ZEND, more correctly AVESTAN, an ancient Iranian language, in which the Zend Avesta is composed. This language was first introduced to notice by Anquetil Duperron, and the accurate knowledge of it has been developed among others by Rask, Burnouf, Bopp and Haug. It is now recognized to be a coeval and cognate dialect with the Vedic Sanskrit. It embraces two dialects called Bactrian, in con tradistinction to the ancient languages of Media and Persia, which are called the Western Ira nian, while the Zend or Bactrian dialects are called the Eastern Iranian dialects. The two Zend dialects consist of an earlier and a later, analogous to the Vedic and classic Sanskrit or to the Homeric and classic Greek. The period of transition between them is perhaps from 100 to 200 years. The earlier dialect is called the Githa, from the Githas or sacred songs which form the only remains of it; the later is that in which the greater part of the Zend-Avesta or Zoroastrian sacred writings are found. They differ both in grammar and pronunciation, they are both highly cultivated languages and rich in inflections, but the earlier is richer in inflections and the later in compounds. The earlier is dis tinguished by long vowel terminations, probably produced by transcribing the singing pronunci ation of the gathas. The present alphabet is comparatively modern and is probably derived from the Syriac. There are 12 simple vowels,
14 diphthongs and 29 consonants, represented by separate characters. The roots are mostly monosyllabic, some consisting only of a single vowel, others of a vowel and consonant or a vowel between two consonants. These primitive roots are modified by articulate additions, which extend or limit their meaning after the manner of prefixes and suffixes, thus des, to make, with the addition of th, becomes dath, to place. Verbal roots undergo modifications producing three distinct forms, the causal, the desiderative and the intensive. Verbs have three voices, ac tive, middle (reflective) and passive; and four moods, indicative, subjunctive, and ra impetive. Some of these are double.
The tenses include one for the present, four for the past and two for the future. Nouns are formed from roots by means of suffixes. There are three genders, masculine, feminine and neuter. There are also three numbers, singular, dual and plural, with eight inflections in the first and last and five in the middle number. The forms of the declensions closely resemble those of Sanskrit; and there are many other analogies between the Githa dialect and the Vedic Sanskrit. See Avzsrs; SANSKILTT