The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Avestan

one of the ancient languages of the Iranic group, in which the Persian religious monument, the Avesta, was written.

Two Avestan dialects are distinguished: a more archaic dialect, Gathic, in which the prayers (Gathas) of the Persian religious reformer Zarathustra (Zoroaster) are written, and the Young Avestan dialect. The oldest portion of the Avesta dates to the first half of the first millenium B.C. Even then Avestan had ceased to be a spoken language, and it reflected the traditional canons of the spoken liturgical literature in its vocabulary, syntax, and style. Later, a complete break occurred between the Avestan language and the living Iranian languages; the Zoroastrian priesthood was the only repository of this dead language, which it used for liturgical purposes, as the Catholic clergy uses Latin. The Parsi Zoroastrians in India use Avestan texts in their religious services to this day.

REFERENCES

Sokolov, S. N. Avestiiskii iazyk. Moscow, 1961.
Solokov, S. N. Iazyk Avesty (study guide). Leningrad, 1964
Bartholomae, C. Awestasprache und Altpersisch, vol. 1. Strasbourg, 1896.
Bartholomae, C. Altiranisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed. Berlin, 1961.
Hoffmann, K. “Altiranisch.” In Iranistik, vol. 1: Abschnitt Linguistik. In Handbuch der Orientalistik, vol. 4, sec. 1. LeydenCologne, 1958.
Humbach, H. Die Gathas des Zarathustra, vols. 1–2. Heidelberg, 1959.
Reichelt, H. Awestisches Elementarbuch. Heidelberg, 1909.

V. S. RASTORGUEVA

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References in periodicals archive

453) Srosart-yan: Pahlavi Sros ahlaw is a late substitution for Sros-ahliy (with the endings spelled unambiguously as -yd or, ambiguously, as -'y) from Avestan Sraosa- asiia- < *(a)rtiya-.The Manichean Middle Persian form Srosahray may have been influenced by (Inscriptional) Middle Persian arday, perhaps also ahlayih (attested only in Pahlavi).

Iranisches Personennamenbuch, vol. 2: Mitteliranische Namen, fasc. 1: Iranische Personennamen in manichaischer Uberlieferung

Avestan, Parthian, Scythian, Old Persian, and Median were all Indo-European languages and the mythologies linked to these languages are also Indo-European.

Borges, the Magi and Persian Histories

Avestan is committed to attaining measurable and sustainable results by providing full-service procurement solutions to SME at a fraction of the cost of large service providers.

Avestan Maps Out Savings for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises in Ontario

In the conclusion of his analysis of the original Avestan texts, shaul shaked is rather dubious about any attempt to find a coherent account of human nature.

Palaeo-philosophy: complex and concept in archaic patterns of thought

"The problem of interpreting the Gathas," says Mary Boyce, "lies at the heart of the theological difficulties which confront modern Zoroastrians."(20) She then goes on to say that "The doctrines of the faith, adumbrated only in the Gathas, are made clear in the tradition, preserved in the surviving Avestan and Pahlavi books."(21) This latest critical estimate of the Zoroastrian scriptures by an expert in the field is a reversal of earlier scholarly assumptions that has not been realized yet by the Zoroastrian community at large.

Tradition and modernity in contemporary Zoroastrian communities

This habitation pattern can be seen even among the proto-Iranians, whose Avestan scriptures refer to vis- 'village', vrzana- 'community, settled people', in addition to zantu- 'tribe' in social arrangements that linked nomadic and pastoral occupations with more favorable settled ones.

Nomadism in Iran: From Antiquity to the Modern Era

The recitals of penance (</patits/>) are a good first step towards an intended edition of the </Xorde Avesta/>, says Buyaner, because of their unique character as Zoroastrian prayers that, despite their great importance for everyday religious life, have no Avestan prototype.

Penitential Sections of the Xorde Avesta (patits): Critical Edition with Commentary and Glossary

Deity Mithra (Avestan: Mi[theta]ra, Pahlavi: Mihr, Latin: Mitras, Sanskrit: Mitra) is one of deities that not just for having his own specific religion in ancient Iran, but because of his influence and position that is the higher place in Zartoshti religious system after Ahoura Mazda, the most veneration is dedicated to him in Avestan texts [19].

Sport and physical education in mithra (mitra) religion and their relations with roman-persian wars

The dictionary maintains that if tiine developed from earlier *teine-, it may a loan from Indo-European *dheinyah2- (> Lithuanian dieni'pregnant (of animals)') or *[d.sup.h]einus (> Sanskrit dhenu-'milking cow', Avestan daenu-'female animal').

Studies in Uralic etymology III: Mari etymologies

The Avestan word for the sacred thread is aiwyaonghana, meaning "to gird", and it originates from the ritual in the Yasna ceremony where a strip of the date palm is used to tie the twigs for the sacred fire or barsam, in a ritual of uniting creation (Mueller 1977, Vol.

Sacred armour: ritual garments of the pars1 zoroastrians

He spoke fluent Persian, Russian, German, Arabic, Pashto, French, Uzbek and Turkish, and had extensive knowledge of Avestan, Pahlavi, Sogdian, and other Iranian languages and dialects, both extinct and current.

Richard Frye dies at age of 94