Wordmarks for UT and College of Liberal Arts
Winfred P. Lehmann, Director :: PCL 5.112, 1 University Station S5490 :: Austin, TX 78712 :: 512-471-4566
LRC Links: Home | About | Books Online | EIEOL | IE Lexicon | IE Maps | IE Texts | Pub. Indices | SiteMap



Old Iranian Online

Lesson 8: Old Persian

Scott L. Harvey, Winfred P. Lehmann, and Jonathan Slocum

The inscriptions that bequeath to us the Old Persian language were commissioned by the Achaemenid kings, or those of the regnal line descended from Achaemenes, a minor ruler in the region of present-day southwestern Iran. From Achaemenes the line follows through Teispes to Cyrus the Great, who founded the Persian Empire by conquering the Median king Astyages sometime between 559 and 549 B.C. Upon Cyrus' death, his son Cambyses usurped the throne after secretly killing his older brother Smerdis. Cambyses then left the realm to invade Egypt, and nine vassal kings revolted in his absence. The inscription at Behistan records each of these rebellions and the subsequent reconquest by Darius, first cousin to Cambyses, ninth in the line of Achaemenid kings.

Reading and Textual Analysis

The narrative of revolts in the inscription at Behistan, structured by their geographic distance from the imperial center, begins with conquest of the capital by the warrior-priest Gaumata, who won support by claiming to be Smerdis. Upon hearing of this dissidence, Cambyses took his own life and Darius stepped in to restore the kingdom with the aid of a few loyal men (and Ahura Mazda!). Column one records Gaumata's rise to power and Darius' progress over the course of several months, ending with Gaumata's final defeat at the 'fortress' of Sikayauvati in Media.

26 - thâtiy

27 - Dârayavaush xshâyathiya ima tya manâ kartam pasâva yathâ xshâyathiya

28 - abavam Kabűjiya nâma Kűraush puc*a amâxam taumâyâ

29 - hauvam idâ xshâyathiya âha avahyâ Kabűjiyahyâ brâtâ

30 - Bardiya nâma âha hamâtâ hamapitâ Kabűjiyahyâ pasâva Kabűjiya

31 - avam Bardiyam avâja yathâ Kabűjiya Bardiyam avâja kârahyâ

32 - naiy azdâ abava tya Bardiya avajata pasâva Kabűjiya Mudrâyam

33 - ashiyava yathâ Kabűjiya Mudrâyam ashiyava pasâva kâra arika abava

34 - pasâva drauga dahyauvâ vasiy abava utâ Pârsaiy utâ Mâdaiy utâ

35 - aniyâuvâ dahyushuvâ thâtiy Dârayavaush xshâyathiya pasâva

36 - I martiya magush âha Gaumâta nâma hauv udapatatâ hacâ Paishiyâuvâdâyâ

37 - Arakadrish nâma kaufa hacâ avadasha Viyaxnahya mâhyâ

38 - XIV raucabish thakatâ âha yadiy udapatatâ hauv kârahyâ avathâ

39 - adurujiya adam Bardiya amiy hya Kűraush puc*a Kabűjiyahyâ brâtâ

40 - pasâva kâra haruva hamic*iya abava hacâ Kabűjiyâ abiy avam

41 - ashiyava utâ Pârsa utâ Mâda utâ aniyâ dahyâva xshac*am hauv

42 - agarbâyatâ Garmapadahya mâhyâ IX raucabish thakatâ âha avathâ xshac*am

43 - agarbâyatâ pasâva Kabűjiya uvâmarshiyush amariyatâ

48 - thâtiy Dârayavaush xshâyathiya naiy âha martiya

49 - naiy Pârsa naiy Mâda naiy amâxam taumâyâ kashciy hya avam Gaumâtam

50 - tyam magum xshac*am dîtam caxriyâ kârashim hacâ darsham atarsa

51 - kâram vasiy avâjaniyâ hya paranam Bardiyam adânâ avahyarâdiy

52 - kâram avâjaniyâ mâtyamâm xshnâsâtiy tya adam naiy Bardiya

53 - amiy hya Kűraush puc*a kashciy naiy adarshnaush cishciy thastanaiy

54 - pariy Gaumâtam tyam magum yâtâ adam arasam pasâva adam Auramazdâm

55 - patiyâvahyaiy Auramazdâmaiy upastâm abara Bâgayâdaish

56 - mâhyâ X raucabish thakatâ âha avathâ adam hadâ kamnaibish martiyaibish

57 - avam Gaumâtam tyam magum avâjanam utâ tyaishaiy fratamâ martiyâ

58 - anushiyâ âhatâ Sikayauvatish nâmâ didâ Nisâya nâmâ

59 - dahyâush Mâdaiy avadashim avâjanam xshac*amshim adam adînam vashnâ

60 - Auramazdâha adam xshâyathiya abavam Auramazdâ xshac*am manâ frâbara

Lesson Text

26  thâtiy 27 Dârayavaush xshâyathiya ima tya manâ kartam pasâva yathâ xshâyathiya 28 abavam Kabűjiya nâma Kűraush puc*a amâxam taumâyâ 29 hauvam idâ xshâyathiya âha avahyâ Kabűjiyahyâ brâtâ 30 Bardiya nâma âha hamâtâ hamapitâ Kabűjiyahyâ pasâva Kabűjiya 31 avam Bardiyam avâja yathâ Kabűjiya Bardiyam avâja kârahyâ 32 naiy azdâ abava tya Bardiya avajata pasâva Kabűjiya Mudrâyam 33 ashiyava yathâ Kabűjiya Mudrâyam ashiyava pasâva kâra arika abava 34 pasâva drauga dahyauvâ vasiy abava utâ Pârsaiy utâ Mâdaiy utâ 35 aniyâuvâ dahyushuvâ thâtiy Dârayavaush xshâyathiya pasâva 36 I martiya magush âha Gaumâta nâma hauv udapatatâ hacâ Paishiyâuvâdâyâ 37 Arakadrish nâma kaufa hacâ avadasha Viyaxnahya mâhyâ 38 XIV raucabish thakatâ âha yadiy udapatatâ hauv kârahyâ avathâ 39 adurujiya adam Bardiya amiy hya Kűraush puc*a Kabűjiyahyâ brâtâ 40 pasâva kâra haruva hamic*iya abava hacâ Kabűjiyâ abiy avam 41 ashiyava utâ Pârsa utâ Mâda utâ aniyâ dahyâva xshac*am hauv 42 agarbâyatâ Garmapadahya mâhyâ IX raucabish thakatâ âha avathâ xshac*am 43 agarbâyatâ pasâva Kabűjiya uvâmarshiyush amariyatâ 48  thâtiy Dârayavaush xshâyathiya naiy âha martiya 49 naiy Pârsa naiy Mâda naiy amâxam taumâyâ kashciy hya avam Gaumâtam 50 tyam magum xshac*am dîtam caxriyâ kârashim hacâ darsham atarsa 51 kâram vasiy avâjaniyâ hya paranam Bardiyam adânâ avahyarâdiy 52 kâram avâjaniyâ mâtyamâm xshnâsâtiy tya adam naiy Bardiya 53 amiy hya Kűraush puc*a kashciy naiy adarshnaush cishciy thastanaiy 54 pariy Gaumâtam tyam magum yâtâ adam arasam pasâva adam Auramazdâm 55 patiyâvahyaiy Auramazdâmaiy upastâm abara Bâgayâdaish 56 mâhyâ X raucabish thakatâ âha avathâ adam hadâ kamnaibish martiyaibish 57 avam Gaumâtam tyam magum avâjanam utâ tyaishaiy fratamâ martiyâ 58 anushiyâ âhatâ Sikayauvatish nâmâ didâ Nisâya nâmâ 59 dahyâush Mâdaiy avadashim avâjanam xshac*amshim adam adînam vashnâ 60 Auramazdâha adam xshâyathiya abavam Auramazdâ xshac*am manâ frâbara

Translation

26 Darius the King 27 declares: This is what was done by me when the king 28 I did become. The son of Cyrus, of our family, Cambyses by name -- 29 he was the king here. Of that Cambyses [there] was a brother, 30 Smerdis by name, having the same mother and father as Cambyses. And then Cambyses 31 struck down that Smerdis. When Cambyses struck down Smerdis, 32 it did not become known among the people that [he] had struck down Smerdis. And then Cambyses 33 went to Egypt. And when Cambyses went to Egypt, the people grew treacherous, 34 and thus deceit rose rampantly in both Persia and Media and 35 in the [Empire's] other lands. Darius the King declares: Later, 36 there was one man, a Magian, Gaumata by name, and he rose up from Paishiyauvada. 37 [There is] a mountain in Persia named Arakadri. From there, when fourteen days of the month of Viyakhna 38 were completed, he rose up, [and] he deceived the people [saying] thus: 39 "I am Smerdis, the son of Cyrus who [is] brother of Cambyses." 40 Thereupon, all the people became rebellious against Cambyses and went over to him, [Smerdis], 41 Persia and Media and the other lands, [and] he seized the kingdom. 42 Nine days were completed in the month of Garmapada [when] he seized the kingdom thus. 43 And then Cambyses died by his own hand ...
48 ... Darius the king declares: There was no man, 49 neither Persian nor Median nor any among our family who could render that Gaumata 50 kingdom-deprived. The people feared him greatly, 51 lest he would strike down the numerous people who knew him previously as Smerdis; 52 lest he would strike down the people on account of this: "Lest he who would know me [would know that] I am not Smerdis, 53 the son of Cyrus." No one dared to say anything 54 against Gaumata the Magian until I came. After that, 55 I asked Ahura Mazda for help, [and] Ahura Mazda bore me aid. 56 Ten days of the month of Bagayad were completed when, with a small number of men, 57 I struck down that Gaumata the Magian and those men who 58 were his foremost allies. [There was] a fortress called Sikayauvati, a land called Nisaya, 59 in Media, [and] there I struck him down. I seized the kingdom [from] him, [and] by the will 60 of Ahura Mazda, I became king. Ahura Mazda bestowed the kingdom to me.

Grammar

6. Short and Long i- and u-Stem Nouns

Nominal stems in short i and u are not easily distinguished from those in long î and ű except by comparison with other Indo-Iranian languages. The declensions take identical inflections in all cases of the masculine and feminine and in the oblique cases of the neuter. Long î- and ű-stem cognates with the Sanskrit are attested, e.g., bumi-, Skt. bhűmî-, but again these do not appear to have had declensions distinctive from the short i- and u-.

6.1. i- and u-Stem Nouns, Masculine and Neuter
Masculine   skauthi- 'poor'   magu- 'priest'
Nom. sg.   skauthish   magush
Acc. sg.   skauthim   magum
Instr. sg.   unattested   *maguvâ
Abl. sg.   unattested   *magaush, *magauv
Gen. sg.   skauthaish   *magaush
Loc. sg.   unattested   magauv
         
Gen. pl.   unattested   magunâm
         
Neuter   dâru- 'wood'
Nom/Acc. sg.   dâruv
7. Personal Pronouns

Fewer Old Persian pronominal forms are attested than in the Avestan. The first and second person are known in only a few declensions, while the third person is found in only the nominative and accusative singular. As in the Avestan, the oblique cases of all personal pronouns form a suppletive system, i.e., they are based on a stem different from that of the nominative case.

7.1. First and Second Person Pronouns

The first and second person pronouns have no inherent gender. The azem- 'I' and tvęm- 'you' paradigms are given here, with enclitic forms given in parentheses.

    First Person   Second Person
Nom. sg.   adam   tuvam
Acc. sg.   mâm   thuvâm
Abl. sg.   (ma)   unattested
Gen. sg.   manâ   (taiy)
         
Nom. pl.   vayam   unattested
Gen. pl.   amâxam   unattested
7.2. Third Person Pronouns

The third person pronoun stem hauv- 'he' is found in only its masculine form.

    Masculine
Nom. sg.   hauv, hauvam
Acc. sg.   (shim), (dim)
Acc. pl.   (shish), (dish)
Instr. pl.   tâish
Abl. pl.   taęibyô
8. Athematic Presents

As noted in Lesson 1, verbs of the present system are based on various stems. Those stems ending with the theme-vowel -a-, called thematic stems, were discussed there. Athematic stems are similarly attested. They are constructed in five distinctive but systematic ways.

The root class stems add their ending directly to the verbal root, e.g. ahmiy 'I am', first person singular present indicative active of ah 'be'. The root may appear in its strong or weak grade, depending on the verb's ablaut pattern (cf. Section 2.2).

The reduplicating class forms its stem by adding a reduplicated syllable to the beginning of a verbal root. Only a few instances of reduplicating class verbs are found in Old Persian: the 1st and 3rd person singular imperfect indicative adadâ, from dâ 'make'; the 3rd person singular present imperative active dadâtuv, from dâ 'give'; and the 2nd person singular present imperative middle dîdiy, from dî 'think, see, know'.

The na- and nu- classes add a form of -na-/-na- or -nau-/-nu- to the root, according to ablaut pattern. A third nasal category, the infix class, is found where the -na- appears inside the root itself in its middle or zero grade.

Athematic Present Paradigms: ah 'be'

Indicative   Active   Middle
1 sg.   ahmiy   *ahmiy
3 sg.   astiy 1   *astiy
1 pl.   ahmahi   unattested
         
Imperative        
2 sg.   *zdiy   unattested
3 sg.   *astuv   unattested
2 pl.   *zdâ   unattested
         
Optative        
3 sg.   ahâ   unattested
         
Imperfect        
1 sg.   âham   unattested
3 sg.   âha2   unattested
3 pl.   âha   unattested
9. Causatives and Denominatives

The causative stem -aya- that appears in Avestan conveying the sense of causativity (cf. Section 2.9) is also found in the Old Persian, though it does not necessarily effect a change of meaning: e.g., 3rd person singular imperfect indicative middle agarbâyatâ 'he seized', from grab 'seize, grab'. The causative takes the endings of the present system.

A denominative stem is formed from a noun by adding the suffix -ya- to the noun stem. Like the causative, it takes the endings of the present system: patiyâvahyaiy 'I asked for help', from the prefix patiy added to the noun-stem avah- 'aid'.

10. Adverbs, Adpositions, and Preverbs

Old Persian adverbs function as adpositions (prepositions or postpositions) and verbal prefixes. Some function as both, some as one or the other. Adpositions precede or follow the noun they modify, while preverbs are attached immediately to the front of verbs. Some common examples of each are as follows:

Adposition or Verbal Prefix   Meaning   Case of Governance
â   near   Locative
upa   up to   Accusative
ni   down   Locative
patiy   toward, against   Accusative, Instrumental, Locative
pariy   around   Accusative
parâ   away   Accusative
         
Adposition Only   Meaning   Case of Governance
anuv   along, according to   Instrumental, Genitive
antar   between   Accusative
tara   through   Accusative
pasâ   after   Accusative, Genitive
râdiy   on account of   Genitive
hacâ   from   Ablative
hadâ   with   Instrumental
         
Verbal Prefix Only   Meaning
ava   down
ud   up
nish   out
fra   forth, toward
vi   apart
ham   together

Footnotes

1   Proto-Indo-Iranian /s/ > Old Persian /h/ in most environments, but not in consonant clusters. Note here that the /m/ in first person ahmi is considered a resonant -- i.e. a sound that functions as a consonant when in a vocalic environment, or as a vowel when in a consonantal environment. Hence, the rule does not apply.
     
2   Final consonants are dropped in Old Persian, but a third person imperfect ending in t and n can be inferred from comparison with other Indo-Iranian languages. Thus, the 3rd singular âha is assumed to have developed out of the earlier form *âhat, and the plural out of *âhan.