Indo-Iranian Languages

Արիացիների մասին մեր ունեցած տեղեկությունները կարելի է բաժանել 4 տեսակի. • Լեզվաբանական • Հնագիտական • Պատմական (անտիկ հեղինակների վկայություններ) • Տեղական (հնդարիական և իրանական) բանահյուսական ու գրական ավանդույթների տվյալներ Եթե վերջին երկու կատեգորիաների տվյալներն (պատմական և գրական-բանահյուսական) այն աղբյուրներն են, որոնց շնորհիվ մենք այսօր ընդհանրապես ծանոթ ենք «արիա» տերմինին և կարող ենք պնդել, որ Ք. ա. II հազարամյակի սահմանագծին հնդեվրոպական լեզվաընտանիքից անջատված և դեպի Իրանական բարձրավանդակ ու Հնդկաստան շարժված ցեղերն իրենց անվանել են արիացիներ, ապա պատմահամեմատական լեզվաբանությունն ու հնագիտությունը, որոնք ինքնին ավելի հին ժամանակաշրջանի տեղեկություններ են հաղորդում, մեզ հնարավորություն են տալիս լույս սփռել արիական ցեղերի հնագույն տեղաշարժերի, նրանց նախնական բնակության վայրի որոշման կնճռոտ հարցերի վրա:

Miklós Banai PhD and Prof. Béla Lukács PhD, held a lecture about their research on the origins of Central Europe's peoples, by the invitation of the Széll Kálmán Foundation, on the 28th of November, 2014.
They have established the fact that Central European identity has dual roots and it originates in two contemporary Bronze Age civilizations. While the identity of the Western part stems from the traditions of the well-known Mycenaean culture, the Eastern part stems from the much less known Andronovo culture. Incorporating these findings in European public discourse could significantly shape and strengthen Central European peoples' alliance.

Abstract : this study, which first aim was to demonstrate correspondences between Gaulish and Slavic languages, between which I found 500 common words, allowed me also to establish, on the basis of genetical, archaeological and religious data, that those correspondences were linked with ancient migrations which spread the Dravidian civilisation of the Indus Valley to Iran, Mesopotamia, Anatolia, the Caucasus, the North of the Black Sea, Danubian and Balkan Europe, Gaul and Iberia, where Neolithic farmers brought about 30% of the French genetic profile and contributed to the development of the megalithic civilisation which began in 5.000 BC. This also explains the linguistic correspondences I established between Gaulish and Dravidian languages – 250 common words from the 500 words I studied, as well as similarities I found in the organisation of the Society and the religion, which lead various researchers to suggest, on the basis of the diffusion of the very ancient haplogroup H2-P96 from India to Western Europe, that the first Europeans and the proto-Dravidians had a common origin.
Extrait : cette étude, dont l’objectif initial était de démontrer les correspondances entre le gaulois et les langues slaves, entre lesquelles j’ai trouvé 500 mots communs, m’a en outre permis de démontrer, sur la base de données génétiques, archéologiques et religieuses, que ces correspondances étaient liées à des migrations anciennes qui ont apporté environ 30% du profil génétique français et  diffusé la civilisation dravidienne de la vallée de l’Indus vers l’Iran, la Mésopotamie, l’Anatolie, le Caucase, le Nord de la Mer Noire, l’Europe danubienne et balkanique, la Gaule et l’Ibérie, où les agriculteurs néolithiques ont apporté environ 30% du profil génétique français et contribué à former la civilisation mégalithique qui s’est développée à partir de -5.000. Cela explique aussi les correspondances linguistiques que j’ai établies entre le gaulois et les langues dravidiennes - 250 mots communs sur les 500 mots étudiés, et les similitudes que j’ai constatées dans l’organisation de la société et la religion, qui amènent certains chercheurs à suggérer, sur la base de la diffusion du très ancien haplogroupe H2-P96 de l’Inde à l’Europe de l’Ouest, que les premiers Européens et les proto-Dravidiens avaient une origine commune.

The article investigates the agricultural lexicon of Indo-Iranian, especially its earlier records, and what it may tell us about the spread of farming. After some general remarks on " Neolithic " vocabulary, a short overview of the animal husbandry terminology shows that this field of vocabulary was evidently well-established in Proto-Indo-Iranian, with many cognate terms. Words for cattle, horses, sheep and goats are well developed and mostly inherited, while evidence for pigs is more limited, ad the words for donkey and camel look like common loans. A more extensive discussion of plant terminology reveals that while some generic terms for grain are inherited, more specific words for different kinds of cereals show few inherited terms and/or irregular variation, and the same is even clearer for pulses and some other vegetables. The terminology for agricultural terminology is largely different from that of most European branches of Indo-European. The conclusion is that the cultural background behind these linguistic data points to spreading of a mainly pastoralist culture in the case of Indo-Iranian.

This research is designed to produce detailed descriptions of the morphological ergativity in three South Asian languages. The chosen sample includes Hindi/Urdu, Pashto and Balochi, as morphologically enough to achieve the goals and generalizations of the research. The study presents the range of variation in case and agreement marking in these South Asian descendants of the common Indo-Iranian language, in which the distinct systems of ergative case marking and agreement is to be compared, both within the nominal and verbal domain. While these individual languages are common examples of morphological ergativity, the range of variation among these languages has not been examined comparatively. The goals of this research are twofold. After a comprehensive overview, we present a detailed typology of ergative marking and agreement in the predetermined languages, demonstrating their common split ergative behavior. This process is manifested in two distinct strategies of markedness: Differential Case Marking (DCM) [including Differential Subject Marking (DSM), as well as Differential Object Marking (DOM); Aissen 1999] in the nominal domain, and marked agreement in the verbal domain; which is considered within a comparative account.

Through the comparison with Vedic India, based on the methods of the Indo-European poetics, we can prove that, in the Greek syntagma hieròs lógos, which is typical of orphism, the adjective hierós obtains its oldest and most specific meaning, « ritually efficient », while this syntagma contrasts with another one, hierḕn ópa, which is really inherited and thus more expected. So, in this context the word lógos is not chosen because it would be easier, but we should give it a meaning near of « reason », just like in the Presocratic philosophers, according to the general contradistinction between *óps and lógos. This contrast between both aspects of language, the voice and the reason, is also analogically present in India, so that it can’t be a mere chance.

This article analyzes how Zoroastrian holy sites as celebrated in the Avesta or elaborated in later, related traditions, emerged as important architectural and ritual centers in late antiquity. Instead of ancient foundations whose details were lost in the depths of time, this paper argues that some of the holiest sanctuaries of the Zoroastrian religion, including Ādur Gušnasp, Ādur Farnbāg, Ādur Burzēn-Mihr, Ādur Karkōy and Lake Kayānsīh, emerged no earlier than the Arsacid era, and were actively manipulated and augmented by the Sasanian dynasty. These 'Avestan' sites of memory emerged at locales with no previous Achaemenid monumental construction, but did benefit from beautiful and dramatic natural features. In late antiquity these natural features, usually mountains or lakes, took on the names and significance of the sacred geography of as found in the Avesta. The Sasanian dynasty in particular built grand monumental complexes as its sovereigns sought to take control of these ancient Iranian traditions.

This is a combination of the English indexes to the second (revised) editions of the Dictionary of Manichaean Sogdian and Bactrian by Nicholas Sims-Williams and Desmond Durkin-Meisterernst (Dictionary of Manichaean Texts, Vol. III/2. Turnhout: Brepols, 2022) and A Dictionary: Christian Sogdian, Syriac and English by Nicholas Sims-Williams (Beiträge zur Iranistik, Band 41. Wiesbaden: Reichert Verlag, 2021). It replaces the index to the first editions of these two dictionaries posted on academia.edu in 2016.

It is widely thought that (i) Proto-Indo-European had *-mon-stem nominals formed by internal derivation from neuter *-men-stems and that (ii) these *-mon-stems were characterized by "amphikinetic" inflection, thus stressed full-grade of the root in their strong case forms (*R(é)-mon-). This paper challenges the latter claim, arguing that these forms instead had stem-final stress (*R(e)-món-). I adduce prosodic evidence in support of this alternative reconstruction from Lithuanian, Greek, Hittite, and above all Vedic Sanskrit, where the attested reflexes of these *-mon-stems consistently show stem-final stress. I then propose a new account of their root full-grade, which on this new reconstruction is phonologically irregular, since it surfaces in a pretonic syllable. I contend that this full-grade was synchronically transferred from their neuter *-men-stem bases. In this respect, internally derived *-mon-stems are shown to pattern morphophonologically with other reconstructible non-primary derivatives, which similarly acquire their root vocalism from their derivational bases.

Paru dans Des contrées avestiques à Mahabad, via Bisotun. Études offertes en hommage à
Pierre Lecoq, CPOR 2, Céline Redard (éd.), Neuchâtel, 2016, pp. 25-60.



In the great inscription of Bisotun, King Darius, speaking in the first person, relates how he managed to cross the Tigris with his army before defeating the army of the Babylonian Nidintu-Bel, one of the 'rebel kings'. The short account of this undertaking, however, with its several lexical and syntactic ambiguities, leaves open many questions about how things had actually gone. The author of this paper analyses in detail the three, somehow divergent parallel passages (i.e., Old Persian, Achaemenid Elamite and Achaemenid Babylonian) of this multilingual text and the relationships among them, focusing on the translation strategies and techniques followed by the authors of the royal inscriptions. Since different possible scenarios may be reconstructed from the three versions, the author concludes that the narrative of the Tigris crossing has to be interpreted taking into account the ideological concerns and rhetoric conventions characterizing the Bisotun narrative of the royal deeds, not so different from the epic-heroic conventions characterizing many ancient Near Eastern royal inscriptions. Résumé Dans la grande inscription de Bisotun, le roi Darius, parlant à la première personne, raconte comment il a réussi à traverser le Tigre avec son armée avant de vaincre l'armée du babylonien Nidintu-Bel, un des « rois rebelles ». Le bref récit de cette entreprise, cependant, avec plusieurs ambiguïtés lexicales et syntaxiques, laisse ouvertes de nombreuses questions sur la façon dont les choses se sont réellement produites. L'auteur de cet article analyse en détail les trois passages (c'est-à-dire, vieux-perse, élamite achéménide et babylonien achéménide) parallèles, en quelque sorte divergents de ce texte multilingue et les relations entre eux, en mettant l'accent sur les stratégies de traduction et les techniques suivies par les auteurs des inscriptions royales. Puisque différents scénarios possibles peuvent être reconstruits à partir de ces trois versions, l'auteur conclut que le récit de la traversée du Tigre doit être interprété en tenant compte des préoccupations idéologiques et des conventions rhétoriques, qui caractérisent le récit des actes royaux de Bisotun, pas si différentes des conventions épiques-héroïques qui caractérisent de nombreuses inscriptions royales du Proche Orient ancien.

Paragraph 14 of Darius inscription at Bisotun is devoted to the measures taken by Darius in order to restore the legitimate kingship usurped by Gaumāta and to re-establish the social order thrown into confusion by the revolt leaded by the magus. The central core of the paragraph is (A) Darius' re-establishment of the kingship; (B) the realisation of some royal action (specified in all three languages by the general verb 'to make, to do') regarding the ā ̆ yadanā/ AN zí-ia-an AN na-ap-pan-na/É.˹MEŠ˺ šá DINGIR.MEŠ destroyed by Gaumāta. Analysing the syntactic structure of the three versions, studying the structure of the word ā ̆ yadanā – considered as problematic already by the early editors of the Bisotun inscription – the author discusses LECOQ's (1995) interpretation, stating some details which allow a better interpretation of § 14 as a whole.
Résumé: Le §14 de l'inscription de Darius à Bisotun est consacré aux mesures prises par Darius pour restaurer la royauté usurpée par Gaumāta et pour rétablir l'ordre social qui avait été mis à mal par la révolte du mage. L'objet central du paragraphe est (A) le rétablissement par Darius de la royauté soustraite, comme elle l'était auparavant ; (B) la réalisation d'une action royale (indiquée dans les trois langues par le verbe général 'faire') concernant les ā ̆ yadanā/ AN zí-ia-an AN na-ap-pan-na/É.˹MEŠ˺ šá DINGIR.MEŠ que Gaumāta avait détruits. En analysant la syntaxe des trois versions, en étudiant la structure du mot ā ̆ yadanā qui a été considéré problématique déjà à l'époque de la première publication des textes de Bisotun, l'auteur discute l'interprétation du passage donnée par LECOQ (1995), en précisant des détails qui permettent une meilleure interprétation du § 14 dans son ensemble.

Andrés-Toledo, M. Á. (2010). “Some Considerations about Vedic, Avestan and Indoiranian Textile Terminology”. Michel, C. & Nosch, M. L. (eds.), Textile Terminologies in the Ancient Near East and Mediterranean from the Third to the First Millennia BC. Ancient Textile Series Vol. 8, Oxbow Books, Oxford: 430-444. ISBN: 978-1-84217-975-8

substantif indo-iranien *tan4-ne peut pas être mis en relation dérivationnelle directe avec l'adjectif en *-u-dérivé de la racine *ten(H 2)-«∞ ∞ ∞ s'étendre, tendre∞ ∞ ∞ ». Ce rapprochement traditionnel n'est pas satisfaisant sur le plan sémantique. Les emplois du mot sont examinés, en particulier dans les hymnes védiques. Ce substantif désigne le corps comme être physique identifié à la personne, au soi. Dans une partie de ses occurrences, il tend vers la valeur de pronom réfléchi. L'analyse du formulaire védique montre que le sème de «∞ ∞ ∞ continuité∞ ∞ ∞ » est central dans cette notion du «∞ ∞ ∞ corps personnel∞ ∞ ∞ ». Ce sens premier («∞ ∞ ∞ extension temporelle∞ ∞ ∞ ») est expliqué par la formation du mot, qui a des parallèles dans la morphologie dérivation-nelle∞ ∞ ∞ : un abstrait collectif, dérivé interne d'un substantif neutre en *-u-signifiant «∞ ∞ ∞ extension∞ ∞ ∞ ». Ce substantif est aussi la base de l'adjectif signifiant «∞ ∞ ∞ étendu, étiré∞ ∞ ∞ », d'où «∞ ∞ ∞ fin, mince∞ ∞ ∞ », formé par dérivation interne, mais avec une orientation sémantique différente.

The Northwestern fringe of the Tibetan-speaking area, now forming a part of the Jammu and Kashmir state of India and of Pakistani-controlled Northern Areas, was in the past an area of intensive ethnic and language contact. This contact resulted in the linguistic assimilation of the local pre-Tibetan population by the Tibetans. More than a century ago it was hypothesized that this pre-Tibetan population may have spoken a certain Dardic language. The article attempts to check this hypothesis through the etymological analysis of the vocabulary of Northwestern Tibetan dialects. The results of this analysis suggest the existence of a significant Indo-Iranian, probably Dardic, lexical stratum, as well as of numerous lexemes borrowed from some early form of Burushaski. The author seeks to define the dialectal distribution of Indo-Iranian and Burushaski loanwords in the area under study.

Le présent ouvrage a pu être publié grâce au soutien financier de l'École Pratique des Hautes Études, Paris Sciences et Lettres Bibliografische Information Der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek Die Deutsche nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen nationalbibliografie; detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet über http://dnb.d-nb.de abrufbar. ISBn 978-3-944312-50-7 © 2017 Hempen Verlag, Bremen; www.hempen-verlag.de Das Werk einschließlich aller seiner Teile ist urheberrechtlich geschützt. Jede Verwertung außerhalb der engen Grenzen des Urheberrechtsgesetzes ist unzulässig und strafbar. Das gilt insbesondere für Vervielfältigungen, Übersetzungen, mikroverfilmungen und die Einspeicherung und Verarbeitung in elektronischen Systemen. Umschlaggestaltung: detemple-design, Igel b. Trier Gedruckt auf alterungsbeständigem Papier Printed in Germany © Dr. Ute Hempen Verlag, Bremen © Dr. Ute Hempen Verlag, Bremen © Dr. Ute Hempen Verlag, Bremen © Dr. Ute Hempen Verlag, Bremen © Dr. Ute Hempen Verlag, Bremen © Dr. Ute Hempen Verlag, Bremen © Dr. Ute Hempen Verlag, Bremen © Dr. Ute Hempen Verlag, Bremen © Dr. Ute Hempen Verlag, Bremen © Dr. Ute Hempen Verlag, Bremen © Dr. Ute Hempen Verlag, Bremen

Indus script is a Bronze Age south Asian writing system. In this article I present the Indus sign list with sound values published in my 2011 book Indus Script Dictionary, along with images of various Indus seals which show or mention Hindu deities.

In 1974 in the course of the excavation of Jinvali cemetery in Transcaucasian Georgia (ancient Iberia), at the juncture of the branches of the Aragvi River, 60 km north of Tbilisi, a seal-stone in intaglio was found. The intaglio dates probably back to the 3rd century A.D., and bears a picture of a ritual scene and a Greek inscription reading Bakour Alana, i.e. Bakour the Alan.

After an exhaustive analysis of the attestation of the Avestan letter ń in the Iranian manuscripts of the Long Liturgy, it is concluded that this letter appears only before i ̯, but not before i or e with the exception of the group °niuuV, where ń is also regular.
Concerning the use of the epenthesis or not, it is concluded that the epenthesis is regular before ń, except when ń appears after initial a (e.g. ańiia- vs. maińiiu- ). The comparison of acc.sg. ainīm to ańiiō and rest of the forms of the paradigm leads us to the conclusion that two successive waves of epenthesis have to be assumed: the first one affected only syllables before i̯ and was prior to the transformation of n > ń. The second one affected the syllables before i or final e and is posterior to the evolution n > ń.

The reconstruction of *-Vka- suffixes in Indo-Iranian has been widely debated. At the beginning of the twentieth century, many scholars, op- erating within the theoretical framework provided by the Neogrammar- ians, deny the presence of these suffixes in the Çgveda and, as a conse- quence, their reconstruction in Indo-Iranian, and even more so in Pro- to-Indo-European. Today we consider the linguistic change in the light of diachronic, dialectal, and sociolinguistic variability, and we benefit from a better knowledge of the Iranian languages. Therefore we argue that these suffixes are attested in Vedic and Avestan, witnessed by the parallel traditions for Old Persian, and that they are attributable to In- do-Iranian; their scarce attestation mainly depends on their low socio- linguistic character.

The article is devoted to Epilogue of "Theogonia" of Byzantine writer John Tzetzes (XII century). In this part of poem there were some greetings in seven languages: "Scythian", "Persian", Latin, Alanic, Rus, Arab and Jews. The author offers the original Greek text of 35 verses of the Epilogue, its Russian translation and commentary. He also deals with the history of discovery of the Epilogue.

In contrast to the Indic branch of Indo-Iranian, which abounds in textual materials representing its early stages (Vedic and, later, Classical Sanskrit), Old Iranian is much poorer with respect to its written legacy, the whole corpus of the Avesta and the Old Persian inscriptions
together barely exceeding the size of the ° Rgveda Saṃhitā alone. For investigations into the prehistory of Iranian, we are therefore dependent on materials from later periods (Middle and, to some extent, even Modern Iranian), too, as well as data from the so-called “Nebenüberlieferungen” in languages such as Armenian and Georgian. The present article deals with a Middle Iranian term denoting a sort of office-holder (MPers. pasānīg) with a view to its distribution across the languages concerned and its possible etymological sources.

In this article I shall set forth my most recent discoveries
concerning the principles of Gathic composition.
After summarizing the observations I
had made in earlier publications1 as concerns (I.1)
ring-composition, (I.2) proto-poems, and final poems,
I shall (I.2) update the latter exposition as
to both principles and examples. Then (II) I shall
briefly explain the principles of cross-textual recursive
composition whereby Zarathushtra generated
the sequence of his poems. This will be
followed (III.1 and 2) by illustration of these principles
with instances involving the etymology of
Gathic personal names.

В статье рассматривается праиндоевропейский корень *ku̯sep- ‘ночь’, реконструируемый на основании таких форм, как хетт. išpant- ‘ночь’, др.-инд. kṣap-, авест. xšap-, xšapan-, xšapar- ‘ночь’; греч. ψέφας ‘тьма’. Рассмотрение хеттских слов с рефлексами триконсонантных начальных кластеров показывает, что развитие *CsC- > *sC- в хеттском не является стандартным. Этот факт делает спорной традиционную этимологию išpant-.
Также в статье показывается, что соответстие и.-ир. p ~ греч. φ является проблемным, что также может свидетельствовать в пользу того, что что и.-ир. *kšap- является изолированной основой неизвестного происхождения.

The earliest evidence of an Indo-Iranian culture is actually the influence of this culture in the Hurrian culture of Mitanni kingdom in the west of West Asia and also Uralic culture in the north of Eurasia, but we see almost nothing from Hurrian and Uralic cultures in the descendents of Indo-Iranian culture in modern Indo-Iranian lands, so it can be said that Indo-Iranian culture didn't come from the west of West Asia or north of Eurasia but it spread to those lands.

The present paper aims at summarizing and re-evaluating the sources of the
Jász (Alan) language once spoken in medieval and early modern Hungary. The
Jász people were a sub-branch of the Alans, themselves speaking an eastern
Iranian language, who settled in the medieval Kingdom of Hungary possibly in
the early fourteenth century. Jász ethnic groups were given royal permissions
to found communities in different regions of Hungary, and the most significant
group of them settled in the area what is still known as Jászság (area of Jász
people) between the Tisza and Danube rivers. While the later history of the Jász
people is well known in the secondary literature and is consequently beyond the
scope of the present paper, their linguistic traces show more uncertainties that
need to be reassessed.
As far as our sources are concerned, onomastic data, such as early fourteenth
century personal names as well as the so-called Jász–Hungarian–Latin wordlist
(discovered in 1957) written probably in the fifteenth century, all prove that Jász
was an Alan dialect and is closely related to the present-day Digor dialect of the
Ossetic language, though among the Jász onomastic data we can find several
mixed names of Turkic or Turko-Iranian and also of western Iranian origin.
On the other hand, Jász names preserved in 16th century Ottoman administrative sources offer a rare glimpse at the possibly latest stage of this language.
They should be treated, however, cautiously due to different problems of transcription and transmission. Yet, despite all the problems, these later onomastic data along with some newly discovered material of geographical names of
allegedly Jász background represent a hitherto largely unnoticed and neglected
group of documents of the Jász language, which might have become extinct
around 1600 CE as a spoken language in Hungary according to the contemporary sources.