Old Persian

Old Persian
Spoken in:	ancient Iran
Language extinction:	evolved into Middle Persian
Language family:	Indo-European  Indo-Iranian   Iranian    Old Persian
Writing system:	Old Persian Cuneiform
Language codes
ISO 639-1:	none
ISO 639-2:	peo
ISO/FDIS 639-3:	peo

History of the Persian language

Proto-Iranian (ca. 1500 BCE) Southwestern Iranian languages

Old Persian (c. 525 BCE - 300 BCE) Old Persian cuneiform script

Middle Persian (c.300 BCE-800 CE) Pahlavi script • Manichaean script • Avestan script

Modern Persian (from 800) Perso-Arabic script The Old Persian language is an ancient tongue of Iran (c. 600 BCE to 300 BCE). The Aryan, was the name given to the Old Persian by the Achaemenid Kings. Old Persian alongside the Avestan is the oldest attested form of Iranian language. It is classified in the group of Western Iranian languages, subgroup of Indo-Iranian languages (and thus the Indo-European languages). The language was used in the inscriptions of the Achaemenid Emperors. Old Persian texts (including inscriptions, tablets and seals) have been found in Iran, Turkey and Egypt. It evolved into the Middle Persian language (Pahlavi) of Sassanid Iran, and eventually into the modern Persian language. Script Old Persian was written from left to right in Old Persian cuneiform script, a semi-alphabetic syllabic Cuneiform script. Old Persian cuneiform contains 36 signs which represent consonants, vowels, or sequences of single consonants plus vowels, a set of three numerals (1, 10, 100), a word divider, and a few ideograms. Phonology The following phonemes are expressed in the Old Persian script: Vowels Long: /aː/ /iː/ /uː/ Short: /a/ /i/ /u/ Consonants   Labial Dental/ Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal Plosive p /p/ b /b/ t /t/ d /d/ c /c/ j /ɟ/ k /k/ g /g/     Nasal   m /m/   n /n/             Fricative f /f/   θ /θ/   ç /ç/ x /x/   h /h/   Sibilant     s /s/ z /z/ š /ʃ/           Rhotic       r /r/             Approximant   v /ʋ/   l /l/   y /j/         Lexicon Proto-Indo-Iranian Old Persian Middle Persian Modern Persian meaning *açva aspa asp asp horse *kāma kāma kām kām aim, desire *daiva daiva dēw dēv daemon drayah drayā daryā sea dasta dast dast hand *bhāgī bāji bāj bāj tribute *bhrātr- brātar brādar barādar brother *bhūmī būmi būm būm region, land *martya martya mard mard man *māsa māha māh māh Moon, month *vāsara vāhara wahār bahār spring stūnā stūn sotūn column šiyāta šād šād happiness *arta arta ard truth *draugh- drauga drōgh dorōgh falsehood A Comparison Table of Old-Persian with other Iranian Languages See also Persian language Avestan language Behistun Inscription Template:Iranian Languages Group References Wikipedia