Name | Avestan |
---|---|
Region | Liturgical language of Zoroastrianism |
Extinct | |
Familycolor | Indo-European |
Fam2 | Indo-Iranian |
Fam3 | Iranian |
Fam4 | Eastern Iranian (conventional) |
Script | Avestan alphabet (independent ad-hoc development), Gujarati script used by the Indian Zoroastrian community |
Iso1 | ae|iso2ave|iso3ave|lingua58-ABA-a |
Map | Bodleian J2 fol 175 Y 28 1.jpg |
Mapcaption | Yasna 28.1, Ahunavaiti Gatha (Bodleian MS J2) |
Notice | IPA }} |
Iranian languages are traditionally classified as "eastern" or "western", and within this framework Avestan is classified as Eastern Iranian. But this distinction is of limited meaning for Avestan, as the linguistic developments that later distinguish Eastern from Western Iranian had not yet occurred. Avestan does not display some typical (South-)Western Iranian innovations already visible in Old Persian, and so in this sense, "eastern" only means "non-western". That is not to say that Avestan does not display any characteristic innovations of its own - e.g. the sibilant pronunciation of the consonant in aša, corresponding to original /rt/ that is preserved in the Old Persian form (arta), as well as Sanskrit (rta).
Old Avestan is closely related to Old Persian and also fairly close in nature to Vedic Sanskrit, and the Old Eastern Iranian ancestor dialect of Pashto.
The script devised to render Avestan was natively known as Din dabireh "religion writing". It has 53 distinct characters and is written right-to-left. Among the 53 characters are about 30 letters that are – through the addition of various loops and flourishes – variations of the 13 graphemes of the cursive Pahlavi script (i.e. "Book" Pahlavi) that is known from the post-Sassanian texts of Zoroastrian tradition. These symbols, like those of all the Pahlavi scripts, are in turn based on Aramaic script symbols. Avestan also incorporates several letters from other writing systems, most notably the vowels, which are mostly derived from Greek minuscules. A few letters were free inventions, as were also the symbols used for punctuation. Also, the Avestan alphabet has one letter that has no corresponding sound in the Avestan language; the character for /l
/ (a sound that Avestan does not have) was added to write Pazend texts.
Avestan script is alphabetic, and the large number of letters suggests that its design was due to the need to render the orally recited texts with high phonetic precision. The correct enunciation of the liturgies was (and still is) considered necessary for the prayers to be effective.
The Zoroastrians of India, who represent one of the largest surviving Zoroastrian communities worldwide, also transcribe Avestan in Brahmi-based scripts. This is a relatively recent development first seen in the ca. 12th century texts of Neryosang Dhaval and other Parsi Sanskritist theologians of that era, and which are roughly contemporary with the oldest surviving manuscripts in Avestan script. Today, Avestan is most commonly typeset in Gujarati script (Gujarati being the traditional language of the Indian Zoroastrians). Some Avestan letters with no corresponding symbol are synthesized with additional diacritical marks, for example, the /z/ in zaraθuštra is written with /j/ + dot below.
Vowels: : Consonants: : :
The glides y and w are often transcribed as ii and uu, imitating Dīn Dabireh orthography.
! | ! colspan="2" | ! colspan="2" | ! colspan="2" | ! colspan="2" | ! colspan="2" | Labiovelar | glottal consonant>Glottal | ||||||
Nasal consonant>Nasal | |||||||||||||
Plosive consonant>Plosive | |||||||||||||
Fricative consonant>Fricative | |||||||||||||
Approximant consonant>Approximant | |||||||||||||
Trill consonant>Trill |
According to Beekes, and are allophones of /θ/ and /x/ respectively (in Old Avestan).
! colspan="2" | ! colspan="2" | ! colspan="2" | ||||
Short vowel>short | Long vowel>long | Short vowel>short | Long vowel>long | Short vowel>short | Long vowel>long | |
Close vowel>Close | ||||||
Mid vowel>Mid | ||||||
Open vowel>Open | |
|||||
Nasal vowel>Nasal |
Case | "normal" endings | a-stems: (masc. neut.) | ||||
Singular !! Dual !! Plural !! Singular !! Dual !! Plural | ||||||
Nominative | -s | -ā | -ō (-as), -ā| | -ō (yasn-ō) | -a (vīr-a) | -a (-yasna) |
Vocative | - | -ā| | -ō (-as), -ā | -a (ahur-a)|||
Accusative | -em | -ā| | -ō (-as, -ns), -ā | -em (ahur-em) | -a (vīr-a) | -ą (haom-ą) |
Instrumental | -ā | -byā| | -bīš | -a (ahur-a) | -aēibya (vīr-aēibya) | -āiš (yasn-āiš) |
Dative | -ē | -byā| | -byō (-byas) | -āi (ahur-āi) | -aēibya (vīr-aēibya) | -aēibyō (yasn-aēibyō) |
Ablative | -at | -byā| | -byō | -āt (yasn-āt) | -aēibya (vīr-aēibya) | -aēibyō (yasn-aēibyō) |
Genitive | -ō (-as) | -å| | -ąm | -ahe (ahur-ahe) | -ayå (vīr-ayå) | -anąm (yasn-anąm) |
Locative | -i | -ō, -yō| | -su, -hu, -šva | -e (yesn-e) | -ayō (zast-ayō) | -aēšu (vīr-aēšu), -aēšva |
+ Primary active endings | |||
Person !! Sg. !! Du. !! Pl. | |||
! 1. | -mi | -vahi | -mahi |
2. | -hi | -tha | -tha |
3. | -ti | -tō, -thō | -ngti |
{| width="200" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="1" border="1" |- | Latin alphabet | Avestan alphabet | Gujarati script approximation |- | ahiiā. yāsā. nəmaŋhā. ustānazastō.1 rafəδrahiiā.maniiə̄uš.2 mazdā.3 pouruuīm.4 spəṇtahiiā. aṣ̌ā. vīspə̄ṇg.5 š́iiaoϑanā.6vaŋhə̄uš. xratūm.7 manaŋhō. yā. xṣ̌nəuuīṣ̌ā.8 gə̄ušcā. uruuānəm.9:: (du. bār)::ahiiā. yāsā. nəmaŋhā. ustānazastō. rafəδrahiiā.maniiə̄uš. mazdā. pouruuīm. spəṇtahiiā. aṣ̌ā. vīspə̄ṇg. š́iiaoϑanā.vaŋhə̄uš. xratūm. manaŋhō. yā. xṣ̌nəuuīṣ̌ā. gə̄ušcā. uruuānəm.:: | 500px|center | અહીઆ। યાસા। નામંગહા। ઉસ્તાનજ઼સ્તો।૧ રફ઼ાધરહીઆ।મનીઆઉસ્̌।૨ મજ઼્દા।૩ પોઉરુઉઈમ્।૪ સ્પાણ્તહીઆ। અષ્̌આ। વીસ્પાણ્ગ્।૫ સ્̌́ઇઇઅઓથઅના।૬વંગહાઉસ્̌। ક્સરતૂમ્।૭ મનંગહો। યા। ક્સષ્̌નાઉઉઈષ્̌આ।૮ ગાઉસ્̌ચા। ઉરુઉઆનામ્।૯:: (દુ। બાર્)::અહીઆ। યાસા। નામંગહા। ઉસ્તાનજ઼સ્તો। રફ઼ાધરહીઆ।મનીઆઉસ્̌। મજ઼્દા। પોઉરુઉઈમ્। સ્પાણ્તહીઆ। અષ્̌આ। વીસ્પાણ્ગ્। સ્̌́ઇઇઅઓથઅના।વવંગહાઉસ્̌। ક્સરતૂમ્। મનંગહો। યા। ક્સષ્̌નાઉઉઈષ્̌આ। ગાઉસ્̌ચા। ઉરુઉઆનામ્।:: |}
Category:Eastern Iranian languages Category:Avesta Category:Extinct languages of Asia Category:Avestan language
af:Avesties als:Avestische Sprache an:Idioma avestico az:Avesta dili bn:অবেস্তা ভাষা br:Avesteg ca:Avèstic cv:Авести чĕлхи ceb:Pinulongang Abestiko cs:Avestánština da:Avestisk de:Avestische Sprache el:Αβεστική γλώσσα es:Idioma avéstico fa:زبان اوستایی fr:Avestique ga:An Aivéistis hy:Ավեստերեն hi:अवस्ताई भाषा hr:Avestički jezik id:Bahasa Avesta os:Авестæйы æвзаг it:Lingua avestica kn:ಅವೇಶ್ಟಿ ku:Zimanê avestayî la:Lingua Avestana lv:Avesta lt:Avestos kalba ms:Bahasa Avesta mdf:Авестиень кяль nl:Avestisch ja:アヴェスター語 no:Avestisk pms:Avéstich pl:Język awestyjski pt:Língua avéstica ro:Limba avestică ru:Авестийский язык sr:Авестански језик sh:Avestanski jezik fi:Avestan kieli sv:Avestiska ta:அவெஸ்தான் மொழி th:ภาษาอเวสตะ tg:Забони авестоӣ tr:Zentçe tk:Awesta dili uk:Авестійська мова diq:Ewıstki zh:阿維斯陀語This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
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