Old Persian language
language of Achaemenid Empire and ancestor of Middle Persian From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Old Persian language is one of two Old Iranian languages. The other is Avestan). Old Persian was used during the Achaemenid era (c. 600 BC to 300 BC). Examples of Old Persian have been found in Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Egypt.[1] It belongs to the Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family and was originally spoken during the Old Iranian period (c. 1500 – 400 BCE)[2][f 1] by the Iranians living in the eastern portion of Greater Iran.[3][4]
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Classification
Old Persian is an Old Iranian language and a member of the Southwestern Iranian language group. As an Iranian language, Old Persian is a member of the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family.
Old Persian subsequently developed into Middle Persian, which is in turn the nominal ancestor of New Persian.
Phonology
The following phonemes are expressed in the Old Persian script:
Vowels
- Long: /eː/ /iː/ /o/
- Short: /eu/ /ei/ /ea/
Consonants
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Grammar
Nouns
Old Persian stems:
- a-stems (-a, -am, -ā)
- i-stems (-iš, iy)
- u- (and au-) stems (-uš, -uv)
- consonantal stems (n, r, h)
Adjectives are declinable in a similar way.
Verbs
Voices
Active, Middle (thematic present -aiy-, -ataiy-), Passive (-ya-).
In Old Persian, the first- and the third-person forms were mostly used. The only dual form used was ajīvatam 'both lived'.
| -ta- |
| -tanaiy |
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Lexicon
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Related pages
References and bibliography
Further reading
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