in 652 CE, Pahlavi continued to be used by minority communities and eventually became the base for Modern Persian languages.
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Which ancient people used the Pahlavi language?
The Pahlavi language, an extinct Iranian language, was used by the Persian people from the end of the Achaemenian dynasty (559â330 BCE) to the advent of Islam in the 7th century CE.
The Sasanian dynasty (224â651 CE) adopted Pahlavi as the official state language and declared Zoroastrianism to be the state religion. Minority communities continued to communicate in Pahlavi even after the Sasanian empire was overrun by Islamic forces in 652 CE. Pahlavi eventually became the foundation for Modern Persian languages.
The Pahlavi alphabet, which developed from the Aramaic alphabet, was used to write the Pahlavi language. The Zoroastrian sacred book, the Avesta, is written in a variant of Pahlavi called Avestan.
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What kind of script or writing system did the Pahlavi language use?
The Pahlavi language employed the Pahlavi alphabet, which originated from the Aramaic alphabet and was used until the arrival of Islam in the 7th century CE. The Zoroastrian sacred text, the Avesta, is written in a Pahlavi variant called Avestan.
The Pahlavi alphabet had local varieties, including northwestern (Pahlavik or Arsacid), southwestern (Parsik or Sasanian), and eastern styles, all written from right to left. The Aramaic alphabet's 22 letters mostly came to represent multiple sounds in Pahlavi. Northwestern Pahlavi had 20 letters, while southwestern had 19. Avestan, a cursive script, had 50 distinct letters and may have been separately invented but patterned after Pahlavi.
A unique aspect of the Pahlavi system was using Aramaic words as ideograms for Pahlavi words. For example, the Pahlavi word for "king," shah, was written m-l-k after the Aramaic word malka but read as shah, making Pahlavi challenging to read.
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What types of texts or literature were written in Pahlavi language?
Pahlavi, an extinct Iranian language, was used from the end of the Achaemenian dynasty (559â330 BCE) to the advent of Islam in the 7th century CE. The earliest examples of written Pahlavi are on coins and inscriptions found at Susa and Dura-Europus.
Pahlavi texts include:
* Religious texts of Zoroastrianism, such as the Avesta, which was transcribed into Pahlavi during the Sasanian period.
* Bundahishn (âOriginal Creationâ).
* Denkard (âCompendiumâ).
* Zartusht namah (âLife of Zartustâ).
* Arda Viraf (âBook of Virafâ).
* MÄnok-i Khrat (âSpirit of Wisdomâ).
* Shkand-GumÄnÄ«k VichÄr (âFinal Dispelling of Doubtsâ).3 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
How did the Pahlavi language influence later Persian or Iranian languages?
Pahlavi, the official language of the Sasanian dynasty, significantly influenced later Persian and Iranian languages. Emerging from a dialect of Parthian, Pahlavi became widespread through Zoroastrian texts and the faith of Manichaeism.
When Modern Persian developed as a written language, it used the Arabic alphabet, though many major structures of Modern Persian grammar have remained close to those found in Pahlavi. For example, the Pahlavi plural marker has been retained even in Modern Persian. Although many aspects of Arabic language and literature penetrated Persian grammar and literature over the centuries, many of the major structures of Modern Persian have remained close to those found in Pahlavi.
3 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
Pahlavi language, extinct member of the Iranian language group, a subdivision of the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family. Pahlavi is a Middle Persian (sometimes called Middle Iranian) language, meaning that it was primarily used from the end of Achaemenian dynasty (559â330 bce) to the advent of Islam in the 7th century ce.
Origins
Pahlavi is a standard spoken and written form descended from a dialect of Parthian. The Parthians drove their Greek overlords out of what is now northeastern Iran in 247 or 246 bce and dominated the region for the next five centuries. However, Greek remained the official language of Parthia until the 1st century ce. When Pahlavi became the official language of the Parthian empire, its use became much more widespread. The language was further promulgated through the texts of Manichaeism, a faith spread by the prophet Mani (216â274? ce).
In 224 ce the armies of ArdashÄ«r I conquered Parthia. The ensuing SÄsÄnian dynasty (224â651 ce) adopted Pahlavi as the official state language and declared Zoroastrianism to be the state religion, although other faiths (most notably Manichaeism and Buddhism) were allowed to continue in some areas. As a result of these two events, Pahlavi became the language of Zoroastrianism.
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In 652 ce the SÄsÄnian empire was overrun by Islamic forces. Minority communities continued to communicate in Pahlavi, which eventually became the foundation for Modern Persian languages such as Persian and Dari.
Phonology and grammar
The Pahlavi sound system had three short and three long vowels, two diphthongs, and one semivowel; short vowels varied not only in duration but also in timbre. There were approximately 23 consonants, which included voiceless plosives (i.e., /p/, /t/, /k/); voiced plosives (i.e., /b/, /d/, /g/); voiceless fricatives (i.e., /f/, /s/, /o/, /x/, /h/); voiced fricatives (i.e., /v/, /z/, /zh/, /y/); nasals (/n/, /m/); and affricates both voiceless (/c/) and voiced (/j/).
Old Persian, Pahlaviâs predecessor, had singular, dual, and plural number. Although Pahlavi simplified this to singular and plural, the Pahlavi plural marker an is a shorter form of the Old Persian anam, and the plural marker has been retained even in Modern Persian. Pahlavi, moreover, dropped Old Persian distinctions in noun case and gender. The present-aorist tense also disappeared from the language, but expanded tense forms came into existence. Compounding became the main device of nominalization.
Texts
The earliest examples of written Pahlavi are on coins and inscriptions found at Susa, the Achaemenian administrative capital, and in Dura-Europus, a city ruled by Parthia from approximately 100 bce to 165 ce.
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The Pahlavi alphabet was based on the Aramaic alphabet but had fewer letters than necessary to represent the full range of sounds in the language. As a result, some letters could be pronounced in very different ways depending upon their placement in a word. For instance, a single letter indicated the sounds /r/ and /o/; if a word began with this letter it indicated the /o/ sound, but if the letter appeared elsewhere in a word it indicated the /r/ sound. Pahlavi also retained about 1,000 Old Persian words that were expressed through ideograms.
Notably, the script used in books and documents differed slightly from that used to inscribe stone. The latter is closer to the angular writing of the Arabic naskhi script, although the Pahlavi form predates naskhi by some centuries.
The text of the Avesta, the sacred book of Zoroastrianism, was transmitted by priests from generation to generation and was transcribed into Pahlavi during the early SÄsÄnian period. Other important Zoroastrian texts recorded in Pahlavi include Bundahishn (âOriginal Creationâ), Denkard (âCompendiumâ), Zartusht namah (âLife of Zartustâ), and Arda Viraf (âBook of Virafâ). The Zoroastrians who migrated to India in approximately the 10th century ce continued to use Pahlavi script to record their religious texts. These works were transcribed in Jamnagar (India) and distributed from there to Iran and elsewhere.
The Pahlavi script was eventually replaced by the Perso-Arabic script, though a few Pahlavi inscriptions that date to as recently as the 10th to early 11th century ce have been found. Although many aspects of Arabic language and literature penetrated Persian grammar and literature over the centuries, many of the major structures of Modern Persian have remained close to those found in Pahlavi.