PERSIAN LANGUAGE. The modern Ira nian language of Persia. The earliest authentic specimens are found in the fragments of Hand hala of Badghis in the first half of the ninth cen tury, and of Abbas of Nery (Ass. 809). Closely connected with the Niddle Persian or Pahlavi (q.v.) and with Old Persian (q.v.), modern Per sian has undergone scarcely any change from the time of Abbas and Firdausi (q.v.) to the present day. In structure the language is ana lytie, like English. It is indeed possible to trace a certain analogue between the development of the two tongues. As English has become an ana lytic language as compared with Anglo-Saxon, so Persian is analytic while Old Persian is highly inflected. Again, as English received through the Norman Conquest the Romance and Latin elements, Persian was enriched with a large vocabulary of Arabic loan-words by the 'Moham medan invasions. On the other hand, it is con sidered inelegant in English to overload one's style with Latinisms, while lit Persian stylistic charm is in direct proportion to the Arabisms employed. The phonological deviations of mod ern from ancient Persian are comparatively few. The principal ones are as follows: Old Persian ai becomes New Persian S, i, as Old Pers. Haraira, New Pers. Harr, Hari, 'llerat;' Old Persian an becomes New Persian a, it, as Old Pers. ramah, New Pers. rd.:, run. 'day;' initial Old Persian y becomes New Persian j, as Old Pers. yaitriyR, New Pers. joi, JO, PI, `canal;' initial Old Persian » becomes New Persian b before a, a, i, iy, hut y before a, as Old Pers. .rasiy, New Pers. bus. 'much,' but Old Pers. riyatarayama. 'we crossed,' New I'ers. guaaktan, `to pass over;' Old Persian f, (17 0, sometimes becomes New Persian 11, as Old Pers. kaufa, New Pers. holt, kith, Old Pers. dadatuv, 'let him give,' New Pers. diham, '1 give,' Old I'ers. New Pers. Oh, `place'; but initial Iranian s, which sometimes appears as 19 in Old Persian, is retained as s in New Persian, as 01(1 Pers. Basra, Avesta mem, New Pers. sur,s, 'red;' Old Persian surds between vowels and after r or n become sonants in New Persian, as Old Pers. rgaintn, New Pers. cab, 'night,' Old Pers. pitar, New Pers. pidar, pi&ar, 'father,' Old Pers. carkina, 'Hyreania,' New' Pers. gurg, 'wolf.' The accent in modern Persian falls in general on the last syllable of the word. The preterite tense of the verb, except in the third person singular, however, keeps the accent of the stem, as nfaridam, 'I created.' In the New Persian noun there is neither gender nor, properly speaking. case. The plural, however, distinguishes to some extent between animate and inanimate, as garan, 'cattle.' but jsmaha, 'clothes.' The plural ending -On, which is now usurped in colloquial speech by -ha, is the old genitive plural, as As'. a...labium, 'of the nights,' New Pers. Saban, 'nights.' The genitive and adjective relations are denoted by i (called by the Arabic term issifut, 'annexation') placed between the govern ing word and the following genitive, and between the noun and the following adjective, as raftan-i laghar, 'departure of the army,' ab-i pak, 'pure water.' This i is derived front the similar use fit hya in Old Persian and yet in Avesta, as Old Persian kara bye ?nand, 'my army' (literally. 'army that of me'), ktira hula Babiruriya, 'Babylonian army' (literally, 'army that Baby Innian'), Avesta ttalle vat vahatahe, 'of best righteousness' (literally, 'of righteousness that the best'). The datise, especially in the older
poetry, is frequently expressed by an appended ra, as pidar-ra guf tam, q said to the father.' This ra is the survival of the same use of radiy, 'for the sake of,' in Old Persian, as anahya rudiy, 'on account of this.' Adjectives are com pared by adding -tar for the comparative, and -toxin for the superlative, as buzurk, 'high,' buzurktor, buzurktorin. The verb in Persian is extremely simple. It has three persons, two numbers, an indicative, imperative, and (rarely) a precative, an infinitive, a present (active) and past (passive) participle, and a gerundive. The tenses of the indicative are the preterite, corre sponding in force to the Greek aorist ; imperfect (formed by prefixing nil or ham; to the prete rite). corresponding to the :reek imperfect aorist, corresponding to the Latin indefinite pres ent; present (formed by prefixing nil or hami to the aorist) ; and future ( formed by prefixing bi to the aorist). The passive is formed by the past participle with auxiliary gudan, to be,' as pursidah Sudan, 'to be asked,' while active peri phrastic tenses are formed by the participles and the infinitive with the verbs ust, etc., 'he is,' badan, 'to be,' av astan, 'to wish.' The dialects of Persian are both numerous and, especially from a linguistic point of view, im portant. They are divided into three groups, the Pamir, Caspian, and Central. The Pamir dialects are Wakhi, Shighni, Sarikoli, Roshani.
Sanglici, Minjani or Mungi, Yidghah, and Yaghnobi. The Caspian group includes Samnam. Mazanderani, Lahijani, Talishi, and Tat or Judxo-Persian. The Central dialects embrace Gabri, Shirazi, Bahbahani, Sivandi, Yazdi, Zafrahi, Kashahi. Vonishuni, Kuhrudi, Nayini, Natanzi, and Kashani. But few of these dialects have as yet received any literary culture.
Consult : Ibrahim, Grammar of the Persian Language (London, 1843) ; /testi/alio/les Lingua' Persica- (2d ed., Giessen, 1870) ; Wahr mundt, Praktisches Handbuch der neu-persischrn Spraehe (ib., 1875) ; Darmesteter, Etudes ira viennes. vol. i. (Paris, 1882) ; Chodzko, (,'ra in moire de In langue persane (lb., 1883) ; Salemann and Slutkovski, Persische Grammatik (Berlin, 1889) ; Dorn, Grumlriss der nrupCmsi.srhm Ety mologie titrassburg, 1893) ; Hilbschniann, Per si.schr Studien (ib.. 18951 ; Platts, Grammar of the Persian Language (London, 1894) ; Kanga, Hints on the Study of Persian (Bombay, 1895) : Grammaire elementaire de la la per sane (Paris, 18S9) ; IMirza-Jafar and Korsh, Grammalika persidskora yazTka (Moscow, 1901) ; St. Clair-Tisdall, .1Iodrrn-Persian Con versa t ion-(Ira m mar I London, 1902); Dorn, "Neupersische Schriftsprache," and Geiger. "Kleinere Dialekte and Dialektgruppen." in Eiger and Kuhn. GrundrisR der iran ischen Philologie, vol. i., part ii. (Stress burg. 1898-10(I1 ) : Gray, Inflo-Ira»inn Phonology (New- York, 1902) ; Richardson. Dictionary: Per sian, -t rabic. and English (London, 1829) ; Lea-icon Pers ico-La I inu m Et y °logic? m (Bonn, 1853-07) ; Bergr.. Diet ion nn ire pc rsa n f rancais (Leipzig. 186S1 ; Steingass, Persian English Dictionary (London, no date) : Wollas ton. Complete English-Persian Dictionary (ib., 1894).