Introduction

chapter 1 Introduction

Avestan is the language preserved in the sacred books of the Parsis,1 the ensem- ble of which is called the ‘Avesta’. Avestan is an Indo-European language and belongs to the Indo-Iranian branch of the family.In turn, Avestan (Av.),together with Old Persian (OP), is the oldest transmitted Iranian language. Precision is necessary with respect to the term ‘Iranian’ because of possible confusion beween the linguistic and the geographical use of the term. The Ira- nian languages are not geographically restricted to the borders of present-day Iran, but are also found scattered throughout the whole area of the Middle East: Turkey (Kurdish and Zaza [Zāzā]), Georgia and Russia (Ossetic), Azerbaijan (Tātī), Iraq (Kurdish), Iran (Persian, Kurdish, Balochi [Balōčī], Pashto [Paštō]), Afghanistan (Pashto, Ormurī, Parachi [Parāčī], Tajik [Taǰīkī], etc.), etc. As has already been noted, the oldest attested languages of the Iranian group are Old Persian and Avestan, of which two varieties are known: Old Avestan (OAv.), also called Gathic Avestan or Avestan of the Gathas [Gāθās], and Young Avestan (YAv.). The differences between both varieties are as much chronological (diachronic) as dialectal (geographic). There are other old Iranian languages of which we are aware, but unfor- tunately, nothing more than scarce and badly preserved remnants have been passed down. Such is the case for Scythian, of which we have information through Greek writers; for Median, of which direct testimony does not exist; etc. In Figure 1, one can get a general view of the family tree of the Iranian languages. Note that the diagram does not faithfully reflect the historical reality of the languages, and that there are still obscure points regarding the synchronic position of some languages. Neither where nor when Avestan was spoken is known with certainty, though it is possible to surmise that its area of origin was Eastern Iran, while it is thought that Zarathustra must have lived before the 10th c. bce.

1 Followers of the Mazdayasnian religion (Zoroastrianism).

figure 1 Iranian family tree (non-exhaustive listing of modern languages)

§2 The Avestan Texts

The Avestan language has been transmitted to the present day by means of manuscripts, the oldest of which dates from the 13th or 14th cs. ce (!).2 The monumental edition of Geldner is preceded by a series of Prolegomena, in which all of the manuscripts utilized for the edition are classified in a detailed fashion, according to the traditional method of Classical Philology.The Prolegomena furnish some valuable information, particularly due to the fact that some of the manuscripts seen by Geldner have since been irremediably lost, and the whereabouts of many others are unknown.3 The difficult work of reconstituting the Avestan texts rigorously combines philology and linguistics, as the results that follow from the exegesis of the

2 This is K7a.b., which Barr dates to the year 1288 or 1268; cf. Geldner Prol. VIIa.; Barr 1944: XIIIf.; and Hoffmann/Narten 16. This manuscript is accompanied by a Pahlavi translation, i.e., in Middle Persian. The manuscripts that contain only the text in Avestan are termed ‘pure’ (sāde), most of which are generally much younger than those called ‘impure’. 3 The Ms. Mf4 is an exceptional case, as it was not collated by Geldner. This important manuscript has been edited in 1976 by JamaspAsa. As it happens, some of the mss. have been rediscovered: cf., for example, F1.