 | This articleshould specify the language of its non-English content using{{lang}} or{{langx}},{{transliteration}} for transliterated languages, and{{IPA}} for phonetic transcriptions, with an appropriateISO 639 code. Wikipedia'smultilingual support templates may also be used - notably pal for Pahlavi.See why.(October 2021) |
| Middle Persian | |
|---|---|
| 𐭯𐭠𐭫𐭮𐭩𐭪 (Pārsīk,Pārsīg) | |
 | |
| Region | Sasanian Empire (224–651) |
| Ethnicity | Persians |
| Era | Evolved intoEarly New Persian by the 9th century; thereafter used only byZoroastrian priests forexegesis and religious instruction |
Indo-European
| |
Early form | |
| Pahlavi scripts,Manichaean script,Avestan alphabet,Pazend | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-2 | pal |
| ISO 639-3 | Either:pal – Zoroastrian Middle Persian ("Pahlavi")xmn – Manichaean Middle Persian (Manichaean script) |
| Glottolog | pahl1241 |
| Linguasphere | 58-AAC-ca |
| This articlemay betoo long to read and navigate comfortably. Considersplitting content into sub-articles,condensing it, or addingsubheadings. Please discuss this issue on the article'stalk page.(September 2025) |
Middle Persian, also known by itsendonymPārsīk orPārsīg (Inscriptional Pahlavi script:𐭯𐭠𐭫𐭮𐭩𐭪,Manichaean script:𐫛𐫀𐫡𐫘𐫏𐫐,Avestan script:𐬞𐬀𐬭𐬯𐬍𐬐) in its later form,[1][2] is a WesternMiddle Iranian language which became the literary language of theSasanian Empire. For some time after the Sasanian collapse, Middle Persian continued to function as aprestige language.[3] It descended fromOld Persian, the language of theAchaemenid Empire and is the linguistic ancestor ofModern Persian, the official language ofIran (also known as Persia),Afghanistan (Dari) andTajikistan (Tajik).
"Middle Iranian" is the name given to the middle stage of development of thenumerous Iranian languages and dialects.[4]: 1 The middle stage of the Iranian languages begins around 450 BCE and ends around 650 CE. One of those Middle Iranian languages is Middle Persian, i.e. the middle stage of the language of the Persians, an Iranian people ofPersia proper, which lies in thesouth-western Iran highlands on the border withBabylonia. The Persians called their languageParsig, meaning "Persian".
Another Middle Iranian language wasParthian, i.e. the language of thenorthwestern Iranian peoples ofParthia proper, which lies along the southern/south-eastern edge of theCaspian sea and is adjacent to the boundary between western and eastern Iranian languages. The Parthians called their languageParthawig, meaning "Parthian". Via regular sound changesParthawig becamePahlawig, from which the word 'Pahlavi' eventually evolved. The-ig inparsig andparthawig was a regular Middle Iranianappurtenant suffix for "pertaining to". The New Persian equivalent of-ig is-i.[2]
When theArsacids (who were Parthians) came to power in the 3rd-century BCE, they inherited the use of written Greek (from the successors ofAlexander the Great) as the language of government. Under the cultural influence of the Greeks (Hellenization), some Middle Iranian languages, such asBactrian, also had begun to be written inGreek script. But yet other Middle Iranian languages began to be written in a script derived fromAramaic. This occurred primarily becausewritten Aramaic had previously been the written language of government of the formerAchaemenids, and the government scribes had carried that practice all over the empire. This practice had led to others adoptingImperial Aramaic as the language of communications, both between Iranians and non-Iranians.[5]: 1251–1253 The transition from Imperial Aramaic to Middle Iranian took place very slowly, with a slow increase of more and more Iranian words so that Aramaic with Iranian elements gradually changed into Iranian with Aramaic elements.[6]: 1151 Under Arsacidhegemony, this Aramaic-derived writing system for Iranian languages came to be associated with the Parthians in particular (it may have originated in the Parthian chancellories[6]: 1151 ), and thus the writing system came to be calledpahlavi "Parthian" too.[7]: 33
Aside from Parthian, Aramaic-derived writing was adopted for at least four other Middle Iranian languages, one of which was Middle Persian. In the 3rd-century CE, the Parthian Arsacids were overthrown by theSassanids, who were natives of the south-west and thus spoke Middle Persian as their native language. Under Sassanid hegemony, the Middle Persian language became aprestige dialect and thus also came to be used by non-Persian Iranians. In the 7th-century, the Sassanids were overthrown by the Arabs. Under Arab influence, Iranian languages began to be written inArabic script (adapted to Iranianphonology), while Middle Persian began to rapidly evolve into New Persian and the nameparsik became Arabicizedfarsi. Not all Iranians were comfortable with these Arabic-influenced developments, in particular, members of the literate elite, which in Sassanid times consisted primarily of Zoroastrian priests. Those former elites vigorously rejected what they perceived as 'Un-Iranian', and continued to use the "old" language (i.e. Middle Persian) and Aramaic-derived writing system.[7]: 33 Numerous examples can be identified through the myriad of Middle Persian Zoroastrian scriptures, such as the Denkard, Shkand-gumãnig Vizār, and many more. In time, the name of the writing system,pahlavi "Parthian", began to be applied to the "old" Middle Persian language as well, thus distinguishing it from the "new" language,farsi.[7]: 32–33 Consequently, 'pahlavi' came to denote the particularly Zoroastrian, exclusively written, late form of Middle Persian.[8] Since almost all survivingMiddle Persian literature is in this particular late form of exclusively writtenZoroastrian Middle Persian, the term 'Pahlavi' became synonymous with Middle Persian itself.
TheISO 639 language code for Middle Persian ispal, which reflects the post-Sasanian era use of the term Pahlavi to refer to the language and not only the script.
In the classification of the Iranian languages, the Middle Period includes those languages which were common in Iran from the fall of theAchaemenid Empire in the fourth century BCE up to the fall of the Sasanian Empire in the seventh century CE.
The most important and distinct development in the structure of Iranian languages of this period is the transformation from the synthetic form of the Old Period (Old Persian andAvestan) to ananalytic form:
There were also a number of phonological developments during this period, including:
The modern-day descendants of Middle Persian areNew Persian andLuri. The changes between late Middle and Early New Persian were very gradual, and in the 10th–11th centuries, Middle Persian texts were still intelligible to speakers of Early New Persian. However, there are definite differences that had taken place already by the 10th century:
Texts in Middle Persian are found in remnants ofSasanian inscriptions and Egyptianpapyri, coins and seals, fragments ofManichaean writings, andZoroastrian literature, most of which was written down after the Sasanian era. The language of Zoroastrian literature (and of the Sasanian inscriptions) is sometimes referred to as Pahlavi – a name that originally referred to thePahlavi scripts,[13][14] which were also the preferred writing system for several other Middle Iranian languages.Pahlavi Middle Persian is the language of quite a large body of literature which details the traditions and prescriptions ofZoroastrianism, which was the state religion of Sasanian Iran (224 to c. 650) before theMuslim conquest of Persia. The earliest texts in Zoroastrian Middle Persian were probably written down in late Sasanian times (6th–7th centuries), although they represent the codification of earlier oral tradition.[15] However, most texts date from the ninth to the 11th century, when Middle Persian had long ceased to be a spoken language, so they reflect the state of affairs in living Middle Persian only indirectly. The surviving manuscripts are usually 14th-century copies.[13] Other, less abundantly attested varieties areManichaean Middle Persian, used for a sizable amount ofManichaean religious writings, including manytheological texts,homilies andhymns (3rd–9th, possibly 13th century), and the Middle Persian of theChurch of the East, evidenced in thePahlavi Psalter (7th century); these were used until the beginning of the second millennium in many places inCentral Asia, includingTurpan and even localities inSouth India.[16] All three differ minimally from one another and indeed the less ambiguous and archaizing scripts of the latter two have helped to elucidate some aspects of the Sasanian-era pronunciation of the former.[17]
The vowels of Middle Persian were the following:[18]
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | iː,i | uː,u | |
| Mid | eː, (e) | oː, (o) | |
| Open | aː,a |
It has been doubted whether the Middle Persian short mid vowels/e/ and/o/ werephonemic, since they do not appear to have a unique continuation in later forms of Persian and no minimal pairs have been found.[19][20] The evidence for them is variation between spelling with and without thematres lectionisy andw, as well asetymological considerations.[21] They are thought to have arisen from earlier/a/ in certain conditions, including, for/e/, the presence of a following/n/,sibilant or front vowel in the next syllable, and for/o/, the presence of a following labial consonant or the vowel/u/ in the next syllable.[22] Long/eː/ and/oː/ had appeared first in Middle Persian, since they had developed from the Old Persian diphthongs/ai/ and/aw/.[23]
The consonant phonemes were the following:[24]
| Labial | Dental | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ||||
| Plosive/ Affricate | voiceless | p | t | t͡ʃ | k | |
| voiced | b | d | d͡ʒ | ɡ | ||
| Fricative | voiceless | f | s (θ)[early] | ʃ | x (xw) | h |
| voiced | z | (ʒ) | (ɣ) | |||
| Trill | r | |||||
| Lateral | l | |||||
| Semivowel | j | w | ||||
A major distinction between the pronunciation of the early Middle Persian of theArsacid period (until the 3rd century CE) and the Middle Persian of theSassanid period (3rd – 7th century CE) is due to a process of consonantlenition after voiced sounds that took place during the transition between the two.[25] Its effects were as follows:[26][27]
1. Voiced stops, when occurring after vowels, becamesemivowels:
This process may have taken place very early, but it is nevertheless often the old pronunciation or a transitional one that is reflected in the Pahlavi spelling.
2. Voiceless stops and affricates, when occurring after vowels as well as other voiced sounds, became voiced:
This process is thought not to have been taken place before Sassanid Pahlavi, and it generally is not reflected in Pahlavi spelling.
A further stage in this lenition process is expressed in a synchronic alternation: at least at some stage in late Middle Persian (later than the 3rd century), the consonants/b/,/d/,/ɡ/ appear to have had, after vowels, thefricativeallophones[β],[ð],[ɣ].[26][30][31][32] This is slightly more controversial for/ɡ/, since there appears to have been a separate phoneme/ɣ/ as well.[33] A parallel development seems to have affected/d͡ʒ/ in the same position, possibly earlier; not only was it weakened to a fricative[ʒ], but it was also depalatalised to[z]. In fact, old Persian[d͡ʒ] and[ʒ] in any position also produced[z]. Unlike the case with the spirantisation of stops, this change is uncontroversially recognised for Sassanid times.[26][34]
The lenition of voiceless stops and affricates remained largely unexpressed in Pahlavi spelling,[35] which continues to reflect the Arsacid sound values, but is known from the more phonetic Manichaean spelling of texts from Sassanid times.
As a result of these changes, the voiceless stops and affricates/p/,/t/,/k/,/t͡ʃ/ rarely occurred after vowels – mostly when geminated, which has protected them from the lenition (e.g.waččag, sp.wck' 'child'), and due to some other sound changes.[39]
Another difference between Arsacid and Sassanid-era pronunciation is that Arsacid word-initial/j/ produced Sassanid/d͡ʒ/ (another change that is not reflected in the Pahlavi spelling).[40] The sound probably passed through the phase/ʒ/, which may have continued until very late Middle Persian, since Manichaean texts did not identifyIndic/d͡ʒ/ with it and introduced a separate sign for the former instead of using the letter for their native sound.[41] Nonetheless, word-initial/j/ was retained/reintroduced in learned borrowings fromAvestan.[28]
Furthermore, some forms of Middle Persian appear to have preservedǰ (fromProto-Iranian/d͡ʒ/ or/t͡ʃ/) aftern due toParthian influence, instead of the usual weakening toz. This pronunciation is reflected in Book Pahlavi, but not in Manichaean texts:
Judging from the spelling, the consonant/θ/ may have been pronounced before/r/ in certain borrowings from Parthian in Arsacid times (unlike native words, which had/h/ for earlier*θ in general and/s/ for the cluster*θr in particular), but it had been replaced by/h/ by the Sassanid period:
The phoneme/ɣ/ (as opposed to the late allophone of/ɡ/) is rare and occurs almost only in learned borrowings from Avestan andParthian, e.g.moγ (Pahlavimgw ormwg 'Magian'),maγ (Pahlavimγ) 'hole, pit'.[41][30][46][47]
The sound/ʒ/ may also have functioned as a marginal phoneme in borrowings as well.[39]
The phoneme/l/ was still relatively rare as well, especially so in Manichaean texts,[41][39] mostly resulting fromProto-Iranian *rd, *rz and, more rarely, *r.[48] It also occurred in the combination/hl/, which was a reflex of Old Persian/rθ/ and/rs/ (cf. the words 'Pahlavi' and 'Parthian').[49]
The sound/xw/ may be viewed as a phoneme[50][51] or merely as a combination of/x/ and/w/.[20][30]Usually/x/,/xw/ and/ɣ/ are considered to have beenvelar; a less common view is that/x/ and/ɣ/ were uvular instead.[52]
Finally, it may be pointed out that most scholars consider the phoneme/w/ as being still a labial approximant,[51][20][30][21] but a few regard it as a voiced labial fricative/v/.[53][54]
The initial clusters of/s/ and a stop (/sp-/,/st-/,/sk-/) had acquired aprosthetic vowel/i/ by the time of the Manichaean Middle Persian texts:istāyišn (ՙst՚yšn) 'praise' vs Pahlavistāyišn (ՙst՚dšn') 'praise'.
Stress was on the last syllable.[41][55] That was due to the fact that any Old Persian post-stress syllables had beenapocopated:[51]
It has been suggested that words such asanīy 'other' (Pahlavi spellingAHRN,AHRNyd, Manichaean՚ny) andmahīy 'bigger' (Manichaeanmhy) may have been exceptionally stressed on the first syllable, since the last one was apocopated already in the course of the Middle Persian period: the later forms arean (Manichaean՚n), andmeh (Pahlavims and Manichaeanmyh);[56] indeed, some scholars have reconstructed them as monosyllabicany,mahy even for Middle Persian.[57]
Middle Persian has been written in a number of different scripts.[58] The corpora in different scripts also exhibit other linguistic differences that are partly due to their different ages, dialects and scribal traditions.
ThePahlavi scripts areabjads derived from theimperial variety of theAramaic alphabet used in the chancelleries of theAchaemenid Empire. As is typical of abjads, they express primarily the consonants in a word form. What sets them apart from other abjads, however, is the use ofHeterograms, and more specificallyAramaeograms, i.e. words written in Aramaic (sometimes, in later periods, with distortions) but pronounced in Middle Persian: e.g.LY (Aramaic 'to me') forman 'me, I'. There were about a thousand of these in the Book Pahlavi variety. In addition, their spelling remained very conservative, expressing the pronunciation of the Arsacid period.[58] The two most important subvarieties are:
Other known Pahlavi varieties are the early Pahlavi found in inscriptions on coins issued in the province of Pars from the 2nd century BC to the 3rd century CE; the relatively conservativePsalter Pahlavi (6th–8th centuries CE), used in a ChristianPsalter fragment, which still retains all the letter distinctions that Inscriptional Pahlavi had except the one betweent andṭ;[59] and the Pahlavi found inpapyri from the early 7th century CE, which displays even more letter coincidences than Book Pahlavi.[58]
TheManichaean script was an abjad introduced for the writing of Middle Persian by the prophetMani (216–274 CE), who based it on his native variety of the Aramaic script ofPalmyrene origin. Mani used this script to write the known bookŠābuhrāgān and it continued to be used by Manichaeans until the 9th century to write in Middle Persian, and in various other Iranian languages for even longer.[58] Specifically the Middle Persian Manichaean texts are numerous and thought to reflect mostly the period from the 3rd to the 7th centuries CE.[60] In contrast to the Pahlavi scripts, it is a regular and unambiguous phonetic script that expresses clearly the pronunciation of 3rd century Middle Persian and distinguishes clearly between different letters and sounds, so it provides valuable evidence to modern linguists.[58] Not only did it not display any of the Pahlavi coalescences mentioned above, it also had special letters that enabled it to distinguish[p] and[f] (although it didn't always do so), as well as[j] and[d͡ʒ], unique designations for[β],[ð], and[ɣ], and consistent distinctions between the pairs[x] –[h] and[r] –[l].[62][63]
Since knowledge of Pahlavi decreased after theMuslim conquest of Iran, the Zoroastrians occasionally transcribed their religious texts into other, more accessible or unambiguous scripts. One approach was to use theAvestan alphabet, a practice known asPazand; another was to resort to the samePerso-Arabic script that was already being used forNew Persian, and that was referred to as Pārsī. Since these methods were used at a relatively late linguistic stage, these transcriptions often reflect a very late pronunciation close to New Persian.[58]
In general, Inscriptional Pahlavi texts have the most archaic linguistic features, Manichaean texts and the Psalter exhibit slightly later, but still relatively early language stages, and while the Pahlavi translations of the Avesta also retain some old features, most other Zoroastrian Book Pahlavi texts (which form the overwhelming majority of the Middle Persian corpus as a whole) are linguistically more innovative.
In view of the many ambiguities of the Pahlavi script, even itstransliteration does not usually limit itself to rendering merely the letters as written; rather, letters are usually transliterated in accordance with their origin regardless of the coinciding forms: thus, even though Book Pahlavi has the same letter shapes for originaln,w andr, for originalʾ andḥ and for originald,g andy, besides having some ligatures that coincide in shape with certain individual letters, these are all transliterated differently.[64][65] For instance, the spelling ofgōspand 'domestic animal' is transliteratedgwspnd in spite of the fact that thew andn have the same graphic appearance.[66]
Furthermore, letters used as part of Aramaic heterograms and not intended to be interpreted phonetically are written in capitals: thus the heterogram for the wordān is renderedZK, whereas its phonetic spelling is transliterated asʾn' (the final vertical line reflects the so-called 'otiose' stroke, see below[67]). Finally, there is a convention of representing 'distorted/corrupt' letters, which 'should' have appeared in a different shape from a historical point of view, by under- or overlining them: e.g. the heterogram forandar 'in' is transliteratedBYN, since it corresponds to Aramaicbyn, but the sign that 'should' have beenb actually looks like ag.[64][65]
Within Arameograms, scholars have traditionally used the standard Semitological designations of the Aramaic (and generally Semitic) letters, and these include a large number ofdiacritics and special signs expressing the different Semitic phonemes, which were not distinguished in Middle Persian. In order to reduce the need for these, a different system was introduced byD. N. MacKenzie, which dispenses with diacritics as much as possible, often replacing them with vowel letters:A forʾ,O forʿ,E forH,H forḤ,C forṢ, for exampleORHYA forʿRḤYʾ (bay 'god, majesty, lord').[68][65][44] For ''ṭ'', which still occurs in heterograms in Inscriptional Pahlavi, Θ may be used. Within Iranian words, however, both systems usec for original Aramaicṣ andh for original Aramaicḥ, in accordance with their Iranian pronunciation (see below). The letterl, when modified with a special horizontal stroke that shows that the pronunciation is /l/ and not /r/, is rendered in the MacKenzie system asɫ. The traditional system continues to be used by many, especially European scholars.[69] The MacKenzie system is the one used in this article.
As for Pahlavi,c is used for the transliteration of original Aramaicṣ andh for the transliteration of originalḥ. Original Aramaich, on the other hand, is sometimes rendered asẖ. For originalṭ, the signṯ is used. The special Manichaean letters for/x/,/f/,[β],/ɣ/ and[ð] are transcribed in accordance with their pronunciation asx,f,β,γ andδ.Unlike Pahlavi, the Manichaean script uses the letterAyin also in Iranian words (see below) and it is transliterated in the usual Semitological way asՙ.[70][62][63]
Since, like most abjads, even the Manichaean script and a maximally disambiguated transliterated form of Pahlavi do not provide exhaustive information about the phonemic structure of Middle Persian words, a system of transcription is also necessary. There are two traditions of transcription of Pahlavi Middle Persian texts: one closer to the spelling and reflecting the Arsacid-era pronunciation, as used by Ch. Bartholomae and H. S. Nyberg (1964)[71] and a currently more popular one reflecting the Sassanid-era pronunciation, as used by C. Saleman, W. B. Henning and, in a somewhat revised form, by D. N. MacKenzie (1986).[72][73]
The less obvious features of the usual transcription[30][47][20] are:
A common feature of Pahlavi as well as Manichaean spelling was that the Aramaic lettersṣ andḥ were adapted to express the sounds/t͡ʃ/ and/h/, respectively. In addition, both could use the letterp to express/f/, andṣ to expressz after a vowel.
The widespread use of Aramaeograms in Pahlavi, often existing in parallel with 'phonetic' spellings, has already been mentioned: thus, the same wordhašt 'eight' can be spelthšt[74] orTWMNYA.[75] A curious feature of the system is that simple word stems sometimes have spellings derived from Aramaic inflected forms: the spellings of verb stems include Aramaic inflectional affixes such as-WN,-TWN or-N andY-;[76] the spellings of pronouns are often derived from Aramaic prepositional phrases (tо̄ 'you' isLK, originally Aramaiclk 'to you',о̄y 'he' isOLE, originally Aramaicʿlh 'onto him'); andinalienable nouns are often noun phrases with pronominal modifiers (pidar 'father' isABYtl, originally Aramaicʾby 'my father',pāy 'foot' isLGLE, originally Aramaicrglh 'his foot').[77] Furthermore, the Aramaic distinctions betweenḥ andh and betweenk andq were not always maintained, with the first often replacing the second, and the one betweent andṭ was lost in all but Inscriptional Pahlavi: thusYKTLWN (pronouncedо̄zadan) for Aramaicyqṭlwn 'kill', andYHWWN (pronouncedbūdan) for Aramaicyhwwn 'be', even though Aramaich is elsewhere renderedE.[78] In the rest of this article, the Pahlavi spellings will be indicated due to their unpredictability, and the Aramaeograms will be given priority over the 'phonetic' alternatives for the same reason.
If a word expressed by an Arameogram has a grammatical ending or, in many cases, a word-formation suffix, these are generally expressed by phonetic elements:LYLYAʾn foršabʾn 'nights'. However, verbs in Inscriptional Pahlavi are sometimes written as 'bare ideograms', whose interpretation is a major difficulty for scholars.[79]
It has also been pointed out that the Pahlavi spelling does not express the 3rd century lenitions, so the lettersp,t,k andc express/b/,/d/,/ɡ/ and/z/ after vowels, e.g.šp' foršab 'night' andhc foraz 'from'. The rare phoneme/ɣ/ was also expressed by the same letter shape ask (however, this sound value is usually expressed in the transliteration).[80] Similarly, the letterd may stand for/j/ after a vowel, e.g.pʾd forpāy 'foot' – this is no longer apparent in Book Pahlavi due to the coincidence of the shapes of the original lettersy,d andg, but is already clearly seen in Inscriptional and Psalter Pahlavi. Indeed, it even appears to have been the general rule word-finally, regardless of the word's origins,[81] although modern transliterations of words likexwadāy (xwtʾd) andmēnōy (mynwd) do not always reflect this analogical / pseudo-historical spelling.[82] Finalīy was regularly writtenyd.[83] In the same way,(w)b may also correspond to aw in the pronunciation after a vowel.[84] The fortition of initial/j/ to/d͡ʒ/ (or/ʒ/) is not reflected either, soy can express initial/d͡ʒ/, e.g.yʾm forǰām 'glass' (while it still expresses/j/ in the learned wordyzdt' foryazd 'god').
Some even earlier sound changes are not consistently reflected either, such as the transition of/θ/ to/h/ in some words (in front of/r/ this reflex is due to Parthian influence, since the Middle Persian reflex should have been/s/). In such words, the spelling may haves[83] or, in front ofr –t. For example,gāh 'place, time' is speltgʾs (cf. Old Persiangāθu) andnigāh '(a) look' is speltnkʾs;[85]šahr 'country, town' is speltštr' (cf. Avestanxsaθra) andmihr 'Mithra, contract, friendship' is speltmtr'. In contrast, the Manichaean spellings aregʾh,ngʾh,šhr,myhr. Some other words with earlier/θ/ are spelt phonetically in Pahlavi, too: e.g.gēhān, speltgyhʾn 'material world', andčihr, speltcyhl 'face'.[86] There are also some instances where/h/ and/j/ are spelt/t/ when occurring afterp. For instance, when the suffix of a word originates from Old Persianpati such as in:ptkʾl forpahikār 'strife',ptwnd forpaywand 'connection'.[87]
There are some other phoneme pairs besides/j/ and/d͡ʒ/ that are not distinguished:h (the original Aramaicḥ) may stand either for/h/ or for/x/ (hm forham 'also' as well ashl forxar 'donkey'), whereas the use of original Aramaich is restricted to heterograms (transliteratedE in MacKenzie's system, e.g.LGLE for pāy 'foot'). Not only/p/, but also the frequent sound/f/ is expressed by the letterp, e.g.plhw' forfarrox 'fortunate'.[88] While the original letterr is retained in some words as an expression of the sound/r/, especially in older frequent words and Aramaeograms (e.g.štr' foršahr 'country, town',BRTE forduxt 'daughter'),[56] it is far more common for the letterl to have that function, as in the exampleplhw' forfarrox. In the relatively rare cases wherel does express/l/, it can be marked asɫ.[89]
Like many abjads, the system may express not only consonants, but also some vowels by means of certain consonant signs, the so-calledmatres lectionis. This is usually limited to long vowels:[88] thus, originalʾ can stand for the vowel/aː/ (e.g. inpʾd forpād),y can stand for/iː/ and/eː/ (e.g.pym forpīm 'pain' andnym fornēm 'half'), andw can stand for/uː/ or/oː/ (swt' forsūd 'profit' andswl forsōr 'salty'). However, short/u/ is also typically expressed like long/uː/ (e.g.swd forsuy 'hunger'), whereas short/i/ and the assumed/e/ and/o/ vary between being expressed like their long counterparts or remaining unexpressed:p(y)t forpid 'father',sl(y)šk forsrešk 'tear',nhwm fornohom 'ninth'.[90] Due to elision of/w/, writtenyw can also correspond to/eː/:nywk' 'good'.[83] Gemination ofconsonants was not expressed, e.g.waččag, sp.wck' 'child').[39]
In Inscriptional and Psalter Pahlavi, a-y that was not pronounced appears word-finally, e.g.šhpwhry forŠahpuhr. Its origin and function are disputed. In Book Pahlavi, it developed into a peculiar convention, the so-called 'otiose' stroke, which resemblesw/n/r and is added to demarcate the end of the word after those letters that never connect to the left:mān' 'house'.[67][83][91][60][70]
Like many abjads, Pahlaviʾ can express simply the fact that a word begins in a vowel, e.g.ʾp̄ʾyt' forabāyēd 'it is necessary' (though two alephs usually aren't written in a row to express an initial long vowel).
In contrast to the historical and ideographic features of Pahlavi, Manichaean spelling is relatively straightforward.[21][92] Like Pahlavi, the Manichaean script designates vowel-initial words withʾ, but a further spelling convention in it is that it is the letterՙ, rather thanʾ, that is written before initial front vowels, e.g.ՙym forim 'this' (in contrast to Pahlaviʾm (orLZNE). Vowels are marked by matres lectionis in the Manichaean script in the usual way, and long vowels are more likely to be marked.
In spite of the availability of signs for each sound, Manichaean spelling did not always make perfectly phonetic use of them. In particular, not only in Pahlavi but even in Manichaean, the letterp was often used to express/f/, and/z/ after vowels was written etymologically asc: thus,frāz 'forth' was speltprʾc, just as in Pahlavi.[21] If the voiced fricatives really occurred as allopohones of/b/,/ɡ/,/d/ in Middle Persian, the special Manichaean signs for fricativesβ,γ andδ usually were not used to express this either. Conversely, the Semitic letters for the consonantsq,ṭ andh (transliteratedẖ in Manichaean) were retained and used, occasionally, even though they only expressed the same Middle Persian sounds ask andt, andḥ (transliteratedh in Manichaean). The Manichaean script also has abbreviation marking double dots for the formsʾwd 'and',ʾw-š 'and he' andʾw-šʾn 'and they', which may be transcribed asẅ,š̈ andš̈ʾn. Elisions and plural may also be marked with double dots.[70]
Theelision of unstressed word-final syllables during the transition from Old to Middle Persian has eliminated many grammatical endings. As a result, compared to thesynthetic grammar of Old Persian, Middle Persian belongs to a much moreanalytic language type, with relatively littleinflection and widespread expression of grammatical meanings through syntactic means instead (specifically, use ofprepositions andperiphrases).[93]
Early Middle Persian inflection as found in the Sassanid rock inscriptions (3rd–4th centuries CE) still retained a minimal case system for the nominal parts of speech, i.e. nouns, adjectives, pronouns and numerals. It included a direct or subject case (originating from the old nominative) used for the subject and thepredicative nominal and an oblique case used for other functions (indirect object, genitive possessor, complement of a preposition, subject/'agent' of the ergative construction).[94][95][91][96] The case distinction was only present in the plural of nouns, in nouns of relationship (family terms) that end in-tar or-dar in the oblique, and in the first person singular pronounaz/an (ANE). The attested system is shown in the table below, using the wordsmard (GBRA) 'man' andpid (AB') 'father' as examples.
| direct case | oblique case | |
|---|---|---|
| regular nominals (singular) | mard-∅ (GBRA) | mard-∅ (GBRA) |
| regular nominals (plural) | mard-∅ (GBRA) | mard-ān (GBRAʾn') (in some exceptional words-īn,-ūn) |
| family terms (singular) | pid-∅ (AB') | pidar-∅ (ABYtl') |
| family terms (plural) | pidar-∅ (ABYtl') | pidar-ān (ABYtlʾn') |
| 1st person singular pronoun | az /an[97] (ANE) | man (L) |
The endings-īn and-ūn occur in the place of-ān in a decreasing number of exceptions. In Inscriptional Pahlavi, forms such asfrazendīn (przndyn') 'of the children' anddušmenūn (dwšm(y)nwn') 'of the enemies' are still found. In Manichaean Middle Persian, likewise, forms such aszanīn (speltznyn), 'women',ruwānīn 'souls' anddušmenūn (dwšmynwn) are preserved.[98] It also has the formawīn as an equivalent ofawēšān 'they, those'.[99] In Book Pahlavi, the generalisation of-ān has advanced to the point where only-īn is preserved, namely in the inflections of the wordsharw (KRA) andharwisp (hlwsp̄') 'every, all' – pluralharwīn andharwisp-īn orharwistīn, respectively, as well as optionally ofdō (2,TLYN'), 'two' – pluraldōwīn ordōnīn.[100]
There is some disagreement and uncertainty about whether the case of thedirect object in this early inflectional system was direct or oblique. Originally, it should have been direct in theergative-absolutive constructions, but possibly oblique in thenominative-accusative ones. It has been claimed that 'the direct object could stand in both cases'[60] or that it is unclear which case specifically theplural direct object took, with a suggested distinction betweenindefinite and definite direct object taking the direct and the oblique cases, respectively.[101]
For an even more archaic stage, some have claimed that the singular of regular nominals had its own oblique case form, too, and that it was marked by the ending-ē (spelt-y), which still occurs on nouns in Inscriptional and Psalter Pahlavi, albeit somewhat unsystematically. This would have been expected, assuming that both oblique forms continue the Old Iranian genitives in*-ahya and*-ānam, respectively. However, this theory has been disputed and rejected by many scholars.[91][60]
The case system broke down in the course of the Middle Persian period, as the oblique case forms were gradually generalised and displaced the direct ones. First, the oblique plural form in-ān (-īn and-ūn) was generalised as a general plural form; a few instances of this usage are found as early as in the 6th–8th century Pahlavi Psalter, and while the preserved parts of the 3rd centuryShābuhragān may retain it,[60] most other Manichaean texts use-ān as a general plural form and only retain the case distinction in the family terms and the 1st singular pronoun. Finally, even though the Middle Persian translations of the Avesta still retain the old system, most clearly so in the family terms, the other Book Pahlavi Zoroastrian texts display the new system with no case distinctions at all and solely a contrast between singular and plural. At this stage, the old direct and oblique cases of the nouns of relationship such aspid andpidar were preserved only as free variants.[102] At the same time, even when morphologically unexpressed, the 'underlying' case of a nominal phrase remains relevant throughout the Middle Persian period for the agreement on the verb and the use of the pronominal enclitics, to be described in the relevant sections.
In addition to the plural ending-ān, a new plural suffix-īhā is increasingly common both in later Manichaean texts,[102] where also the variant-īhān occurs, and especially in Book Pahlavi.[60] It is used with inanimate nouns[103] and has been said to express 'individual plurality': 'the various, individual Xs'.[104][105] At the same time,-ān is still used with inanimate as well as with animate nouns, and is far more common than-īhā.[106] Some examples arešahr-īhā (štryhʾ) 'countries' anddar-īhā (BBAyhʾ) 'doors', but alsočiš-ān (MNDOMʾn) 'things'. The resulting late Middle Persian system looks as follows, as exemplified with the wordsmard 'man' andkо̄f 'mountain':
| singular | default plural | individual plural |
|---|---|---|
| mard-∅ (GBRA) kо̄f-∅ (kwp) | mard-ān (GBRAʾn') kо̄f-ān (kwpʾn) (in some exceptional words-īn) | kо̄f-īhā (kwpyhʾ) (Manichaean-īhān) |
As long as case declension was still preserved, a possessor noun stood in the oblique case. In this older construction, itpreceded the possessed noun. After the breakdown of the case system, what remained of this construction was a simple juxtaposition between a possessor noun and a possessed noun, and that was indeed preserved as one possible expression of possession: e.g.dūdag sālār (dwtk' srdʾl) 'the head of a family', 'the family('s) head',Ōhrmazd nām (ʾwhrmzd ŠM) 'the name ofAhuramazda'.[107][108] However, there was also a more explicit option using the relative particleī, which introduced afollowing possessor nominal phrase (also in the oblique case, as long as the distinction existed): e.g.sālār ī dūdag (srdʾl Y dwtk'),nām ī Ōhrmazd (ŠM y ʾwhrmzd).[109] This is discussed in more detail in the section on the relative particle.
Indefiniteness may be expressed by the encliticisation of the wordē(w) (spelt '1' orHD) 'one' to a noun:mard-ēw (GBRA-1) 'a (certain) man'.[110] This usage has been described by certain scholars as an 'indefinite article',[111] while others do not regard it as such, since its use is far less common than that of the English worda(n).[110]
Originally, adjectives had the same inflectional categories as nouns and took the same endings. When used independently as nouns, they still have number inflection:weh-ān (ŠPYLʾn) 'the good (people)'.[96] When they are used as attributive modifers of nouns, however, agreement is optional and, while it remains common in Manichaean Middle Persian, it is increasingly rare in Book Pahlavi, where, e.g. bothabārīgān gyāgān (ʾp̄ʾrykʾn gywʾkʾn ) 'other places' andabārīg dēwān (ʾp̄ʾryk' ŠDYAʾn) 'other demons' have been attested. When the modifying adjective is introduced by the relative particleī, as well as in predicative position, it never takes the plural suffix: e.g.mardān ī weh (GBRAʾn Y ŠPYL) 'good men'.[112][113]Some sources also assert that the original singular oblique case ending-ē (-y) is seen in attributive preposed adjectives in some examples: e.g.čē-š asar karb az asarē rо̄šnīh frāz brēhēnīd (MEš ʾsl klp MN ʾsly lwšnyh prʾc blyhynyt) 'for he created the eternal form from eternal light'.[114]
Comparison of adjectives (as well as adverbs) is regularly expressed with the comparative degree suffix-tar (spelt-tl) and the superlative degree suffix-tom (spelt-twm),[113][115] or possibly-tum;[116] in Manichaean, they also have the allomorphs-dar and-dom after voiced consonants. For example,abēzag (ʾp̄yck') 'pure'is comparedabēzag-tar 'purer' –abēzag-tom 'purest'.[115]
There are also some irregular or relict forms reflecting more ancient suffixes (comparative-y or-īy or resultingfronting of the preceding vowel, superlative-ist) and/orsuppletion:[115][117][113]
| positive | comparative | superlative | meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| xо̄b/xūb (xwp) | weh (ŠPYL), Manichaean alsowahy orwahīy (sp.why) | pahlom (pʾhlwm), pāšom/pašom (p(ʾ)šwm); cf.wahišt (whšt') 'paradise' | 'good' |
| wazurg/wuzurg (LBA,wc(w)lg) | meh (ms), mahistar (mhstl); Manichaean alsomahy ormahīy (sp.mhy) | mahist (msst') | 'big' |
| kо̄dag/kо̄dak (kwtk') | keh (ks) | kahist (ksst') | 'small' |
| was (KBD) | wēš (wyš), frāy (plʾy), freh (plyh) | frāyist (plʾyst'), frahist (plh(y)st') | 'much', 'a lot', 'many' |
| kam (km) | kem (kym) | kamist (kmyst') | 'a little', 'few' |
| garān (glʾn') | grāy (glʾy) | grāyist (glʾyst') | 'heavy, serious' |
| nazd (nzd) | ------- | nazdist (nzdst') | 'near', in superlative also 'first' |
| dо̄šag (dwšk') | ------- | Manichaean: dо̄šist (dwšyst) | 'beloved' |
In some cases, only a 'superlative' form exists without corresponding positive and comparative forms:bālist (bʾlyst') 'supreme, highermost',nidom (nytwm) 'lowermost',bēdom (bytwm)outermost,fradom (AWLA) 'first',abdom (ʾp̄dwm) 'last'.[118]
The object of comparison for an adjective in the comparative degree is introduced by the prepositionaz (hc) 'from', the subordinating conjunctionkū (AYK) 'where, that'[117] or, more rarely,čiyо̄n (cygwn') 'as':[119]о̄y az/kū/čiyо̄n tо̄ о̄zо̄mandtar (OLE MN/AYK/cygwn' LK ʾwcʾmndtl) 'he is stronger than you.'The object of comparison for an adjective in the superlative degree is introduced by the prepositionaz (hc) or simply by a possessive construction:о̄y (az) mardʾn о̄zо̄mandtom (sp.OLE (MN) GBRAʾn ʾwcʾmndtwm)'he is the strongest of the men'.[120]
When adjectives modify a noun without the help of any linking particle, they usually precede them,[121] but may occasionally follow them, too.[122][113] A far more common possibility than either is for the adjective to be introduced by the relative particleī, on which see the relevant section. Thus, e.g. 'a/the big house' can be expressed aswazurg mān (LBA mʾn'), mān wazurg (mʾn' LBA) ormān ī wazurg (mʾn' Y LBA).
The personal pronouns have a stressed form and an enclitic form. They are as follows:[123][124][99]
| singular | plural | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| stressed | enclitic | stressed | enclitic | |||
| 1st person | direct case | oblique case | -(i)m (sp. -m) | amā(h) (sp.LNE) | -(i)mān (sp. -mʾn') Inscriptional Pahlavi:-(i)n (sp. -n') | |
| az /an (sp.ANE) | man (sp.L,LY) | |||||
| 2nd person | tо̄ (sp.LK) | -(i)t (sp. -t) | ašmā(h) (sp.LKWM) | -(i)tān (sp.-tʾn') | ||
| 3rd person | о̄y (sp.OLE) | -(i)š (sp. -š) | direct case | oblique case | -(i)šān (sp.-šʾn') | |
| о̄y (sp.OLE) | awēšān (sp.OLEšʾn') | |||||
| Manichaean:awīn (sp.ʾwyn) | ||||||
The enclitic allomorphs with initial/i/ (-im, etc.) are used after consonants. The vowel/u/ or/o/ can also appear instead of/i/, albeit rarely (-um,-om).[99] The spelling variantLY ofman is used before the particle-iz (c) 'too':man-iz is speltLYc.
Of the personal pronouns proper, only the first stressed form has an attested case distinction, but the use of the direct case is already archaic in Book Pahlavi, where the formman (L) is generalised. The pronunciation of the direct case form is controversial – Manichaean has onlyan (ʾn), whereas the formaz has been said to be due to influence from Parthian and its existence has been questioned.[125] In addition, the third person pronoun is originally a demonstrative pronoun and is declined like a noun, so originally the form with the plural suffix-ān – and, presumably, the Manichaean one in-īn – appeared only in the oblique case; however, again, the oblique was generalised in Manichaean and Book Pahlavi. Apart from that, the stressed forms can have all the same syntactic functions as a noun: subject (man wēnēm, sp.L HZYTWNym, 'I see'), object (man wēnēd, sp.L HZYTWNyt', 'he sees me'), complement of a preposition (о̄ man, sp.OL L, 'to me'), and a modifier expressing a possessor. As with nouns, the last option is possible in two ways. The first one, which is significantly rarer, is for the pronoun to be placed before another noun. Much more frequently, it is postposed and linked to the head noun with the relative particleī. Thus, 'my house' can be expressed asman mān (L mʾn'), but more commonly asmān ī man (mʾn' Y L).[123]
In contrast, the enclitic forms can only have oblique functions: i.e., they cannot correspond to the (non-ergative) subject of the sentence,[109] although a few such cases have been attested in late texts, possibly due to New Persian influence.[126] They can, however, express:
The enclitic form is usually attached to a word in the beginning of the clause, typically to the first one,[131] and that is often a conjunction or a particle: specifically it occurs frequently after the conjunctionsud 'and' (which appears before these enclitics as the allomorphu- and is speltAP),ka (AMT) 'when',kū (AYK) 'that, so that',čē (ME) 'because', after the relative particleī (then speltZY-), the relative pronounkē (MNW) 'who, which'[132] and the particleā- (ʾ) 'then'.[133] Two enclitics can occur after each other, in which case the 1st person enclitic comes first, and in the absence of such, the enclitic denoting the agent has priority:[134] e.g.ān owо̄n-im-iš wahišt nimūd (ZK ʾwgwnmš whšt' nmwt') 'in that manner he showed me paradise.'[135]
When the pronoun is logically the complement of a preposition, it is usually neverthelessnot attached to it.[134] Still, such examples do occur occasionally[136] and tend then to be written phonetically instead of the usual spelling of the preposition with an Aramaeogram, e.g.az-iš 'from her', spelthcš rather thanMNš as usually, andо̄-mān 'to us', speltʾwmʾn' instead ofOLmʾn.[137] More commonly, however, the enclitic is attached to the first word of the clause, so that the preposition that governs it ends up being placed after it,[109] as in the already adduced examplečē-š andar 'which is in it'. The exception are the prepositionspad (PWN) 'at',о̄ (OL) 'to' andaz (MN) 'from', which do accept the 3rd person enclitic-(i)š, using it both with a singular and with a plural reference, andо̄ then appears as the allomorphaw before-iš:padiš (ptš),awiš (ʾwbš),aziš (hcš).[138] However, if the logical complement is of a non-3rd person, the appropriate enclitic (-(i)m, etc.) is attached to the first word in the clause rather than the preposition, and it is 'resumed' on the preposition itself by the3rd person enclitic: e.g.u-m awiš (APm ʾwbm 'on me'). A relative pronoun can be 'resumed' like this, too:kē ... padiš 'on ... which', and even a noun can, sometimes:Zardušt ... padiš 'for... Zarathustra'.[139][140]
There are two reflexive pronouns – a nominal onexwad (BNPŠE) 'oneself' and an adjectival onexwēš (NPŠE) 'one's own' (earlierxwēbaš, hence Manichaeanxw(b)š.[141][140]
The demonstrative pronouns can be used with singular and plural referents, with the exception ofо̄y. They are the following:
Some rarer ones are:
Some other demonstrative pronouns areham (hm) 'the same' andand (ʾnd) 'so much'.[143] Demonstrative adverbs areēdо̄n (ʾytwn'),о̄wо̄n (ʾwgwn') andо̄h (KN), all three of which mean 'so, thus';ēdar 'here' (LTME);awar 'hither' (LPNME), which is also used as an imperative 'come here!' and has a plural formawarēd (LPNMEyt'),[145]ōrōn (ʾwlwn') 'hither';ānо̄h (TME) 'there';nūn (KON) 'now';ēg (ADYN) 'then, thereupon';ā- (ʾ) 'then' (normally used with a following enclitic pronoun);hād (HWEt') 'now, then';pas (AHL) 'afterwards';pēšLOYN' 'before that, earlier'.[146]
The interrogative pronouns can normally also be used as relative pronouns and introduce dependent clauses, and as well as indefinite pronouns. The main ones arekē (MNW) 'who',čē (ME) 'what', 'what kind of', 'which',kadām (ktʾm) 'what kind of, which',kadār (ktʾl) 'which' andčand (cnd) 'how much/many'. The first two and the last one are also used as relative pronouns, i.e. they introduce dependent clauses and mean 'which'. In that use, they can not be preceded by prepositions, so they are instead resumed in the dependent clause by the 3rd person singular enclitic or a demonstrative pronoun: 'from which' can be expressed bykē ... aziš and 'with which' can bekē' ... abāg.[147] Interrogative adverbs arečiyо̄n? (cygwn) 'how',kū? (AYK) 'where' andkay? (AYMT) 'when'.[148] The first two can also introduce dependent clauses as relative pronominal adverbs, meaning 'as' and 'that', respectively. The relative adverb corresponding tokay? (AYMT) is, however,ka (AYT) 'when'.[149][150]
The specialised indefinite pronouns are:[151]
As already mentioned, the interrogative wordčand (cnd) can also be used as an indefinite one: 'any number/amount', whereasē(w)-čand (ʾy(w)cnd) is unambiguously indefinite: 'some (number/amount), a few'. An indefinite adverb ishagriz (hklc) 'ever'.The indefinite meaning can be reinforced by the particle-iz, sp.-(y)c, meaning 'too'. Thuskas-iz 'whoever', etc. The form ofčē in this case is extended točēgām-iz 'whatever'.[152]
Together with a negative particlenē 'not' occurring in the same clause, the indefinite pronouns also function as negative ones: 'not ... anybody' > 'nobody' etc.: e.g.kas nē bawēd (AYŠ LA YHWWNyt') 'there will be nobody.'[151]
Pronouns areanīy (AHRN) 'other' andabārīg (ʾp̄ʾlyk') 'other, further'; a corresponding pronominal adverb isenyā (ʾynyʾ) 'otherwise'.[153]
There are many pronouns with universal meaning, includinghar(w) (KRA,hl, Manichaeanhrw) 'every' (pl.harwīn) ;ham (hm) 'altogether, all, whole',hamāg (hmʾk') 'whole, entire, all',hāmōyēn (hʾmwdyn') 'all, the whole',wisp (wsp) 'all, each, every',harwisphlwsp̄ (pl.harwispīn) orharwist 'all, each, every'.[154] A pronominal adverb with universal meaning ishamē(w) (Book Pahlavihmʾy, Manichaeanhmyw) 'always'.[155]
Within a nominal phrase, many different kinds of modifiers following the head were introduced by so-called relative particleī (speltZY- in Inscriptional and Psalter Pahlavi, butY in Book Pahlavi except in front of pronominal enclitics; in Manichaean alsoīg, sp. ʿyg), which could be roughly translated as 'which'. This is the predecessor of the New Persian construction known asEzāfe. It could introduce:[156][157]
Besides following the head, the modifier can be attached to a demonstrative pronoun, usually(h)ān (ZK) 'that', but alsoēn (ZNE),ōy (OLE) andēd (HNA), which precedes the head of the phrase:
ān ī ahlaw kas (ZK Y ʾhlwb' AYŠ) 'the righteous person'
ān ī-š pādixšāyīhā zan (ZK Yš ŠLYTAyhʾ NYŠE) 'the wife he is lawfully married to', lit. 'the wife he lawfully has'.[158][159]
Many adjectives can be used adverbially without any change:Ardawānsaxt awištāft 'Ardawan was in a great hurry' (ʾldwn sht' ʾwštʾp̄t), lit. 'Ardawan was hurrying greatly'.[114][160] However, adverbs can also be formed from adjectives, as well as from nouns and phrases, by adding the suffix-īhā (-yhʾ):tuxšāg-īhā (twxšʾkyhʾ) 'diligent-ly',dād-īhā (dʾtyhʾ) 'law-fully'.[146]
Like adjectives, adverbs can be compared; e.g.azabar (hcpl) 'above' –azabartar (hcpltl) 'farther above' –azabartom (hcpltwm) 'farthest above'.[121] Adverbs in-īhā can also be compared:kam-wināh-īhā-tar 'with less sin', lit. 'more little-sin-fully'.
Some common locational adverbs areazabar (hcpl) 'above' andazēr (hcdl orʾdl) 'below',andarōn (BYNlwn' /ʾndlwn') 'inside',bērōn (bylwn') 'outside',[76]pērāmōn (pylʾmwn') 'around' andparrōn (plwn' 'away, hence').[161] Many of these are formed as compounds with the nounrōn (lwn') 'direction' as a second element.
For pronominal adverbs, see the sections on the pronouns of the respective types. For directional adverbs commonly co-occurring with verbs, see the section of preverbs.
Synthetic forms survive only in the present tense, although it does continue to distinguish to a greater or lesser extent four different moods. The past and perfect tenses are expressed periphrastically, even though there might be a few relicts of a synthetic imperfect in early inscriptions, and there may be a single synthetic imperfect form in Manichaean Middle Persian (see the section onThe preterite below).[162]
A Middle Persian verb has two stems – a present stem and a past stem, which coincides with the past participle.[163][164] Most other synthetic forms are based on the present stem, but the infinitive uses the past stem (as do a few derivational suffixes, see below). The past stem generally ends in-d or-t (after voiced and voiceless consonants, respectively). Sometimes this is the only difference between the stems – this is common for roots in-š (kuš –kušt, sp.NKSWN-, 'to kill') and is also found e.g. in the verbxwardan (OŠTENtn') 'to eat' (xwar- –xward). However, much more commonly, there are other differences and the exact relationship between the two stems is often unpredictable. For example:
| Verb meaning and Aramaeogram | Present stem | Past stem |
|---|---|---|
| 'to do' (OBYDWN-) | kun- | kard- |
| 'to go away' (OZLWN-) | šaw- | šud- |
| 'to bear' (YBLWN-) | bar- | burd- |
Some common patterns of alternation between the final consonants of the two stems are:[165][166]
| Verb meaning and Aramaeogram | Present stem | Past stem |
|---|---|---|
| -z- | -xt | |
| 'to run, flow' | E.g.rēz- | rēxt |
| -s-, -z-, -y-, -h- | -št, -st | |
| 'to want' (BOYHWN-) | E.g.xwāh- | xwast |
| -t-, -d-, -n-, -h- | -st | |
| 'to bind' (ASLWN-) 'to sit' (YTYBWN-) | E.g.band- nišīn- | bast nišast |
| -w- | -ft | |
| 'to speak' (YMRRWN-) | E.g.gōw- | guft |
Other notable alternations are seen inward- –wašt 'to turn',dār- –dāšt (YHSNN-) 'to hold',nimāy- –nimūd 'to show',zan- –zad (MHYTWN-) 'to hit'.
Some verbs also derive the past stem merely by the addition of a suffix, which, however, does not consist solely of the consonant -t/d. Most commonly it is-īd (-yt'), but a number of verbs also take-ād (-ʾt') or-ist (-st'):
| Verb meaning and Aramaeogram | Present stem | Past stem |
|---|---|---|
| 'to work' | warz- | warzīd |
| 'to stand' (YKOYMWN-) | est- | estād |
| 'to seem' (MDMEN-) | sah- | sahist |
The past stem formations in-īd and-ist are typical of denominative verbs, passives in the suffix-īh- and causatives.[167]
Finally, a few stem pairs are clearlysuppletive:[168]
| Verb meaning and Aramaeogram | Present stem | Past stem |
|---|---|---|
| 'to see' (HZYTWN-) | wēn- | dīd |
| 'to come' (YATWN-) | āy- | āmad |
Another form of suppletion is found in the verb meaning 'to be, exist', which has the stemh- (speltHWE-) in the present tense, but in the preterite it uses the forms of the verbbūdan 'to become, to be', which has the present stembaw- (often contracted simply tob-) and the past stembūd (speltYHWWN-).[121]
The present-tense forms of the four moods are formed by adding the following endings to the present stem:[169][170][171][172][173]
| indicative | imperative | subjunctive | optative | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st sing. | -ēm (sp.-ym) (-am, sp. -m), -om, sp. -wm)) | -ān | ||
| 2nd sing. | -ēh (sp. -yh, -ē (sp. -yd) | -∅ (-ē, sp.yd, -ydy) | -āy (-ā(h)) | -ēš (sp. -yš) |
| 3rd sing. | -ēd (sp.-yt') (-ed, sp.-t') | -ād | -ēh (sp.-yh), -ē (sp.-yd) | |
| 1st pl. | -ēm (sp.-ym) (-am (sp.-m), -om (sp. -wm)) | -ām | ||
| 2nd pl. | -ēd (sp.-yt') | -ēd (sp.-yt') | -ād | |
| 3rd pl. | -ēnd (sp. -ynd) (-and, sp. -nd) | -ānd | -ēnd hē (sp.-ynd HNA) |
For example, the verbraftan (SGYTWNtn') 'to go' will be conjugated asrawēm (SGYTWNym),rawē (SGYTWNyd),rawēd (SGYTWNyt'), etc. in the indicative,raw (SGYTWN), etc. in the imperative,rawān (SGYTWNʾn), rawāy (SGYTWNʾy), rawād (SGYTWNʾt), etc. in the subjunctive, and so on.
The endings containing alternative vowels toē are not found in Manichaean Middle Persian, except for the 1st person plural-om, which has, conversely, been reported to be the only version there.[174][170] For the 1st person singular ending, most authors list-ēm as the normal form, but some consider-am to have been the regular ending in non-Manichaean Middle Persian as opposed to the 1st person plural-ēm.[173] Thus, sg.-am : pl.-ēm in Pahlavi would correspond to sg.-ēm : pl.-om in Manichaean. In general, the apparently random variation of the vowels has been interpreted either as relicts of the inflection of minority stem types or, conversely, as foreshadowings of the New Persian form of the endings.
Furthermore, a small number of verbs had alternative contracted forms for the 3rd singular present with no vowel in the ending at all: e.g.kund for expectedkunēd ofkardan. Verbs for which such forms are attested includedaštan (YHSNNtn') 'hold' –dad (dt'), raftan (SGYTWNtn') 'go'– rawd (lpd), burdan (YBLWNtn') 'carry' –bard (bld), čāštan (cʾštn') 'teach'- čāšt (čʾšt'),hōšīdan (hwšytn') 'dry'- hōšt (hwšt') 'dries' andfragendan (plkndn') 'lay foundations' –fragend (plknd). In addition, the present stem ofbūdan (YHWWNtn') 'become', baw-, is often shortened to b-: b-ēd (byt').[175]
Although the 2nd singular imperative has no ending, a vowel-ā-' appears in it before enclitics in Manichaean and Psalter Pahlavi, e.g.ahrām-ā-m! (ʾhrʾmʾm) 'raise me up!'[176]
The subjunctive forms for persons other than the third occur in Manichaean Middle Persian, but not in Book Pahlavi.[170] The subjunctive may express a wish (in the present tense) or a hypothetical or conditioned event (the latter mostly in the past tenses) The optative is another way to express a wish. However, the same meaning is expressed by combining the present indicative with separate optative particles:ē(w), sp.ʾy(w) in Book Pahlavi (e.g.ē dārēd, sp.ʾy YHSNNyt' 'let him possess it') andhēb in Manichaean (e.h.hēb dārēdhyb dʾryd, the same)[177] The present indicative and the present subjunctive may also express future tense (the former is used especially for near future).[178]
The synthetic forms of thecopula verb follow mostly the same pattern as other verbs, the present stem consisting of the consonanth- (sp.HWE-) alone: thus, 1st sg. ind.hēm (HWEym) orham (HWEm), subj.hān, etc. However, the 3rd person singular of the present indicative isast (sp.AYT),[179] and this latter form is used mostly in the meaning 'to exist'; it is usually (but not always) omitted when the meaning is of purepredication, as inhe is a man –ōy mard (OLE GBRA), in contrast tothere is a man –mard ast (AYT GBRA). The 3rd pluralhēnd is often omitted as well, and even a subjunctivehād may be absent. Moreover, the existential 3rd person singular also has a special contracted negated form: instead of the regular *nē ast (LA AYT), it isnēst (LOYT')[180][181]
The optative proper is regular:hē (HWEyd). The imperative function, however, appears to be performed by an optative form of the verbbūdan (YHWWNtn'), 'to be, become':bāš contracted frombawēš, and in the plural imperative, the same verb is used:bawēd.[179]
Finally, the copula could also occur in enclitic form without the initialh-, although this is not found very often in written texts:kōdak-am (sp.kwtkm) 'I am small'.[182]
In addition to these endings, P. O. Skjærvø (2009: 219) identifies relicts of the Old Persian imperfect in Inscriptional Pahlavi: the markers, which are added to the present stem, are-ēn for the 1st singular,-ē or-ēd for the 3rd and-om for the 1st plural. However, in the synthetic passive formed with the suffixes-īh- or-īy-, no ending is added at all in the imperfect:gugānīh-∅ 'was destroyed'. There is much uncertainty and debate about the exact interpretations of these and similar forms.[183][184]
When a plural subject is inanimate, the verb may remain in the singular instead of agreeing with it, unless individuality is specially emphasised.[185]
All the past tenses use periphrastic constructions with the main verb in the past participle form; e.g.raft from the verbraftan (SGYTWN 'go'). The finite auxiliary verb is conjugated for the appropriate person and mood; the rules for person agreement in particular are described in the section onErgativity in the past tenses. The constructions are as follows:[162][186]
Thepreterite is formed by combining the past participle of the verb and the copulah- (HWE-) used as anauxiliary verb conjugated for the appropriate person and mood. The copula is, as usual, dropped in the third singular:
Since the verbh- has no corresponding past participle of the same root, it uses suppletively the past participle ofbūdan:
In addition, a synthetically (and suppletively) formed past tense of the copula appears to be found in Manichaean Middle Persian: 3rd person singularanād 'was' and 3rd person pluralanānd 'were'. There is no obvious difference in function between this and the ordinary preterite.[187] This has been said to be a relict of the Old Persian imperfect tense, and it has been conjectured that a mysterious ArmaeogramHWYTN- occurring in Inscriptional Pahlavi also designates the stem found in this form of the copula.[188]
Thepast preterite also uses the past participle, but it differs from the simple preterite in that the copulaitself is in the preterite rather than the present here:
(az) raft būd hēm ((ANE)SGYTWNt' YHWWNt' /bwt' HWEym) 'I had gone';
Since Manichaean Middle Persian (and possibly Inscriptional Pahlavi) retains synthetic past (imperfect) forms of the copula, it is also able to use them as auxiliaries in the past preterite construction (which has then been called 'past imperfect', although it does not seem to have a different function from the other construction):[189]
The past preterite expresses an action preceding another action in the past.
Theperfect also uses the past participle, but it differs from the preterite in that the auxiliary verb uses is not the copula, butēstādan (YKOYMWNtn') 'to stand' in the present tense. Thus:
This tense expresses a past action whoseresults are still observable in the present.[190]
Thepast perfect orpluperfect differs from the simple perfect in that the verbēstādanitself is in the preterite rather than the present here:
This tense expresses a past action whoseresults were still observable at some point in the past.
Some authors[191] identify yet another form, apast pluperfect:
The auxiliarybūdan is sometimes omitted not only in the 3rd person singular, but even in the plural:u-mān ō padīrag āmad awēšān widerdagān ruwān (APmʾn' OL ptyrk' YATWNt' OLEšʾn' wtltkʾn' lwbʾn') 'and the souls of the departed came to meet us.'[192]
Like the English and Latin past participles, the Middle Persian past participle describes the logicalsubject of a verb when the verb is intransitive, but the logical object of the verb when the verb is transitive: e.g.raft (SGYTWNt') '(somebody who is) gone', butdīd (HZYTWNt') '(something that is) seen (by somebody)'. As a result, the construction with the copula (and with the auxiliaryēstādan) has 'active' meaning when the verb is intransitive –tō raft hē, sp.(LK) SGYTWNt' HWEyd, lit. 'you are gone' – but 'passive' meaning when the verb is transitive –(tō) mard dīd, sp.(LK) GBRA HZYTWNt', lit. 'the man is seen (by you)'. In other words, the participant that normally would have been the object is treated as the subject here, and the participant that normally would have been the subject is treated as an oblique modifier. Since in these transitive verb constructions, the participant that is treated like the single argument of an intransitive verb is not the more subject-like one, but the more object-like one, themorphosyntactic alignment of these constructions isergative. Since this alignment is confined to the past tenses, it is further described assplit-ergative.[193][194]
The most obvious consequence of this that while the verb in a past tense agrees with the (logical) subject if it is intransitive (just as it would in the present tense), it agrees with the (logical) object if it is transitive:
Cf. present tense:tō mardān wēnē (LK GBRAʾn HZYTWNyd) = 'you see the men';
Cf. also the past tense of an intransitive verb:tō raft hē (LK SGYTWNt' HWEyd) 'you went'
Cf. present tense:mardān tō wēnēnd (GBRAʾn LK HZYTWNt' HWEnd) = 'the men see you';
Cf. also the past tense of an intransitive verb:mardān raft hēnd (GBRAʾn SGYTWNt' HWEnd) 'the men went'
Another consequence is seen in the case inflection of nominals, inasmuch as it is preserved. In contrast to the use of the cases in the present tense, the ergative construction means that it is the logical object that is in the direct case and the logical subject that is in the oblique case. Thus, originally we would have, e.g.az mardān wēnēm 'I see the men' in the present, butman mard dīd hēnd in the past;mard man wēnēnd 'the men see me' in the present, butmardān az dīd hēm 'the men saw me' in the past. Even after the last vestiges of case inflection in nouns and the stressed forms of the pronouns had been lost and so their forms in ergative and nominative constructions had become identical, the fact that the very frequent pronominal enclitics were restricted to the oblique case meant that their use still reflected the alignment difference between the tenses:
Cf. present tense:u-t mard wēnēdAPt GBRA HZYTWNyt') = 'and the man sees you'
In contrast, *u-t raft hē 'and you went' is impossible, as is *u-t mard dīd hē 'and the man saw you'. That is because only the stressed form of the pronoun can function in the direct case.
Finally, it may be pointed out that the possibility of expressing the logical subject at all appears to have developed later in the perfect tenses withēstādan than in the preterites withbūdan. It is not yet found in Inscriptional and Psalter Pahlavi, nor in Manichaean Middle Persian, where these constructions are impersonal and passive. However, in Book Pahlavi, it is already found regularly, so that clauses likeu-t mard dīd ēstē are fully possible.[195]
The present tense proper of the verbbūdan,bawēm, is also combined with the past participle to express a kind of present passive:dād bawēd (YHBWNt' YHWWNyt') 'it is, will have been given'. As in the ergative construction, the agent can occasionally be expressed with an oblique enclitic, e.g.ā-š kard bawēd 'then it is done by him' (ʾš OBYDWNyt' YHWWNyt').[196][197][198]
Albeit rarely, the verbkamistan 'to want' combined with an infinitive may express future tense:dušpādixšāyīh ī awēšān sar kāmēd būdan (dwšSLYTAyh Y OLEšʾn' LOYŠE YCBENyt' YHWWNtn') 'their evil rule will end', lit. 'wants to end'.[199]
There are two particles occurring before the verb which may modify its aspectual meaning (apparently in opposite ways), even though their use is not obligatory.
One of them appears in Pahlavi asbe (BRA) and in Manichaean asba (bʾ). Its earliest meaning seems to have been directional and specificallyandative, i.e. 'away, out', and this is still said to be the case in Inscriptional and Psalter Pahlavi as well as in Manichaean,[200] but in Book Pahlavi it also seems to have other meanings, which are less clear and more controversial. It has been argued to expressperfective aspect in the past or in the future.[201][202] For example,mard ī šahr ka-š kas pad pusīh be padīrēd (GBRA y štr' AMTš AYŠ PWN BREyh BRA MKBLWNyt') 'if somebody adopts a man of the kingdom as his son';Šābuhr be xandīd (šʾpwhl GHBHWNyt') 'Šābuhr laughed'. It also occurs relatively frequently with imperatives in Book Pahlavi, but not in Manichaean Middle Persian.[202]
The other particle ishamē (hmʾy), originally identical to the adverb meaning 'always'. It expressesimperfective and more specificallydurative oriterative aspect:kanīzag pad sar ī čāh būd ud ... čahārpāyān rāy āb hamē dād (knyck' PWN LOYŠE y cʾh YHWWNt' ... chʾlpʾdʾn rʾd MYA hmʾy YHBWNt') 'the girl was by the side of the well and was giving water to the animals'.[155] Some have viewed its aspectual use as a late phenomenon indicative of the transition to New Persian.[200]
The infinitive has two versions:[203][204]
It can function syntactically as a (verbal) noun:[205]pad griftan īArdaxšīr (PWN OHDWNtn' Y ʾrthšyr) 'in order to seize Ardaxšīr' (lit. 'for the seizing of Ardaxšīr'),hangām ī xwarišn xwardan (hngʾm y OŠTENšn' OŠTENtn') 'the time to eat food' (lit. the time of food eating').[204]
Thepast participle, which coincides with the past stem. It has passive meaning when the verb is transitive, but active meaning when the verb is intransitive:kard (krt' orOBYDWNt') 'made' butāxist (KDMWNt') 'risen'. It is most commonly used predicatively, but it can also be nominalised:duzīd (dwcyd) 'the stolen (goods)'.[206] If it is an attribute modifier instead, it is usually introduced by the relative particle:čiš ī widard (MNDOM Y wtlt') 'a thing that has passed away, vanished'.[207]
An extended form of the past participle is produced by the addition of the suffix-ag (-k) to the past stem. This form is used attributively more often than the previous one:duxt ī padīriftag (BRTE Y MKBLWNtk') 'an adopted daughter' and is also frequently nominalised:nibištag (YKTYBWNtk') 'something written, a document' (cf. Latinscriptum, Englishwrit).[200][206]
There is also apresent active participle derived from the present stem with the ending in-ān (ʾn): e.g.griyān (BKYWNʾn),gldʾn), 'crying'. It may occur as a gerund –zarduxšt griyān passox guft (zrtwxšt gldʾn pshw' gwpt), 'Zarasthustra answered, weeping.' and is the usual verb form governed by the verbniwistan (nwystn) 'to begin', which, however, is mostly typical of Manichaean (albeit attested in Psalter Pahlavi).[208] These constructions are rare in Book Pahlavi.[206] Historically, the derivational deverbal suffix-endag /-andag (-ndk') as insōzendag (swcndk' 'burning') contains the Proto-Indo-European present active participle suffix and it does retain such a meaning, so the adjective derived with has also been called a 'participle'.[209] So have deverbal adjectives formed with the productive suffix-āg (-ʾk') as insazāg (scʾk) 'fitting', which also have very similar semantics (see the section onWord formation).[210] Both of these latter are mostly used attributively.[209]
The suffix-išn (-šn) generally forms deverbal nouns of action from the present stem of the verb as inkunišn (kwnšn') 'doing, deed, action' fromkardan (OBYDWNtn' /krtn') 'to do'. However, such formations also function in predicative position asgerundives and have since been referred to as 'participles of necessity':u-š čē kunišn 'And what is he to do?', lit. 'What is an (appropriate) action for him?';mardōmān ... mizd ī mēnōy bē nē hilišn (ANŠWTAʾn mzd Y mynwd BRE LA ŠBKWNšn') 'people must not relinquish their reward in the spiritual world'.[209] Indeed, they have come to resemble adjectives in that they can be inflected for degree:zanišntar (MHYTWNšntl) 'more worthy of being hit/killed'.[211]
The periphrastic present passive construction with a past participle andbūdan in the present tense (dād bawēd, 'is given') has already been mentioned in the sectionPresent passive. The corresponding ergative preterite constructions and ergative perfect tense constructions withēstādan 'stand' are not really passive, since they do not contrast with an active form in the same tense and are the standard and only way of expressing these tenses.[212] Nevertheless, they can still be used without an overt agent, resulting in a passive meaning:pus ... ōzad (BRE YKTLWNt') 'the son ... was killed',mardōm ... xwānd hēnd (ANŠWTA ... KRYTWNt' HWEnd) 'the people ... were called'.[213]
Another periphrastic way of expressing the passive is by using a third person plural 'they' as an impersonal subject:kas pad wēmārīh nē mīrēd bē pad zarmānīh ayāb ōzanēnd (AYŠ PWN wymʾryh LA BRE YMYTWNyt' PWN zlmʾnyh ʾdwp YKTLWNynd) 'nobody will die of illness, but (only) from of old age or they will be killed (lit. or they kill them)'.[198]
However, there is also asynthetic passive form derived from the present stem with the suffix-īh- (-yh-), in older texts such as the Pahlavi Psalter also-īy- (sp. -yd-). The vowel might have been shortened in later Middle Persian pronunciation. The corresponding past stem may end in-ist or in-īd. Some examples aredārīhēd (YHSNNyhyt') 'is held' (ofdāštan, present stemdār-, 'to hold'),yazīhīd (YDBHWNyhyt') 'was recited' (ofyaštan, present stemyaz-, 'to recite, celebrate').[214][215] If the base verb has the factitive/causative suffix-ēn- (-yn-), it is removed before the addition of-īh-:rawāgēnīdan (lwbʾkynytn') 'propagate' >rawāgīhistan 'be propagated' (lwbʾkyhystn')[216]
Middle Persian does not have a verb 'to have'. Instead, possession is expressed by stating the existence of the possessed object using the verb 'to be' and by treating the possessor as an oblique argument (inflecting it in the oblique case, if possible):man paygāl ast (L pygʾl AYT') 'To me, a cup exists' = 'I have a cup'; xwāstag ī-š ast(NKSYA Yš AYT') 'the property which he has', lit. 'which exists to him'.[108]
Certain adverbial particles are combined with verbs to express direction, while remaining separate words. The most important ones are the following:[217]
| Preverb | Meaning |
|---|---|
| abar (QDM) | 'up', 'over', 'onto' |
| ul (LALA) | 'up' |
| frōd (plwt') | 'down' |
| andar (BYN) | 'in' |
| be (BRA) | 'away', 'out' |
| frāz (prʾc) | 'forth' |
| abāz (LAWHL) | 'back', 'again' |
Some of these (abar andandar) function as prepositions as well.
The most common simple prepositions are:[218]
| Preposition | Meaning |
|---|---|
| abar (QDM) | 'on' |
| azēr (ʾcdl) | 'under' |
| az (MN',hc) | 'from' |
| ō (OL) | 'to' |
| andar (BYN) | 'in' |
| pad (PWN) | 'at, to, for' |
| tar (LCDr') | 'over', 'through' |
| abāg (LWTE) | 'with' |
| ǰomā (ywmʾy) | 'with' |
| be (BRE), Manichaeanba (bʾ) | 'without', 'besides' |
| tā (OD), Manichaeandā (dʾ) | 'until' |
The special postposed forms ofpad,ō andaz with a resumptive pronoun-(i)š –padiš (ptš),awiš (ʾwbš),aziš (hcš) – have already been mentioned in the section on pronouns.
Certain adverbs and nouns can be used as prepositions, in which case they usually (but not always) use the relative particle or the prepositionaz to introduce the noun: thus the adverbpēš (LOYN') can be extended aspēš ī 'in front of',pēš az 'before'. In turn, the adverb may be preceded by a preposition:ō pēš ī. A noun does not necessarily require a preceding preposition:mayān ī (mdyʾn Y) '(in) the middle of'. In this way, many prepositional meanings are expressed: 'before' (pēš ī, sp.LOYN' Y), 'after' (pas īAHL), 'around' (pērāmōn ī, sp.pylʾmwn' Y), 'beside' (kanārag ī, sp.knʾlk' Y), 'near, close to' (nazdīk ī, sp.nzdyk' Y), 'beside, around' (pad sar ī, sp.PWN LOYŠE Y), 'except, apart from'ǰud az (sp.ywdt' MN'), etc.[218][145] Instead of being introduced byī, the component nominal phrase may also be placed before the noun, so it becomes possible to speak of an 'ambiposition':az / ō ... rōn (MN / OL ... lwn') 'from / in the direction of' (fromrōn 'direction'); a similar structure is seen inbē ... enyā (BRA ... ʾynyʾ) 'except', whereenyā 'otherwise' may also be omitted.[219]
While prepositions can remain stranded after their complements because of some syntactic processes mentioned above, there is also aregular postposition:rāy (lʾd), meaning 'for (the sake of)', 'because of', 'about', 'to'. The postpositional phrase can also be preceded by a preposition:az ... rāy 'because of',pad ... rāy 'concerning, in order to'.[218][220] In some other combinations that have been identified as 'ambipositions', the first element can also be dropped, causing the second one to occur as a postposition: such is the case in(az) ... hammis(t) ('together with') and(bē) ... tā 'except'.[219]
The most common coordinating conjunctions are:[221][99]
| Conjunction | Meaning |
|---|---|
| ud (W); u- (AP-) in front of pronominal enclitics | 'and' |
| ayāb (Pahlaviʾdwp, Manichaeanʾyʾb) | 'or' |
| Pahlavibe (BRE), Manichaeanba (bʾ) | 'but' |
| Manichaean only:anāy[99] oranē[222] (ʾnʾy) | 'but' |
The wordā- (ʾ) 'then' may be described as a demonstrative adverb, but it, too, operates as a sentence connector or introducing particle much likeu-, albeit less frequently: an important function of both seems to be to 'support' a pronominal enclitic, andā- generally occurs with one, e.g.ā-š dīd (ʾš HZYTWNt') 'then he saw'.[223]
The common subordinating conjunctions are:[224]
| Conjunction | Meaning |
|---|---|
| agar (HT) | 'if' |
| čē (ME) | 'because' |
| čiyōn (cygwn') |
|
| ka (AMT) | 'when', 'if', 'although' |
| kū (AYK) |
|
| tā (OD) |
|
The conjunctionud may be reinforced with the particleham (hm):ham abar ahlawān ud ham abar druwandān (hm QDM ʾhlwbʾn W hm QDM dlwndʾn) 'both for the righteous and for the unrighteous'.
The particles are:[225]
The most productive suffixes that form nouns are
This suffix is also thought to have haddiminutive meaning and appears to have been added to already existing nouns with no change in meaning (ǰām >ǰāmag 'glass') or with an unpredictable change (čašm, sp.AYNE, 'an eye' >čašmag, sp.cšmk' 'a spring, well'). As such, it was a very productive and expanding suffix.[228] It is identical to an adjective-forming suffix, and that it was its original function; on that, see the next section.
The diminutive suffix is-īzag (-yck'). E.g.murw (mwlw) 'bird' >murwīzag (mwlwyck') 'birdie'.[239]
It has been conjectured that also the abovementioned suffix-ag (-k) had the same meaning, but it is difficult to find unambiguous attestations of this usage.[238] Adjectives have their own diminutive suffix, on which see below.
Feminine gender could be expressed in proper names by-ag:J̌am >J̌amag. It could also be expressed by the Avestan suffixes-ānīy /-ēnīy:ahlaw 'righteous' >ahlawēnīy 'righteous woman'.[44]
1. The suffix-ēn- (-yn-) and less commonly-ān-, whose past stem always ends in-īdyt), has the following functions:[248][249][250]
– It transforms nominal parts of speech into verbs withfactitive meaning:pērōz (pylwc) 'victorious' >pērōzēnīdan (pylwcynytn') 'to make victorious';
– It makes verbs, to whose present stem it is added, into transitive verbs withcausative meaning:tarsīdan (tlsytn') 'to be afraid' >tarsēnīdan (tlsynytn') 'to scare'
Apart from that, factitive verbs could be formed simply by creating a new past stem in-īdan:nām (ŠM) 'name' >nāmīdan 'to name'. More commonly, phrasal verbs were used instead as innām kardan.[251] On the other hand, there still survived some intransitive-transitive verb pairs with quality and quantity differences in the root, where the transitive one usually has the vowelā: intr.nibastan (ŠKBHWNstn'),nibay- 'to lie down' – tr.nibāstan (npʾstn'),nibāy- 'to lay down'; intr.nišastan,nišīn- 'to sit (down) – tr.nišāstan,nišān- 'to seat' (both spelt with the ArmaeogramYTYBWNstn', but distinguished in the phonetic spellingsnšstn' –nšʾstn').[252]
2. There is also a suffix that forms intransitive verbs from transitive ones. Specifically, it derives present verb stems from transitive past stems in-ft and-xt, but apparently leaves the two verbs identical in the past stem. In Manichaean, the suffix is-s and removes the preceding dental of the past stem:buxtan (present stembōz-) 'save' > present stembuxs- 'be saved'. In Pahlavi, the suffix is-t-; in other words, the new present stem coincides with the past one:bōxtan, sp.bwhtn', (present stembōz-) 'save' > present stembōxt- 'be saved'[253]
1.a(n)-, sp.ʾ(n)-, expresses negation or absence of something. Simple negation is found in examples likepurnāy (pwlnʾd) 'adult' >aburnāy (ʾpwlnʾd) 'non-adult',dōstīh (dwstyh) 'friendship, amity' >adōstīh (ʾdwstyh) 'enmity',ēr (ʾyl) 'Iranian, Zoroastrian' >anēr (ʾnyl), 'non-Iranian', 'non-Zoroastrian'.[254][255]
However, when added to most nouns, the prefixa(n)- converts them into adjectives or nouns meaning 'lacking something':kanārag (knʾlk') 'border' >akanārag (ʾknʾlk') 'borderless'[256][257] It can also produce adjectives when added to present verb stems, indicating non-performance of the action:dānistan (YDOYTWNstn') 'to know' >adān (ʾdʾn') 'ignorant'.
2.abē-, sp.ʾp̄y is added to nouns to form adjectives expressing the lack of something, which also one of the functions of the previous suffix. Hence, they can even occur with the same stems and more or less the same meanings:bīm 'fear' >abēbīm (ʾp̄ypym) as well as simplyabīm (ʾp̄ym) 'fearless'.[256][255]
3.ham- (hm-) expresses togetherness and sameness. It, too converts nouns into adjectives or nouns meaning 'having / belonging to the same X': e.g.kār (kʾl) 'deed, labour' >hamkār (hmkʾl) 'collaborator'.
4.ǰud- (ywdt-) has partly the opposite meaning toham-, transforming nouns into adjectives or nouns meaning 'having / belonging to a different/opposite X', e.g.kāmag (kʾmk') 'desire' >ǰudkāmag (ywdt' kʾmk') 'disagreeing', lit. 'having a different desire'. However, it can also have the meaning 'keeping X away', as indēw (ŠDYA 'demon') >ǰud-dēw (ywdtŠDYA) 'keeping the demons away', 'anti-demonic'.[258] Finally, it has a meaning akin toabē- in cases likeǰud-āb (ywdt'MYA) 'waterless'.[259] It is also an independent word meaning 'separate', 'different',[260] so it can be viewed as the first member of a compound as well.
5.hu- (hw-) can derive nouns from other nouns to express the meaning 'good X', e.g.pādixšāy (ŠLYTA) 'king' >hupādixšāy (hwpʾthšʾd) 'good king'. Far more commonly, however, it forms adjectives and nouns meaning 'having good X': e.g.bōy (bwd) 'smell' >hubōy (hwbwd) 'fragrant';sraw (slwb') 'word' >husraw (hwslwb') 'having good fame'.[256][257][254]
6.duš- /dus /duǰ- (sp.dwš-,dw(s)-), with the second allomorph occurring before /s/ and the third one before voiced stops, has the opposite meaning to the previous prefix: it forms adjectives and nouns meaning 'having bad X', or rarely, simply 'bad X'. For example,dušpādixšāy (dwšpʾthšʾd) 'bad king',dusraw (dwslwb') 'infamous',dēn (dyn') >duǰdēn (Pahlavidwšdyn', Manichaeandwjdyn) 'infidel'[256]
7. Finally, a few adjectives begin inpad- (PWN-) and meaning 'having' or 'associated with': e.g.parrag (plk') 'wing' >pad-parrag (PWN plk') 'having wings';drō (KDBA,dlwb') 'a lie' >pad-drō (PWN dlwb) 'lying'.[261]
Some adverbial particles can co-occur with verbs, but remain separate words; on these, see the sectionPreverbs. Earlier Indo-European verbal prefixes have coalesced with the following roots and their original meaning is hardly ever discernible, even though they are very frequent. Thus, we have the following elements:[262][263]
Compounding is very productive. The following types are common:[264][245][265]
1.bahuvrihi or possessive compound, a compound adjective or noun of the structure Modifier + Noun, designating the possessor of what the second member designates:
The modifier is usually an adjective or another part of speech that typically modifies nouns.
2. A determinative compound noun of the structure Modifier + Noun, designating a subset of the class that the second member designates:
commonly an adjective as inweh-dēn (ŠPYLdyn'), lit. 'good' + 'religion' = 'Zoroastrianism'.
3. A determinative compound adjective or noun of the structure Modifier + Deverbal Noun or Participle:
4. A determinative compound adjective or noun of the structure Modifier + Present Verb Stem. The meaning is of an agent noun:
An uncommon type is the copulative (dvandva) type that combines two stems on equal terms – some possible examples are:
The numeral system is decimal. The numerals usually don't inflect, but may take the plural ending when preceding the noun they modify, e.g. Manichaeansēnān anōšagān 'the three immortals'.[266] The numerals are usually spelt in Pahlavi as digits, but there are also Aramaeograms for the cardinals from 1 to 10.[75][267]
The cardinal ones from one to ten are:[268][267]
| number | pronunciation | Aramaeogram |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | ē(w) 'a' yak (Manichaeanyk) | none foryak; 'phonetic'ʾdwk' HD forē(w) |
| 2 | dō | TLYN |
| 3 | sē | TLTA |
| 4 | čahār | ALBA |
| 5 | panǰ (Manichaeanpanz) | HWMŠA,HWMŠYA |
| 6 | šaš | ŠTA |
| 7 | haft | ŠBA |
| 8 | hašt | TWMNYA |
| 9 | nō | TŠA,TŠYA |
| 10 | dah | ASLA,ASLYA |
The teens are mostly formed by combining the relevant number of units and the worddah 'ten', but there are some voicings, epentheses of/z/, elisions and unpredictable alternations at the morpheme boundaries.
| number | pronunciation |
|---|---|
| 11 | yāzdah |
| 12 | dwāzdah |
| 13 | sēzdah |
| 14 | čahārdah |
| 15 | panzdah,pānzdah |
| 16 | šazdah |
| 17 | hafdah |
| 18 | hašdah |
| 19 | nōzdah |
The tens often bear some resemblance to the correspondent units and sometimes end in -ād or -ad, but often aren't synchronically analysable:
| number | pronunciation |
|---|---|
| 10 | dah |
| 20 | wīst |
| 30 | sīh |
| 40 | čihl orčihil |
| 50 | panǰah |
| 60 | šast |
| 70 | haftād |
| 80 | aštād |
| 90 | nawad |
| 100 | sad |
The hundreds combine the relevant unit and the wordsad 'hundred' (e.g.hašt sad for 800), except for 200, which isduwēst. One thousand ishazār, and multiples of it are formed again on the patternhašt hazār and so on, but there is also a special numeral for 10 000,bēwar (speltbywl). Compound numerals may be formed with or without the conjunctionud 'and':čihl ud čahār orčihl čahār.[269]
Fractions simply conjoin the cardinal numerals of the denominator and the numerator:sē-yak (ī ...) 'one third (of ...)', and may also take the 'indefinite article'-ēw. Another notable derivation is the one in-gānag meaning '-fold', e.g.sēgānag (3-kʾnk) 'triple'.[258]
Cardinal numerals may precede or follow the noun; the noun is usually in the singular, but may be in the plural, too.[266]
Ordinal numerals are formed regularly by adding the ending-om (sp.-wm) to the corresponding cardinal numeral: e.g.haft-om (7-wm) 'seven-th'. After vowels, a semivowel is inserted before-om:-y- after the front vowelse andi, and-w- after the back vowelo: thus, 3rd can besē-y-om, 30th issī-y-om, 2nd isdō-w-om.
While this regular pattern can be applied even to the first three numerals, they also have more common irregular variants:fradom (pltwm) 'first',dudīgar ordidīgar (dtykl) 'second',sidīgar (stykl) 'third'. The finalar may be absent in Manichaean texts:dudīg (dwdyg) andsidīg (sdyg). Furthermore, 'first' may also occur asnaxust (nhwst') andnazdist (nzdst') and 'second' may also occur asdid (TWB,dt'), which also means 'another',[266] anddidom.[270] 'Fourth' can also betasom (tswm).
Like the cardinal numbers, the ordinal ones can occur before or after the noun, and in the latter case, they may be linked to it by the relative particleī.[266]
The usual word order issubject – object – verb, although there are deviations from it.[271] As already mentioned, genitive and adjective modifiers usually precede their heads if unmarked as such, but adjectives can also be placed after their heads, and a modifier introduced by the relative particleī is placed after its head, unless appended to a demonstrative pronoun modifying the phrase head (pronoun +ī + modifier + head). The language uses prepositions, but they may end up as postpositions if their logical complements are enclitic pronouns or relative pronouns. The enclitic pronouns are normally appended to the first word of the clause.Yes/no questions are only distinguished from statements by means of intonation.[148]Wh-questions do not need to be introduced by the interrogative word either:war ... kū kard ēstēd? (wl ... AYK krt' YKOYMWNyt') 'Where has the shelter been made?'[272]
Certain verbs are used impersonally: the logical subject is absent or oblique, and the action is expressed by an infinitive or a dependent clause with a verb in the subjunctive. Thus the present tense ofabāyistan 'be necessary, fitting' is used as follows:abāyēd raftan (ʾp̄ʾdt' SGYTWNtn' ), 'it is necessary to go'. Other verbs used like this, obligatorily or optionally, aresahistan (MDMENstn') 'seem',saz- (sc) 'be proper' (present tense only),šāyistan (šʾdstn') 'be possible',kāmistan (YCBENstn') 'want' (constructed like 'be desirable to s.o.') andwurrōyistan (HYMNN-stn') 'believe' (constructed like 'seem credible to s.o.'). So are some nouns such astuwān 'might, power':tuwān raftan (twbʾn' SGYTWNtn') 'one can go'.[273]
There are many phrasal verbs consisting of a nominal part of speech and a relatively abstract verb, most commonlykardan (OBYDWNtn' /krtn') 'do', sometimes alsodādan (YHBWNtn') 'to give',burdan (YBLWNtn') 'to bear',zadan (MHYTWNtn') 'to hit', etc. Some examples areduz kardan (dwc krtn') 'to steal', lit. 'to do a theft',framān dādan (plmʾn' YHBWNtn'), 'to command', lit. 'to give a command',āgāh kardan (ʾkʾs krtn') 'inform', lit. 'make informed'.[274]
The plural number was used in reference to kings, both in the first person (by the kings themselves), in the second person (when addressing a king) and in the third person (when referring to kings, e.g.awēšān bayān, sp.OLEšʾn' ORHYAʾn, 'Their Majesty', originally only the oblique case form). An action performed by a superior was introduced by the dummy verbframūdan 'order' governing an infinitive of the main verb:framāyē xwardan! (prmʾdyd OŠTENʾn) 'deign eat!'.[275]
In contrast to the numerous Arameograms in Pahlavi spelling, there aren't many actual borrowings from Aramaic in Middle Persian; indeed, the number of borrowings in the language in general is remarkably small.[276] An exception is the Middle Persian Psalter, which is a relatively literal translation of thePeshitta and does contain a sizable number of theology-related loans fromSyriac: e.g.purkānā 'redemption'.[277]
Pahlavi often has more forms borrowed from Parthian than Manichaean does: e.g. Pahlavizamestān (zmstʾn') vs Manichaeandamestān (dmstʾn) 'winter'. Naturally, theological terms borrowed from Avestan occur in Zoroastrian Pahlavi, sometimes even in the original script, but often in 'Pahlavised' form or as loan translations:[245][278]
| Avestan | Pahlavi | approximate translation |
|---|---|---|
| aṣ̌awwan (cf. Old Persianartāvan) | ahlaw, sp.ʾhlwb' (butardā, sp.ʾltʾy as an epithet) | 'righteous' |
| daēnā | dēn, sp.dyn' | 'religion' |
| frauuaṣ̌i- | frawahr, sp.plwʾhl fraward, sp.plwlt' | 'fravashi; immortal soul/guardian angel' |
| gaēθiia- | gētīy /gētīg, sp.gytyd, lategytyk, Manichaeangytyg; but note:gēhān, sp.gyhʾn' 'world (of mortals)' | 'material' |
| gāθā | gāh (gʾs) | 'Gatha, hymn' |
| mainiiu- | mēnōy /mēnōg, sp.mynwd, latemynwk, Manichaeanmynwg | 'spirit', 'spiritual' |
| Transliteration | Transcription | Translation[279] |
|---|---|---|
| W ANE kltyl ZY mgwpt yzd’n shpwhry MLKA’n MLKA hwplsťy W hwk’mky HWYTNn. | ud az Kirdīr ī mowbed, yazdān ud šābuhr šāhān šāh huparistāy ud hukāmag anēn. | And I, Kartir, theMagus priest, have been of good service and benevolent to the Gods and toShapur, the King of Kings. |
| APm PWN ZK sp’sy ZYm PWN yzďn W Shpwhry MLKA’n MLKA krty HWYTNt | u-m pad ān spās ī-m pad yazdān ud šābuhr šāhān šāh kard anād | And for that service that I had done to the Gods and to Shapur, the King of Kings |
| ZKm OBYDWN šhpwhry MLKA’n MLKA PWN kltk’n ZY yzďn | ān-im kunēd šābuhr šāhān šāh pad kardagān ī yazdān, | Shapur makes me, when it comes to the divine matters, |
| PWN BBA W štry OL štry gyw’k OL gyw’k h’mštry PWN mgwstn k’mk’ly W p’thš’y | pad dar ud šahr ō šahr, gyāg ō gyāg hām-šahr pad mōwestān kāmgār ud pādixšāy. | at court and in kingdom after kingdom, place after place, in the whole empire, powerful and authoritative over the Magian estate. |
| W PWN plm’n ZY šhpwhry MLKA’n MLKA W pwšty ZY yzďn W MLKA’n MLKA | ud pad framān ī šābuhr šāhān šāh ud pušt ī yazdān ud šāhān šāh | And by order of Shapur, King of Kings, and with the support of the Gods and the King of Kings |
| štry OL štry gyw’k OL gyw’k KBYR krtk’n yzďn ’pz’dyhy W KBYR ’twry ZY wlhľn YTYBWNd | šahr ō šahr, gyāg ō gyāg was kardagān ī yazdān abzāyīh ud was ādur ī warharān nišānīh/nišinēnd | in kingdom after kingdom, place after place, many services to the Gods were increased and manyWahrām fires were instituted |
| W KBYR mgw GBRA ’wlw’hmy W ptyhwy YHWWNt | ud was moγ-mard urwāhm ud padēx būd | and many magi became joyful and prosperous |
| W KBD ’twr’n W mgwny p’thštly HTYMWNd | ud was ādurān ud magūn pādixšīr āwāšend/āwāšīh/āwišt | and many contracts for fires and magi were sealed. |
| W ’whrmzdy W yzďn LBA swty YHMTWN | ud ōhrmazd ud yazdān wuzurg sūd rasīd, | And great benefit came to Ahura Mazda and the Gods, |
| ’hlmny W ŠDYA’n LBA mhyk’ly YHWWNt. | ud ahrēman ud dēwān wuzurg mihkār būd. | and there was great damage to Ahriman and thedemons. |
| Transliteration | Transcription | Translation[280] |
|---|---|---|
| ՚wrwr, ՙsprhm, ՚wd mrw, wd ՚՚cyhr, ՚wd gwng-gwng ՚rwy kyšt ՚wd rwst. | urwar, isprahm, ud marw, ud *āzihr, ud gōnag-gōnag arōy kišt ud rust. | plants, flowers and herbs and seedless plants (?) and various growing things were sown and grew. |
| ՚wš՚n xwd ՚՚z xwyš gryw ՚ndr ՚myxt. | u-šān xwad āz xwēš grīw andar āmixt. | And (the demon) Âz herself mixed her own self into them. |
| ՚wd h՚n yk bhr ՙy ՚w dry՚b ՚wbyst, h՚nyš mzn ՙyw dwšcyhr ՚pr ՚wd shmyyn ՚cyš bwd. | ud ān yak bahr ī ō daryāb ōbist, hān-iš mazan ēw duščihr appar ud sahmēn aziš būd. | And that one part that fell into the sea—an ugly, predatory, and horrifying monster arose from it... |
| ps myhryzd, ՚c h՚n pnz yzd ՙy xwd ՚pwr | pas mihryazd, az hān panz yazd ī xwad āfur | Then the god Mihr, from among those five gods of his own creation, |
| h՚n yzd ՙyw ṯskyrb pryst՚d | hān yazd ēw taskirb frēstād | sent that four-shaped one, |
| ky ՚wy mzn ՚ndr ՚brg p՚dgws, ՚c xwr՚s՚n d՚ ՚w xwrnw՚r, pd hm՚g ՚brg pr՚r՚st | kē awē (= ōy) mazan andar abarag pādgōs, az xwarāsān dā ō xwarniwār, pad hamāg abarag frārāst | who stretched out that monster in the northern region, from east to west, in the entire north, |
| p՚y ՙspwxt ՚wd ՚bgnd, ՚wš ՚br ՙyst՚d, kw ՚ndr šhr wyn՚ẖ ny qwn՚d. | pāy ispōxt ud abgand, ō-š abar ēstād, ku andar šahr wināh nē kunād. | stamped his foot (on it), and hurled (it down), and stood on it, so that it could do no harm in the Realm (=world). |
| ՚wd ՚wy yzd ՚br hm՚g zmyg ՚wd ՚sm՚n h՚mqyšwr, ՚br ՚brg ՚wd xwr՚s՚n, ՚yrg ՚wd xwrpr՚n ... | ud awē (= ōy) yazd abar hamāg zamīg ud āsmān hāmkišwar, abar abarag ud xwarāsān, ērag ud xwarparān ... | Over the entire earth, the sky, the universe, [over] north and east, south and west, that god ... |
| wysbyd qyrd kw šhr p՚y՚d. | wisbed kird ku šahr pāyād. | was made village-master so that that he should protect the Realm (world). |
| Transliteration | Transcription | Translation[281] |
|---|---|---|
| MNm (z)[pl](ʾ)dy KLYTNt HWEW MRWHY yzdty ZY LˊY | az-im zofrāy xwand, ay xwadāy yazd ī man. | Out of the depths have I cried, o Lord, my God. |
| APmyt OŠMENt wʾngy, l7 ʾywt nydwhšyˊt gwšy wʾngy ZYm l8 swtyklyhy. | u-m-it ašnūd wāng, ēw-t niyōxšēd gōš wāng ī-m sūdgarīh. | And my voice (be) heard by you, may your ear hear the voice of my prayer. |
| HT sydʾ NTLWNydy MRWHYʺ MNW twbʾn YKOYMWNt | agar syā(?) pāyē, xwadāy, kē tuwān estād? | If you watch for sinners, Lord, who can stand? |
| M)E MN LK ʾwlwny A(Y)TY hylšn[y] ptsʾš tlsy | čē az tō ōrōn ast hilišn padisā-š tars | But from you there is pardon, for the sake of fear of him. |
| pndy NTLWNt HYA ZY LY OL MRWHY; W pndy NTLWNt HYA ZY LY OLš MRYA | pand pād gyān ī man ō xwadāy; ud pand pād gyān ī man ō-š saxwan. | My soul attends to the advice of the Lord, and my soul attends to the advice of his word. |
| pndm NTLWNt ʿL MRWHY MN pʾsy ZY špk[y WOD O]L pʾsy ZY špky. | pand-am pād ō xwadāy az pās ī šabag tā ō pās ī šabag. | It attends to the advice of the Lord from one morning watch to another morning watch. |
| pndy N[TLW]Nt ʾdyly ʿL MRWHY MEš ʾcšy ʾwlwny HWEnd LHMYdy. APš KBYR ʾYTY LWTE pwlknʾ. | pand pād ēl ō xwadāy čē-š aziš ōrōn hēnd abaxšāyīh. U-š was ast abāgpurkānā, | Israel shall attend to the advice of the Lord: for from him there is mercy for us. And with him there is great redemption. |
| W BNPŠE bwcʾt OL ʾdyly MNš hʾmd(wy)n dlwby | ud xwad bōzēd ō ēl aziš hāmēwēn drō. | And he himself shall save Israel from all of its Lies. |
| Transliteration | Transcription | Translation[282] |
|---|---|---|
| PWN ŠM Y yzd’n | pad nām ī yazdān | In the name of the Gods:[283] |
| ’ytwn' YMRRWNd AYK ’yw b’l ’hlwb' zltwhšt ... | ēdōn gōwēnd kū ēw-bār ahlaw zardušt ... | Thus they have said that once the righteous Zoroaster ... |
| dyn' Y MKBLWNtBYN gyh’n lwb’k BRA krt | dēn ī padīrift andar gēhān rawāg be kard. | propagated in the world the religion that he had received. |
| W OD bwndkyh 300 ŠNT dyn'BYN ’p̄yckyh W ANŠWTABYN ’pygwm’nyh YHWWNt HWHd | ud tā bawandagīh [ī] sē sad sāl dēn andar abēzagīh ud mardōm andar abē-gumānīh būd hēnd | And within a period of 300 years (the) religion remained in purity and the people were without any doubt. |
| W AHL gcstk' gn’k mynwg dlwnd ... | ud pas gizistag gannāg mēnōg [ī] druwand ... | And then, the accursed, foul and deceitful spirit ... |
| gwm’n' krtn' Y ANŠWTA’n' PWN ZNE dyn' l’d | gumān kardan ī mardōmān pad ēn dēn rāy, | in order to cause people to doubt this religion, |
| ZK gcstk ’lkskdl Y hlwm’dyk Y mwcl’dyk m’nšn' wyd’p’nynyt | ān gizistag *alek/sandar ī *hrōmāyīg ī muzrāyīg-mānišn wiyābānēnīd | led astray that Alexander the Roman, resident of Egypt, |
| Y PWN gl’n szd W nplt' W dhyyk OL ’yl’nštr' YATWNt ... | ī pad garān sezd ud *nibard ud *wišēg ō ērān-šahr āmad ... | who came to Iran with grave tyranny and violence and distress ... |
| APš OLE ’уl’n dhywptYKTLWNt W BBA W hwťyh wšwpt W ’pyl’n krt | u-š ōy ērān dahibed ōzad ud dar ud xwadāyīh wišuft ud awērān kard. | and murdered the ruler of Iran and ruined the court and the lordship and made them desolate. |
| W ZNE dyn' cygwn hm’k ’pst’k W znd QDM TWRA pwstyh’ Y wyl’stk' PWN MYA Y ZHBA npštk | ud ēn dēn čiyōn hamāg abestāg ud zand [ī] abar gāw pōstīhā ī wirāstag pad āb ī zarr nibištag | and the (scriptures of the) religion, as all the Avesta and Zand, which were written on ox-hides decorated with water-of-gold (gold leaves) |
| BYN sťhl p’pk’n' PWN KLYTA npšt HNHTWNt YKOYMWN’t' | andar staxr [ī] pābagān pad diz [ī] *nibišt nihād ēstād – | and had been placed inStakhr of Papak in the 'citadel of the writings' – |
| OLE ptyďlk Y SLYA bht Y ’hlmwk Y dlwnd Y ’n’k krťl ’lkskdl hlwm’dyk | ōy petyārag ī wad-baxt ī ahlomōγ ī druwand ī anāg-kardār *aleksandar [ī] hrōmāyīg | that evil, ill-fated, heretical, false, maleficent Alexander, the Roman, |
| mwcl’dyk m’nšn' QDM YHYTYWNt W BRA swht | [ī] muzrāyīg-mānišn abar āwurd ud be sōxt. | who was dwelling in Egypt, stole them and burned them up. |
| Transliteration | Transcription | Translation[284] |
|---|---|---|
| s’m l’d YMRRWNyt AYK ’hwš YHWWNyt'. | sām rāy gōwēd kū ahōš būd. | ConcerningSam, it (the religious tradition) says that he was immortal. |
| PWN ZK AMTš tlmynyt' dyn' Y m’zdsn’n' | pad ān ka-š tar-menīd dēn ī māzdēsnān, | At the time when he scorned the Mazdayasnian religion, |
| twlk-1 Y nwhyn' KLYTWNynd' AMT' HLMWNt' YKOYMWN’t', PWN tgl BRA wn’syt TME PWN dšt' Y pyš’nsyd | turk-ē ī nōhīn xwānēnd, ka xuft ēstād, pad tigr be wināhīd, ānōh pad dašt ī pēšānsē; | a Turk whom they call Nohīn wounded him with an arrow, when he was asleep there, in the plain of Pēšānsē; |
| APš ZK y ’p’lwn' bwš’sp QDM YBLWNt' YKOYMWN’t. | u-š ān ī abārōn Būšāsp abar burd ēstād. | and it had brought upon him sinful Lethargy (Būšāsp). |
| mdy’n' Y dlmk' ŠKBHWNt | mayān ī darmag {*dramanag} nibast | In the midst of the wormwood bush he lay |
| APš wpl ’cpl nšst YKOYMWNyt' | u-š wafr azabar nišast ēstēd, | and snow has settled on him, |
| PWN ZK k’l AYK AMT' ’<u>c</u>ydh’k hl<u>c</u>k' bwyt | pad ān kār kū ka azdahāg harzag bawēd, | so that whenAzdahāg is freed, |
| OLE ’h(y)cyt' APš YKTLWNyt' | ōy āxēzēd u-š ōzanēd | he may arise and slay him; |
| APš bywl plw’hl ’hlwb’n' p’nk' HWEynd. | u-š bēwar frawahr ī ahlawān pānag hēnd. | and a myriadguardian spirits of the righteous protect him. |
| dh’k MNW bywlspc KRYTWNd l’d YMRRWNyt' | dahāg kē bēwarasp-iz xwānēnd rāy, gōwēd | Of Dahāg, whom they also call Bēwarāsp, it says this: |
| AYK plytwn' AMTš OHDWNt' PWN kwštn' LA š’yst', | kū frēdōn ka-š dahāg be grift pad kuštan nē šāyist, | that whenFrēdōn captured him, it was not possible to kill him, |
| APš AHL PWN kwp y dwmbwnd BRA bst' | u-š pas pad kōf ī dumbāwand be bast. | and he afterwards bound him toMount Dumbāwand. |
| AMT' hlck' YHWWNyt' s’m ’hycyt' APš gd znyt' W YKTLWYNyt' | ka harzag bawēd sām axēzēd u-š gad zanēd ud ōzanēd. | When he is freed, Sām will rise up and strike him with his mace and kill him. |
| Transliteration | Transcription | Translation[285] |
|---|---|---|
| KRA 2 mynwd knʾlkʾwmnd W ʾknʾlkʾwmnd. | har dō mēnōg kanāragōmand ud a-kanāragōmand. | Both spirits (Ohrmazd andAhriman) are limited and unlimited. |
| bʾɫyst ZK Y ʾsl lwšnyh YMRRWNd W zwpʾy ZK ʾsl tʾlyk | bālist ān ī a-sar-rōšnīh gōwēnd ud zofāy ān a-sar-tārīg. | (For) the supreme is that which they call endless light, and the abyss that which is endlessly dark, |
| AYKšʾn mdyʾn twhyk W ʾywk LWTE TWB LA ptwst YKWYMWNyt. | kū-šān mayān tuhīg ud yak abāg did nē paywast ēstēd. | so that between them is a void, and one has not been connected with the other; |
| W TWB KRA 2 mynwd PWN NPŠE tn' knʾlkʾwmnd HWEd. | ud did har dō mēnōg pad xwēš-tan kanāragōmand hēnd. | and, again, both spirits are limited as to their own bodies. |
| W TWB hlwsp ʾkʾsyh (Y) whrmzd lʾd | ud did harwisp-āgāhīh (ī) ohrmazd rāy, | And, further, on account of the omniscience of Ohrmazd, |
| KRA 2 MNDOMBYN dʾnšn Y whrmzd, knʾlkʾwmnd W ʾknʾlkʾwmnd | har dō čiš andar dānišn ī ohrmazd, kanāragōmand ud akanāragōmand; | both things are within the knowledge of Ohrmazd, finite and infinite; |
| MNW ZNE ZK Y BYN KRA 2ʾn mynwd ptmʾn YDOYTWNnd | čē ān ī andar har dōwān mēnōg paymān dānēnd. | for that which is in the covenant of both spirits, they (both) know. |
| W TWB bwndk pʾthšʾdyh dʾm Y ʾwhrmzd PWN tn' (Y) psyn YHWWNyt' | ud did bowandag pādixšāyīh ī dām ī ohrmazd pad tan <ī> pasēn bawēd, | And, further, the perfect dominion of the creation of Ohrmazd shall be in the Ultimate Incarnation, |
| ZKyc AYT [Y] OD hmʾk hmʾk lwbšnyh ʾknʾlkʾwmnd | ān-iz ast tā hamē-hamē-rawišnīh a-kanāragōmand. | and that also is unlimited for ever and everlasting. |
| W dʾm Y ʾhlmn PWN ZKzmʾn BRA ʾp̄sy[n](h)yt, MNW tn' (Y) psyn YHWWNyt. ZKyc AYT ʾknʾlkyh | ud dām ī ahreman pad ān zamān be abesīhēd, ka tan (ī) pasēn bawēd. ān-iz ast akanāragīh. | And the creation of Ahriman will be destroyed at the time when the Ultimate Incarnation occurs, and that also is eternity. |
A sample Middle Persian poem from manuscript of Jamasp Asana:
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There are a number ofaffixes in Middle Persian:[286][287][288]
| Middle Persian | English | Other Indo-European | Example(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| A- | Privative prefix, un-, non-, not- | Greeka- (e.g. atom) | a-spās 'ungrateful',a-bim 'fearless',a-čār 'inevitable',a-dād 'unjust' |
| An- | Prevocalic privative prefix, un-, non- | English-un, Germanant- | an-ērān 'non-Iranian',an-ast 'non-existent' |
| -ik (-ig in Late Middle Persian) | Having to do with, having the nature of, made of, caused by, similar to | English-ic, Latin-icus, Greek–ikos, Slavic-ьkъ/-ьcь | Pārsīk 'Persian',Āsōrik 'Assyrian',Pahlavik 'Parthian',Hrōmāyīk/Hrōmīk 'Byzantine, Roman' |
| Middle Persian | Other Indo-European | Example(s) |
|---|---|---|
| -gerd | Slavicgorod/grad | Mithradatgerd "Mithridates City",Susangerd (City of Susan),Darabgerd "Darius City",Bahramjerd "Bahram City",Dastgerd, Virugerd,Borujerd |
| -vīl | Ardabil "Holy City",Kabul andZabol | |
| -āpāt (later-ābād) | Ashkābād >Ashgabat "Land of Arsaces" | |
| -stān | Englishstead 'town', Russianstan 'settlement', common root with Germanicstand | Tapurstan,Sakastan |
There are some phonological differences between Middle Persian and New Persian. Initialconsonant clusters were very common in Middle Persian (e.g.سپاسspās "thanks"). However,New Persian does not allow initial consonant clusters, whereas final consonant clusters are common (e.g.اسب asb "horse").
| Early Middle Persian | English | Early New Persian | Notes | Indo-European derived/ borrowed words from Middle Persian | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ambar ('mbl,'nbl) | Amber,Ambergris | – | Borrowed inArabic as:ʿanbarعَنْبَر | ||
| Arjat | Silver | sīm (سیم) | Latin:argentum (French:argent),Armenian:arsat,Old Irish:airget,PIE:h₂erǵn̥t-, an n-stem | ||
| Arž | Silver coinage | Arj (ارج) 'value/worth' | Erzan (ئەرزان) in Kurdish | Same asArg (АргЪ) 'price' inOssetian | |
| Asēm 𐭠𐭮𐭩𐭬 | Iron | Āhan (آهن) | Āsin (آسِن) in Kurdish | GermanEisen | |
| Az 𐭬𐭭 | From | Az (از), | Ji (ژ) in Kurdish | ||
| Brād,Brādar 𐭡𐭥𐭠𐭣𐭥 | Brother | Barādar (برادر) | Old Ch. Slavonicbrat(r)u, Lithuanianbrolis,Latin:frāter, Old Irishbrathair, O. H. Germanbruoder, Kurdishbira | ||
| Duxtar 𐭣𐭥𐭧𐭲𐭫 | Daughter | Duxtar (دختر) | Kurdishdot(mam),dotmam (دۆتمام) paternal female cousin in Kurdish | Gothicdauhtar, O. H. Germantochter, Old Prussianduckti, Armeniandowstr, Lithuaniandukte | |
| Drōd 𐭣𐭫𐭥𐭣 | Hello (lit. 'health') | Durōd (درود) | Russianздорово | ||
| Ēvārak | Evening | Extinct in Modern Persian | Kurdish andLuri ēvār (ایوار) | ||
| Fradāk | Tomorrow | Fardā (فردا) | Fra- 'towards' | Greekpro-, Lithuanianpra, etc. | |
| Fradom | First | - | Pronin inSangsari language | First,primary,Latin:primus, Greekπρίν, Sanskritprathama | |
| Hāmīn 𐭧𐭠𐭬𐭩𐭭 | Summer | - | Hāmīn exists inBalochi, andCentral Kurdish. Exists as hāvīn in Northern Kurdish. | ||
| Mātar 𐭬𐭠𐭲𐭥 | Mother | Mādar (مادر) | Latin:māter, Old Church Slavonicmater, Lithuanianmotina, Kurdishmak,ma | ||
| Murd 𐭬𐭥𐭫𐭣 | Died | Murd (مرد) | Latin:morta, Englishmurd-er, Old Russianmirtvu, Lithuanianmirtis, Kurdishmirin,mirdin | ||
| Nē 𐭫𐭠 | No | Na (نه) | |||
| Ōhāy 𐭠𐭧𐭠𐭩 | Yes | ārē (آری) | |||
| Pad 𐭯𐭥𐭭 | To, at, in, on | Ba (به) | |||
| Pad-drōt 𐭯𐭥𐭭 𐭣𐭫𐭥𐭣 | Goodbye | Ba durōd (به درود), laterbedrūd (بدرود) | |||
| Pidar 𐭯𐭣𐭫 | Father | Pidar (پدر) | Latin:pater (Italianpadre), Old High Germanfater | ||
| Rōz 𐭩𐭥𐭬 | Day | Rōz (روز) | Fromrōšn 'light'. Kurdishrōž (رۆژ), alsorōč (رُوچ) in Balochi | Armenianlois 'light',Latin:lux 'light', Spanishluz 'light' | |
| Šagr𐭱𐭢𐭫,Šēr1 | Lion | Šēr (شیر) | From Old Persian *šagra-. Tajiki Persianшерšer and Kurdish (شێر)šēr | ||
| Sāl 𐭱𐭭𐭲 | Year | Sāl (سال) | Armeniansārd 'sun', GermanSonne, Russianсолнце, Kurdishsalساڵ | ||
| Šīr𐭱𐭩𐭫1 | Milk | Šīr (شیر) | From Old Persian **xšīra-. Tajikiширšir and Kurdish (šīr,شیر) | fromPIE: *swēyd- | |
| Spās 𐭮𐭯𐭠𐭮 | Thanks | Sipās (سپاس) | Spās in Kurdish | PIE:*speḱ- | |
| Stārag 𐭮𐭲𐭠𐭫𐭪, Star 𐭮𐭲𐭫 | Star | Sitāra (ستاره) | Stār, Stērk in Northern Kurdish | Latin:stella,Old English:steorra,Gothic:stairno,Old Norse:stjarna | |
| Tābestān 𐭲𐭠𐭯𐭮𐭲𐭠𐭭 | (adjective for) summer | تابستان Tābistān | Kurdish:تاڤستان | ||
| Xwāh(ar) 𐭧𐭥𐭠𐭧 | Sister | Xwāhar (خواهر) | Armenian:khoyr,Kurdish:xwah,xweng,xwişk |
1 Since some vowels of Middle Persian did not continue in Modern Persian, a number ofhomophones were created in New Persian. For example,šir andšer, meaning "milk" and "lion", respectively, are now both pronouncedšir. In this case, the older pronunciation is maintained in Kurdish, Dari and Tajiki Persian.[289]
There is a number ofPersian loanwords in English, many of which can be traced to Middle Persian. The lexicon ofClassical Arabic also contains many borrowings from Middle Persian. In such borrowings Iranian consonants that sound foreign to Arabic,g,č,p, andž, have been replaced byq/k,j,š,f/b, ands/z. The exact Arabic renderings of the suffixes-ik/-ig and-ak/-ag is often used to deduce the different periods of borrowing.[1] The following is a parallel word list of cognates:[290][291][292]
| Middle Persian | English | Other Languages | Possible Arabic Borrowing | English |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Srat[290] | Street | Latinstrata 'street',Welshsrat 'plain'; from PIE rootstere- 'to spread, extend, stretch out' (Avestanstar-, Latinsternere,Old Church Slavonicstira) | Sirāt (صراط) | Path |
| Burg[290] | Tower | Germanicburg 'castle' or 'fort' | Burj (برج) | Tower |
| Tāk[293]: 89 | Arch, vault, window | Borrowed into Anatolian Turkish and Standard Azerbaijani intaqča 'a little window, a niche' | Tāq (طاق) | Arch |
| Nav-xudā[1]: 93 | Master of a ship, captain | From PIE root*nau-; cognates with Latinnavigia | Nāxu𝛿ā (نوخذة) | Captain |
| Nargis[1]: 89 | Narcissus | Narjis (نرجس) | Narcissus | |
| Gōš[1]: 87 | Hearer, listener, ear | Of the same root is Aramaicgūšak 'prognosticator, informer' (From Middle Persiangōšak with-ak as a suffix of nomen agentis) | Jāsūs (جاسوس)[citation needed] | Spy |
| A-sar;[292]A- (negation prefix) +sar (end, beginning) | Infinite, endless | A- prefix in Greek; Sanskritsiras, Hittiteharsar 'head' | Azal (أزل) | Infinite |
| A-pad;[292]a- (prefix of negation) +pad (end) | Infinity | Abad (أبد) | Infinity, forever | |
| Dēn[290] | Religion | From Avestandaena | Dīn (دين) | Religion |
| Bōstān[291] (bō 'aroma, scent' +-stan place-name element) | Garden | Bustān (بستان) | Garden | |
| Čirāg[290][1]: 90 [291] | Lamp | Sirāj (سراج) | Lamp | |
| Tāg[291] | Crown, tiara | Tāj (تاج) | Crown | |
| Pargār[291] | Compass | Firjār (فرجار) | Compass (drawing tool) | |
| Ravāg[292] | Current | Rawāj (رواج)[citation needed] | Popularity | |
| Ravāk[292] (older form ofravāg; from the rootrav (v.raftan) 'to go') | Current | Riwāq (رواق) | Place of passage, corridor | |
| Gund[291] | Army, troop | Jund (جند) | Army | |
| Šalwār[291] | Trousers | Sirwāl (سروال) | Trousers | |
| Rōstāk | Village, district, province | Ruzdāq (رزداق) | Village | |
| Zar-parān | Saffron | Zaʿfarān (زعفران) | Saffron | |
| Sādag[1]: 91 | Simple | Sa𝛿ij (ساذج) | Simple | |
| Banafšag[1]: 91 | Violet | Banafsaj (بنفسج) | Violet | |
| Pahrist[1]: 99 | List, register, index | Fihris (فهرس) | List, index | |
| Tašt[293]: 156 | Basin, washtub | Tašt (طشت) | Basin, washtub | |
| Dāyak[293]: 142 | Nurse, midwife | Daya (داية) | Midwife | |
| Xandak[1]: 101 | Ditch, trench | Xandaq (خندق) | Ditch, trench |
| Middle Persian | New Persian | Old Persian | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anāhid | Nāhid | Anāhitā | Anahita |
| Artaxšēr | Ardašir | Artaxšaça | Artaxerxes |
| Mihr | Mehr | Miça | Mithra |
| Rokhsāna | Roksāne | Roxana | |
| Pāpak | Bābak | Pabag | |
| Āleksandar, Sukandar | Eskandar | Alexander | |
| Pērōz, Pērōč | Pīruz | Feroze | |
| Mihrdāt | Mehrdād | Miθradāta | Mithridates |
| Borān | Borān | Borān | |
| Husraw, Xusraw | Khosrow | Chosroes | |
| Zaratu(x)št | Zartōšt | Zoroaster | |
| Ōhrmazd | Hormizd | A(h)uramazdā | Ahura Mazda, astr.Jupiter |
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)| International | |
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