Avestan

Overview

Avestan is an ancient Iranian language (the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian / Indo-European family), known exclusively through the Avesta, the liturgical corpus of Zoroastrianism. It is closely related to Vedic Sanskrit and to Old Persian. Two markedly different linguistic stages are distinguished: Old Avestan (or Gathic), the language of the Gāthās attributed to the prophet Zarathustra (Zoroaster) and of the Yasna Haptaŋhaiti, archaic and close to the Rigveda; and Young Avestan, the language of the bulk of the corpus (Yasna, Yašts, Vidēvdād/Vendidad, Visperad, Xorda Avesta). The Avestan language died out as a spoken language long before it was committed to writing: it was transmitted orally for centuries and then recorded in the Sasanian period (ca. 4th c. AD) by means of a specially created alphabet, the Avestan alphabet (traditionally called "Dēn dabīra," the script of the religion). Avestan is today fully deciphered and has been studied since the 18th century. It remains a liturgical language recited by Zoroastrians and Parsis. Note: its assignment to Eastern Iranian is traditional but disputed (some features are ambiguous; the East/West classification is not unanimous among specialists).

History of the people

Avestan is the language of the ancient Eastern Iranians (probable area: Central Asia / eastern Iran / Afghanistan, rather than Persia proper — the toponyms of the Avesta point eastward). These Indo-Iranian pastoral peoples shared culture, pantheon, and sacred poetry with the Vedic Indo-Aryans (from whom they separated in the 2nd millennium BC). It was within this milieu that ZARATHUSTRA (Zoroaster) was active, the religious reformer to whom the Gāthās are attributed, who preached the cult of Ahura Mazdā and the moral opposition of aša (Order) versus druj (Deceit). The religion that arose from his preaching, ZOROASTRIANISM, became the religion of the Persian empires (it was a state religion above all under the Sasanians; under the Achaemenids Mazdaism was dominant but without a fixed canonical form). After the Arab-Muslim conquest of Iran (7th c.), Zoroastrianism declined; a portion of the faithful emigrated to India, where they formed the PARSI community (Gujarat, then Bombay/Mumbai). It is these communities — Zoroastrians of Iran and Parsis of India — who preserved the Avestan manuscripts and perpetuate the liturgical recitation to this day.

History of the language

Avestan goes back to an Iranian ancestor (traditionally classified as Eastern Iranian, though this assignment is disputed). Old Avestan (Gathic) reflects a very archaic linguistic stage, often dated to around 1000 BC (with broad scholarly ranges, ~1500–900 BC), roughly contemporary with early Vedic. Young Avestan corresponds to later texts (at the earliest ca. 10th–6th c. BC for the oldest; datings are uncertain). The language CEASED TO BE SPOKEN early: already at the time of the composition of Young Avestan, the authors no longer had full command of it (analogical forms, confusion of endings). It thereafter survived solely as a LITURGICAL LANGUAGE, transmitted ORALLY from generation to generation by the priests for more than a millennium, without a suitable written medium. It was only in the Sasanian period (ca. 4th c. AD) that the Avestan alphabet was invented to fix this recitation in writing, during the codification of the canon (sometimes linked — without certainty — to the reign of Šāpūr II). Avestan therefore never had a community of native speakers at the time it was written down: it is a language "fossilized" in ritual, which explains both its remarkable preservation and the alterations resulting from a very long transmission by memory.

The script

The Avestan alphabet was developed in the Sasanian period (Sasanian empire 224–651), traditionally dated to around the 4th c. AD (often linked — but without certainty — to the codification of the canon, sometimes placed under Šāpūr II, 309–379), in order to record precisely the liturgical recitation of the Avesta. It derives mainly from cursive Pahlavi (Middle Persian) script; some letters are close to Book Pahlavi, others to Psalter Pahlavi, while a few vowel signs appear to be inspired by Greek cursives or to be original creations. The chain of descent ultimately goes back to Aramaic. Unlike its Aramaeo-Pahlavi ancestors (defective and ambiguous abjads), Avestan is a COMPLETE ALPHABET: it explicitly writes both vowels AND consonants, with distinct signs for numerous allophones and for vowel length. The inventory usually comprises around 53 signs (a common count: ca. 16 vowels / 37 consonants; the manuscripts vary). The script is read from RIGHT TO LEFT, cursive, with signs largely separated; a dot serves as a word separator. Its granularity reflects a concern for fidelity to the ritual pronunciation. Two main manuscript traditions exist (Iranian / Parsi Indian), with graphic variants. In Unicode, Avestan occupies the block U+10B00–U+10B3F.

Sign system

A complete alphabetic system, non-syllabic, without matres lectionis (vowels have their own letters). Categories of signs: (1) Vowels — short and long a, ā, i, ī, u, ū; additional timbres e, ē, o, ō; the "schwa" ə, ə̄; the nasalized ą, ą̇; and å/ā̊. Avestan thus writes many vocalic nuances and nasalizations, richer than in Old Persian. (2) Stops and their corresponding fricatives: k, g, x (voiceless velar fricative), xᵛ (labiovelar), γ (voiced velar fricative); t, d, θ (þ, voiceless dental fricative "th"), δ (voiced dental fricative); p, b, f, β; affricates c (=č) and j (=ǰ). (3) Nasals: n, m, plus specialized nasals (ń, ŋ, ŋᵛ, etc.). (4) Sibilants/hushing sounds: s, z, š, ž, and a specialized ṣ̌; the cluster hv/xᵛ. (5) Liquids/semivowels: r (no distinct native /l/), y, v, plus h. The system transcribes allophones finely. The standard scholarly transliteration (deriving from Bartholomae, with adjustments by Hoffmann) is today the practical vehicle for reading; few learners read the original script directly. NB: the exact inventory and the value of certain sibilants/nasals vary according to school and count.

Phonology

Avestan preserves a very archaic phonological system, close to Proto-Indo-Iranian. Vowels: quantity oppositions (a/ā, i/ī, u/ū) and additional timbres (e, o, ə "schwa," å, nasalized ą). Diphthongs: ae, ao, āi, āu (Old Avestan) evolving in Young Avestan (ōi, etc.). Consonants: a wealth of fricatives arising from Iranian spirantization — Proto-Indo-Iranian *p, *t, *k → f, θ, x before a consonant; the Indo-Iranian voiced aspirates *bh, *dh, *gh lose their aspiration and yield b, d, g (a common Iranian trait, opposed to the Vedic retention). Salient features: palatalizations (č, ǰ), assibilations, complex internal sandhi; Common Iranian also shows *s → h in many contexts (Av. h where Vedic has s). Young Avestan exhibits numerous phenomena of vocalic epenthesis (anaptyctic vowels) and nasalization that complicate reconstruction. The accent (not written) is reconstructed from the meter and from Vedic comparison. The very fine spelling reflects in part a late liturgical pronunciation (already influenced by the Middle Persian habits of the scribes) rather than the original linguistic state: hence caution in the phonetic use of the manuscripts.

Grammar — essentials

A synthetic inflecting language, typologically very close to Vedic. THREE genders (masculine, feminine, neuter), THREE numbers (singular, DUAL, plural), and a system of EIGHT cases: nominative, accusative, instrumental, dative, ablative, genitive, locative, vocative. Thematic (in -a) and athematic declensions (roots, in -i, -u, -an, -ar, etc.). The VERB inherits a rich Indo-Iranian system: active / middle voice (and traces of a passive); indicative, subjunctive, optative, imperative, and injunctive moods; present, aorist, perfect (and imperfect) tenses/aspects; primary/secondary endings; augment (often optional/lost in Young Avestan). Many present classes (thematic, root, reduplicative, in -ya-, nasal, causatives in -aya-). A complete pronominal system (personal, demonstrative, relative ya-). Word order is relatively free (a case language), with an SOV tendency, and a strong metrical constraint in the Gāthās (poetry with a fixed syllable count). Old Avestan is morphologically more conservative; Young Avestan shows simplifications, confusions of endings, and regularizations, revealing a stage at which the language was no longer living.

Reading tips

1) Work first from the scholarly TRANSLITERATION (the Bartholomae/Hoffmann standard), not from the original script. 2) Identify the dialect: Old Avestan (Gathic, dense and highly elliptical poetic text) versus Young Avestan (formulaic, repetitive, more readable). 3) Segment at the word separator, then analyze each word morphologically: root + case/verbal ending. 4) Make heavy use of VEDIC COMPARISON: very many forms have a regular correspondent in Sanskrit (e.g., Av. aša- = Ved. r̥ta-, Av. haoma-/hauma- = Ved. soma-, Av. daēva- = Ved. deva-). The regular phonetic correspondences (Iranian s → h in certain contexts, loss of voiced aspiration, etc.) are your best tool. 5) For the Gāthās: take account of the METER (syllabic verse), which constrains the restoration of forms and reveals vowels elided in writing. 6) Always check the lemma in Bartholomae, Altiranisches Wörterbuch (1904), and cross-check against a critical edition/translation. 7) Flag uncertainty: many hapaxes and Gathic passages remain debated — do not invent a meaning; rather, propose several sourced readings.

Pitfalls

1) DO NOT confuse the script (an alphabet created ca. 4th c. AD) with the antiquity of the language (1st millennium BC): the gap explains late liturgical spellings. 2) DO NOT treat Old and Young Avestan as homogeneous: grammar, meaning, and reliability differ. 3) The name "Zend" is improper for the language: "Zend" (zand, from Proto-Avestan zainti- "commentary") in fact designates the GLOSS/exegesis (most often Middle Persian) accompanying the text, not the Avestan language itself; the Pahlavi expression "Avesta u Zand" was inverted into "Zend-Avesta" by the orientalists. Say "Avestan," not "Zend." 4) The Gāthās are notoriously difficult and AMBIGUOUS: many passages have several divergent scholarly translations; never present a Gathic translation as certain. 5) Beware of hapaxes and manuscript corruptions: the written tradition is late and fallible. 6) Do not over-interpret the fine phonetic spelling as an exact reflection of the ancient pronunciation. 7) Vedic correspondences are a guide, not an automatic equivalence: apply the specifically Iranian developments (h < s, loss of voiced aspiration). 8) The "Eastern Iranian" classification is traditional but not consensual — mention it with caution.

Decipherment history

The Avesta was "rediscovered" by the West thanks to Abraham Hyacinthe ANQUETIL-DUPERRON, who traveled to India (ca. 1755–1761), had himself instructed by Parsi priests, brought back manuscripts, and published in 1771 the first European translation, the Zend-Avesta. His work was fiercely contested — notably by William JONES (a pamphlet in French, 1771) — some accusing him of forgery. VINDICATION came through comparative philology: Rasmus RASK (Danish) demonstrated the antiquity and authenticity of the language and its kinship with Sanskrit in his monograph "Über das Alter und die Echtheit der Zend-Sprache" (read/published ca. 1820–1821, Danish ed. 1826); Eugène BURNOUF (French) published from 1833 onward his "Commentaire sur le Yaçna," a critical study founded on rigorous comparison with Vedic and with Neryosangh's Sanskrit version, laying the foundations of scientific Avestan grammar. The 19th century then saw the contributions of Bopp, Westergaard, Spiegel, Roth, Justi, de Harlez, Darmesteter, Mills, and above all Karl F. GELDNER (critical edition 1886–1896) and Christian BARTHOLOMAE (Altiranisches Wörterbuch 1904). In the 20th century, Karl HOFFMANN and his school (Forssman, etc.) recast the phonology and morphology. Avestan is therefore fully deciphered; current debates bear on the fine interpretation of the Gāthās, not on the reading of the script.

Common formulae & expressions

yaθā ahū vairiiō

"Just as the Lord (ahu) is to be chosen/sovereign…" — incipit of the Ahuna Vairiia (Yasna 27), the most sacred prayer (called the "Ahunwar").

aṣ̌əm vohū vahištəm astī

"Righteousness/Order (aša) is the best good" — opening of the Ašəm Vohū, a fundamental prayer.

ahurō mazdå / ahura- mazdā-

"Ahura Mazdā," the "Wise Lord," the supreme deity of Zoroastrianism.

humata- hūxta- huuarəšta-

"good thoughts, good words, good deeds" — the cardinal ethical triad.

yazamaide

"we venerate / we sacrifice to" (1st pl. middle of yaz-) — a recurrent formula of the Yašts and the Yasna.

aṣ̌a- / druj-

the central opposition "Order-Truth (aša)" versus "Deceit-Disorder (druj)."

Corpora & reference editions

• Avesta (Zoroastrian canon): Yasna (including the Gāthās Y.28–34, 43–51, 53 + Yasna Haptaŋhaiti), Visperad, Vidēvdād/Vendidad, Yašts, Xorda (Lesser) Avesta
• Standard critical edition: K. F. Geldner, Avesta. The Sacred Books of the Parsis (3 vols., 1886–1896)
• TITUS (Thesaurus Indogermanischer Text- und Sprachmaterialien), University of Frankfurt — transliterated Avestan corpus online
• Avestan Digital Archive (ADA) — digitized manuscripts
• Online library avesta.org (texts + Darmesteter/Mills translations)

Bibliographic references

• Christian Bartholomae, Altiranisches Wörterbuch, 1904 (Suppl. 1906) — The standard dictionary of Old Iranian (Avestan + Old Persian); a fundamental lexical instrument, still indispensable. Verified.
• Karl F. Geldner, Avesta. The Sacred Books of the Parsis, 3 vols., 1886–1896 (Stuttgart) — Critical edition of the Avestan text, the basis of all modern studies. Verified (vols. 1886, 1889, 1896).
• Abraham Hyacinthe Anquetil-Duperron, Zend-Avesta, ouvrage de Zoroastre, 1771 — The first European translation of the Avesta; the founding act of Avestan studies (its authenticity was at first contested). Verified.
• Karl Hoffmann & Bernhard Forssman, Avestische Laut- und Flexionslehre, 1996 (Innsbruck) — The standard modern handbook of Avestan phonology and morphology. Verified.
• Robert S. P. Beekes, A Grammar of Gatha-Avestan, 1988 (Leiden) — A grammar of Old Avestan (Gathic). Verified.
• Encyclopaedia Iranica, articles "Avestan Language" (grammar, syntax) by K. Hoffmann et al., and "Avestan Alphabet" — Standard scholarly syntheses, freely consultable online. Verified.
• James Darmesteter & L. H. Mills, The Zend-Avesta (Sacred Books of the East, vols. 4, 23, 31), 1880–1887 — The classic English translation of the whole corpus. Verified.