Page Text
________________
xiv
PAHLAVI TEXTS.
portion of the Pahlavi writing was nearly pure Chaldee, and was confined (as already stated) to the graphic representation of most of the simplest and commonest words unconnected with religion ; but it seems to have formed no part of the spoken language, at all events in later times. Whereas the Semitic portion of modern Persian is borrowed from Arabic, and includes most words connected with religion, science, and literature; in fact, every class of words except that which was usually Semitic in Pahlavi writings; and these Arabic words form an essential part of the spoken language, being as indispensable to the modern Persian as words of Norman-French origin are to the English.
In Pahlavi writings, moreover, besides the four hundred Semitic logograms already mentioned, we also find about one hundred obsolete forms of Iranian words used as logograms; much in the same way as 'ye' may be used for 'the,' and 'Xmas' for Christmas' in English. The use of all these logograms was, however, quite optional, as their usual Persian equivalents might be substituted for any of them at any time, according to each particular writer's taste and discretion. But whenever they are employed they form what is called the Huzvâris portion of the Pahlavi ; while the other words, intended to be pronounced as they are spelt, form the Pâzand portion.
Many attempts have been made to explain the word Huzvāris, but it cannot be said that any satisfactory etymology has yet been proposed. Like the word Pahlavi it seems hardly to occur in any old Pahlavi text, but only in colophons, chapter-headings, and similar notes of modern writers; it seems, therefore, more reasonable to trace it to modern Persian than direct to any more ancient source. Its Pahlavi form, hazvâris or a û zvârisn, appears to represent the modern Persian uzvâris, which is rarely used; the usual Persian form of the word being zu vâris. Now zuvâris is precisely the form of an abstract noun derived from the crude form of a verb zuvârîdan, which has been admitted into some Persian dictionaries on the authority of Golius",
See Castelli Lexicon Heptaglotton, Pars altera, London, 1669.
Digitized by Google
Digitized by
| SR No. | 007671 |
| Book Title | Zend Avesta Part 01 |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | James Darmesteter |
| Publisher | Oxford |
| Publication Year | 1895 |
| Total Pages | 2695 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English |
| File Size | 49 MB |