| Parthian | |
|---|---|
| Arsacid Pahlavi | |
| Pahlawānīg | |
| Native to | Parthian Empire (incl.Arsacid dynasty of Armenia,Arsacid dynasty of Iberia andArsacid dynasty of Caucasian Albania) |
| Region | Parthia, ancientIran |
| Era | State language 248 BC – 224 AD. Marginalized byMiddle Persian from the 3rd century, though extant for longer in theCaucasus due to several eponymous branches. |
| Inscriptional Parthian,Manichaean script | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | xpr |
xpr | |
| Glottolog | part1239 |
TheParthian language, also known asArsacid Pahlavi andPahlawānīg, is an extinct ancientNorthwestern Iranian language once spoken inParthia, a region situated in present-day northeasternIran andTurkmenistan. Parthian was the language of state of the ArsacidParthian Empire (248 BC – 224 AD), as well as of itseponymous branches of theArsacid dynasty of Armenia,Arsacid dynasty of Iberia, and theArsacid dynasty of Caucasian Albania.
Parthian had a significant impact onArmenian, a large part of whose vocabulary was formed primarily from borrowings from Parthian, and had a derivational morphology and syntax that was also affected bylanguage contact but to a lesser extent. Many ancient Parthian words were preserved and now survive only in Armenian. TheSemnani or Komisenian languages[1] andZaza language have similarities with Parthian language[2] and they may descend from Parthian directly or Northwestern Iranian languages with Parthian influences, but the topic lacks sufficient research.
Parthian was a WesternMiddle Iranian language.Language contact made it share some features ofEastern Iranian languages, the influence of which is attested primarily inloanwords. Some traces of Eastern influence survive in Parthian loanwords in Armenian.[3] Parthian loanwords appear in everyday Armenian vocabulary; nouns, adjectives, adverbs, denominative verbs, and administrative and religious lexicons.[4]
Taxonomically, Parthian, anIndo-European language, belongs to the Northwestern Iranian language group whileMiddle Persian belongs to theSouthwestern Iranian language group.[5][6]
The Parthian language was rendered using thePahlavi writing system, which had two essential characteristics. First, its script derived fromAramaic,[7] the script (and language) of the Achaemenid chancellery (Imperial Aramaic). Second, it had a high incidence ofAramaic words, which are rendered asideograms orlogograms; they were written as Aramaic words but pronounced as Parthian ones (SeeArsacid Pahlavi for details).
The Parthian language was the language of the old Satrapy of Parthia and was used in theArsacids courts. The main sources for Parthian are the few remaining inscriptions fromNisa andHecatompylos,Manichaean texts,Sasanian multilingual inscriptions and remains of Parthian literature in the succeedingMiddle Persian.[8] The later Manichaean texts, composed shortly after the demise of the Parthian power, play an important role for reconstructing the Parthian language.[9] Those Manichaean manuscripts contain no ideograms.
Attestations of the Parthian language include:[10]
This sample of Parthian literature is taken froma Sassanian text used for Iranian Composer Farya Faraji's "Shapur The Victorious"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivtSZjipgAk
| Parthian | English |
|---|---|
| "Ud kaδ naxwišt pad šahr awištād ahēm, Gōrdanyos Kēsar až hamag Frōm, Gōt ud Garmāniyā šahr zāwar hangāwišn kerd; Ud ō Asūrestān abar Ērānšahr ud amā āγad, Ud pad Asūrestān marz, Pad Mišīk paddēmān wuzurg zambag būd. Gōrdanyos Kēsar ōžad, Frōmāyīn zāwar wānād, ud Frōmāyīn Filipos kēsar kerd. Ud Filipos Kēsar amā ō nemastīg āγad, Ud gyān goxn dēnār 500 hazār ō amā dād, Pad bāž awestād, ud amā Mišik až ēd kerd Pērōz-Šābuhr nām awestād,Pērōz-Šābuhr,Pērōz-Šābuhr! Ud Kēsar bid druxt ō Armin winās kerd, Ud amā abar Frōmāyīn šahr wihišt ahēm, Ud Frōmāyīn zāwar 60,000 pad Bēbāliš ōžad. Ud Asūriyā šahr, ud čē abar Asūriyā šahr parβēr būd, hamag ādurwaxt,Awērān ud wardyāz kerd ud grift pad hōēw yāwar až, Frōmāyīn šahr diz ud šahrestān." | "And when I first became established in the land,Gordian Caesar drew together an army from all the land of Rome, Gothia, and Germany; and to Asurestan he came against Iran and against me, and at the boundary of Asurestan at Mishik there wasa great face-to-face battle. Gordian Caesar was killed, and the army of the Romans was destroyed, and the Romans made Philip Caesar. AndPhilip Caesar came to me for supplication, and for their souls gave 500,000 dinars in blood money to me, and he was established as a tributary. And because of this,Mishik gave me the name Shapur The Victorious.Shapur The Victorious,Shapur The Victorious! And Caesar lied again, [and] did harm to Armenia. And Imoved against the land of the Romans, and an army of Romans 60,000 strong was killed atBebalis. And the land of Assyria, and the land which is around Assyria, was all burned, laid waste, and plundered; and there were taken on this one occasion from the land of the Romans these fortresses and cities." |
Although Parthian was quite similar to Middle Persian in many aspects, clear differences in lexical, morphological and phonological forms can still be observed. In the text above, the following forms can be noticed:
Other prominent differences, not found in the text above, include the personal pronoun ⟨az⟩,I, instead of ⟨an⟩ and the present tense root of the verb ⟨kardan⟩,to do, ⟨kar-⟩ instead of Middle Persian ⟨kun-⟩. Also, the Middle Persian linking particle and relative pronoun ⟨ī(g)⟩ was not present in Parthian, but the relative pronoun ⟨čē⟩,what, was used in a similar manner.[14]
