{"id":21,"date":"2008-06-24T11:24:39","date_gmt":"2008-06-24T16:24:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.la.utexas.edu\/persian_online_resources\/?page_id=21"},"modified":"2009-03-24T15:26:35","modified_gmt":"2009-03-24T21:26:35","slug":"avestan-script","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.la.utexas.edu\/persian_online_resources\/history-of-the-language\/avestan-script\/","title":{"rendered":"The Avestan Script"},"content":{"rendered":"

The other, more commonly known Old Iranian language is the Avestan<\/strong>, a north-eastern dialect. By north-eastern is meant the south-western portion of the Central Asia and today\u2019s Afghanistan, and also the northern Iranian province of Khorasan.<\/p>\n

Avestan is the language in which the Zoroastrian holy book, the Avesta<\/strong>, has been composed. For many centuries it was primarily transmitted orally. It was not until the Sassanian period (c. 230 – 650 A.D.) that a writing system, the Avestan script<\/strong>, was invented for it. It must be noted that during the Sassanian period the writing system used by the Iranians was designed after an original Aramaic script (see Middle Persian section). In turn, the Avestan script was designed after the Aramaic variation which was used by the Sassanians. It is also noteworthy that the Avestan language is divided into two distinct periods: the earlier phase, which is referred to as Old Avestan, and the later period, which is referred to as Young Avestan.<\/p>\n

The Avestan script (also known as din dabiri, d\u0113n dib\u012br\u012bh,<\/em> etc.) has 54 characters, of which three consonants have two variations for each; that is to say, c, \u03b4, r<\/strong> each have two forms, as we can see in the chart below. Therefore, when working with this language, we are dealing with at least 51 phonemes (short and long vowels and consonants).<\/p>\n

[img persian_online_e1]history_3_1.jpg[\/img]<\/p>\n

The actual number of characters may vary from source to source. For instance, some scholars include glyphs for ii and uu, etc., while ii = i + i and uu = u + u (see the signs above).<\/p>\n

The Avestan script<\/strong> is written from right to left, just like the original Aramaic and the Sassanian variation of it. It is probably the most comprehensive writing system ever invented; in that, it has signs for almost all the sounds that the speech apparatus can create\u2014at least as far as the Avestan language is concerned. There are two variations (periods) of Avestan used in the extant materials: the older Avestan, the language of Zoroaster, in which his Gathas (hymns) were composed, and a younger Avestan, which is the language used in writing the additional religious materials, including the respective chapters of the Avesta<\/strong>. The span between the so called Old Avestan and the Young Avestan\u2014sometimes referred to as the Younger Avestan\u2014is several centuries. It was after the invention of the Avestan script that almost all the Zoroastrian religious texts were finally written down in the Avestan language. Before the invention of this script these texts were written in Middle Persian and other Middle Iranian languages. This was very important for the survival of the Avestan tradition, primarily because by this time the Avestan as a spoken language was already extinct.<\/p>\n

Of the original Avesta<\/strong> of the Sassanian period only about a third has been left for us. Originally, under Khosrow I (Chosroes, 531-579 AD), the Sassanian king, the Avesta <\/strong>was divided into 21 books (called nasks), of which what is left for us is listed below:<\/p>\n