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| Avestan | |
|---|---|
 Yasna 28.1, Ahunavaiti Gatha (Bodleian MS J2) | |
| Region | Central Asia |
| Era | Late Bronze Age, Iron Age |
Indo-European
| |
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | ae |
| ISO 639-2 | ave |
| ISO 639-3 | ave |
| Glottolog | aves1237 |
| Linguasphere | 58-ABA-a |
| Part of a series on |
| Zoroastrianism |
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Avestan (/əˈvɛstən/ ə-VESS-tən)[1] is the liturgical language of Zoroastrianism belonging to the Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family.[2] It was originally spoken during the Old Iranian period (c. 1500 – 400 BCE)[3][f 1] by the Iranians living in the eastern portion of Greater Iran.[4][5] After Avestan became extinct, its religious texts were first transmitted orally until being collected and put into writing during the Sasanian period (c. 400 – 500 CE).[6]
The extant material falls into two groups:[7] Old Avestan (c. 1500 – 900 BCE)[8] and Younger Avestan (c. 900 – 400 BCE).[9] The immediate ancestor of Old Avestan was the Proto-Iranian language, a sister language to the Proto-Indo-Aryan language, with both having developed from the earlier Proto-Indo-Iranian language.[10] As such, Old Avestan is quite close in both grammar and lexicon to Vedic Sanskrit, the oldest preserved Indo-Aryan language.[11]
- ^ Wells, John C. (1990), Longman pronunciation dictionary, Harlow, England: Longman, p. 53, ISBN 0-582-05383-8 entry "Avestan"
- ^ Hoffmann 1989a.
- ^ Cantera 2012, "The Avestan texts were probably composed [...] between the second half of the 2nd millennium bce and the end of the Achaemenid dynasty".
- ^ Schwartz 1985, p. 640: "For the traditional outlook of ancient Eastern Iran, the birthplace of Iranian culture, we must be guided by such realia as may be extracted from the religious texts which comprise the Avesta [...]".
- ^ Witzel 2000, p.48 :"The Vīdẽvdåδ list obviously was composed or redacted by someone who regarded Afghanistan and the lands surrounding it as the home of all Aryans (airiia), that is of all (eastern) Iranians".
- ^ Kellens 1987.
- ^ de Vaan & Martínez García 2014, p. 3: "Avestan, of which two varieties are known: Old Avestan (OAv.), also called Gathic Avestan or Avestan of the Gathas [Gāθās], and Young Avestan (YAv.)".
- ^ Daniel 2012, p. 47: "All in all, it seems likely that Zoroaster and the Avestan people flourished in eastern Iran at a much earlier date (anywhere from 1500 to 900 B.C.)".
- ^ Skjaervø 2009, p. 43: "Young Avestan must have been quite close to Old Persian, which suggests it was spoken in the first half of the first millennium BC".
- ^ Hoffmann & Forssman 1996, pp. 31-32.
- ^ Skjaervø 2009, p. 43: "Old Avestan [...] is closely similar in grammar and vocabulary to the oldest Indic language as seen in the oldest part of the Rgveda and should therefore probably be dated to about the same time.".
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