Old Persian is one of two directly attestedOld Iranian languages (the other beingAvestan) and is the ancestor ofMiddle Persian (the language of theSasanian Empire). Like other Old Iranian languages, it was known to its native speakers asariya (Iranian).^[1][2] Old Persian is close to bothAvestan and the language of theRig Veda, the oldest form of theSanskrit language. All three languages are highlyinflected.

Old Persian appears primarily in the inscriptions,clay tablets andseals of theAchaemenid era (c. 600 BCE to 300 BCE). Examples of Old Persian have been found in what is nowIran,Romania (Gherla),^[3][4][5]Armenia,Bahrain,Iraq,Turkey andEgypt,^[6][7] with the most important attestation by far being the contents of theBehistun Inscription (dated to 522 BCE).

In 2007, research into the vastPersepolis Administrative Archives at the Oriental Institute at theUniversity of Chicago unearthed Old Persian tablets, which suggest Old Persian was a written language in use for practical recording and not only for royal display.^[8]

As awritten language, Old Persian is attested in royalAchaemenid inscriptions. It is anIranian language and as such a member of theIndo-Iranian branch of theIndo-European language family. The oldest known text written in Old Persian is from theBehistun Inscriptions.^[9] Old Persian is one of the oldest Indo-European languages which are attested in original texts.^[10]

The oldest date of use of Old Persian as a spoken language is not precisely known. According to certain historical assumptions about the early history and origin of ancient Persians inSouthwestern Iran (where Achaemenids hailed from), Old Persian was originally spoken by a tribe calledParsuwash, who arrived in theIranian Plateau early in the 1st millennium BCE and finally migrated down into the area of present-dayFārs province. Their language, Old Persian, became the official language of the Achaemenid kings.^[10]Assyrian records, which in fact appear to provide the earliest evidence for ancient Iranian (Persian and Median) presence on the Iranian Plateau, give a good chronology but only an approximate geographical indication of what seem to be ancient Persians. In these records of the 9th century BCE,Parsuwash (along withMatai, presumably Medians) are first mentioned in the area ofLake Urmia in the records ofShalmaneser III.^[11] The exact identity of the Parsuwash is not known for certain, but from alinguistic viewpoint the word matches Old Persianpārsa itself coming directly from the older word*pārćwa.^[11] Also, as Old Persian contains many words from another extinct Iranian language,Median, according toP. O. Skjærvø it is probable that Old Persian had already been spoken before the formation of the Achaemenid Empire and was spoken during most of the first half of the first millennium BCE.^[10]

Old Persian belongs to theIranian language family, a branch of theIndo-Iranian language family, itself within the large family ofIndo-European languages. The commonancestors of Indo-Iranians came fromCentral Asia sometime in the first half of the2nd millennium BCE. The extinct and unattestedMedian language is another Old Iranian language related to Old Persian; both are classified asWestern Iranian languages, and many Median names appear in Old Persian texts.^[12] The group of Old Iranian languages was presumably large; however, knowledge of it is restricted mainly to Old Persian,Avestan, and Median. The first two are the only languages in that group to have left written original texts, while Median is known mostly fromloanwords in Old Persian.^[13]

By the 4th century BCE, the lateAchaemenid period, the inscriptions ofArtaxerxes II andArtaxerxes III differ enough from the language of Darius' inscriptions to be called a "pre-Middle Persian," or "post-Old Persian".^[14] Old Persian subsequently evolved intoMiddle Persian, which is in turn the ancestor ofNew Persian.

ProfessorGilbert Lazard, a famousIranologist and the author of the bookPersian Grammar, states:^[15]

The language known as New Persian, which usually is called at this period (early Islamic times) by the name of Parsi-Dari, can be classified linguistically as a continuation of Middle Persian, the official religious and literary language of Sassanian Iran, itself a continuation of Old Persian, the language of the Achaemenids. Unlike the other languages and dialects, ancient and modern, of the Iranian group such asAvestan,Parthian,Soghdian,Kurdish,Pashto, etc., Old,Middle andNew Persian represent one and the same language at three states of its history. It had its origin inFars and is differentiated by dialectical features, still easily recognizable from the dialect prevailing in north-western and eastern Iran.

Middle Persian, also sometimes called Pahlavi, is a direct continuation of Old Persian and was used as the written official language of the country.^[16][17] Comparison of the evolution at each stage of the language shows great simplification in grammar and syntax. However,New Persian is a direct descendant of Middle and Old Persian.^[13]

Old Persian "presumably"^[14] has aMedian languagesubstrate. The Median element is readily identifiable because it did not share in the developments that were peculiar to Old Persian. Median forms "are found only in personal or geographical names [...] and some are typically from religious vocabulary and so could in principle also be influenced byAvestan." "Sometimes, both Median and Old Persian forms are found, which gave Old Persian a somewhat confusing and inconsistent look: 'horse,' for instance, is [attested in Old Persian as] bothasa (OPers.) andaspa (Med.)."^[14]

Old Persian texts were written from left to right in the syllabic Old Persian cuneiform script and had 36 phonetic characters and 8logograms. The usage of logograms is not obligatory.^[18] The script was surprisingly^[19] not a result of evolution of the script used in the nearby civilisation ofMesopotamia.^[20] Despite the fact that Old Persian was written incuneiform script, the script was not a direct continuation of Mesopotamian tradition and in fact, according to Schmitt, was a "deliberate creation of the sixth century BCE".^[20]

The origin of the Old Persian cuneiform script and the identification of the date and process of introduction are a matter of debate among Iranian scholars with no general agreement having been reached. The factors making the consensus difficult are, among others, the difficult passageDB (IV lines 88–92) fromDarius the Great who speaks of a new "form of writing" being made by himself which is said to be "inAryan":

King Darius says: By the grace of Ahuramazda this is the inscription which I have made. Besides, it was in Aryan ("ariyâ") script, and it was composed on clay tablets and on parchment. Besides, a sculptured figure of myself I made.

— Behistun Inscription (IV lines 88–92)^[21]

Also, the analysis of certain Old Persian inscriptions are "supposed or claimed" to predate Darius the Great. Although it is true that the oldest attested Old Persian inscriptions are found on the Behistun monument from Darius, the creation of this "new type of writing" seems, according to Schmitt, "to have begun already underCyrus the Great".^[9]

The script shows a few changes in the shape of characters during the period it was used. This can be seen as a standardization of the heights of wedges, which in the beginning (i.e. inDB) took only half the height of a line.^[22]

The following phonemes are expressed in the Old Persian script:

Most phonemes are conventionally transcribed with the correspondingIPA symbols shown on this table, includingθ, x for/θ,x/. The exceptions arec, j, y, ç, as the first three letters are used for/t͡ʃd͡ʒj/, andç is used for the remaining phoneme (𐏂 in the native script, of uncertain pronunciation but perhaps an affricate or sibilant of some kind).

Lycian𐊋𐊆𐊈𐊈𐊀𐊓𐊕𐊑𐊏𐊀Kizzaprñna ~𐊈𐊆𐊖𐊀𐊓𐊕𐊑𐊏𐊀Zisaprñna for (genuine) Old Persian*Ciçafarnā (besides theMedian form*Ciθrafarnah) =Tissaphernes suggests/t͡s/ as the pronunciation ofç (compare[1] and Kloekhorst 2008, p. 125 in[2] for this example, who, however, mistakenly writesÇiçafarnā, which contradicts the etymology [PIIr.*Čitra-swarnas-] and the Middle Persian formČehrfar [ç gives Middle Persians]).^{[original research?]}

Thephoneme/l/ does not occur in native Iranian vocabulary, only in borrowings fromAkkadian (a new/l/ develops in Middle Persian from Old Persian/rd/ and the change of/rθ/ to/hl/). The phoneme/r/ can also form a syllable peak; both the way Persian names with syllabic/r/ (such asBrdiya) are rendered inElamite and its further development in Middle Persian suggest that before the syllabic/r/, anepenthetic vowel[i] had developed already in the Old Persian period, which later became[u] after labials. For example, Old PersianVᵃ-rᵃ-kᵃ-a-nᵃ/wr̩kaːna/ is rendered in Elamite asMirkānu-,^[23] rendering transcriptions such asV(a)rakāna,Varkāna or evenVurkāna questionable and makingVrkāna orVirkāna much more realistic (and equally forvrka- "wolf",Brdiya and other Old Persian words and names with syllabic/r/).

Whilev usually became/v/ in Middle Persian, it became/b/ word-initially in New Persian, except before[u] (including the epenthetic vowel mentioned above), where it became/ɡ/. This suggests that it was really pronounced as[w].

Old Persian has 3 types of grammatical number: singular, dual and plural.

Old Persian has threegrammatical genders: masculine, feminine and neuter. In contrast,Modern Persian (as well asMiddle Persian) is agenderless language.

Old Persian stems:

• a-stems (-a, -am, -ā)
• i-stems (-iš, iy)
• u- (and au-) stems (-uš, -uv)
• consonantal stems (n, r, h)

Adjectives are declined in a similar way.

Voices
Active, Middle (them. pres.-aiy-,-ataiy-), Passive (-ya-).

Mostly the forms of first and third persons are attested. The only preservedDual form isajīvatam 'both lived'.

• Category:Old Persian language
• Middle Persian
• New Persian