The early Homo sapiens had already developed multiple primitive oral communication tools before migrating out of Africa. These oral tools evolved into consistent proto-languages for transfer of information within clans, then expanded for communication with members of other clans. Proto-languages advanced by acquiring words for common objects and routine actions (verbs). Many of these languages did not continue and were absorbed, or replaced with language from other tribes, or dominating communities.
The principle languages developed during the last 10,000 years in the North Africa, the Arabian Plateau, Iranian Plateau, and Eurasia are Proto-Afro-Asian and the Proto-Airya (Iranic) languages. Several other languages, including Sumerian and Elamite languages, had developed in the Southern Iran and Pakistan-India. The Dravidian family are spoken in India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, and Bangladesh. The Dravidian family are not related to either the Afro-Asian or the Airya languages.
Afro-Asiatic languages
The predominant members of this family of languages are: Chadic, Cushitic, Egyptian, Omotic and Semitic. The family also includes the following ancient languages: Ancient Egyptian, Akkadian, Biblical Hebrew, and Old Aramaic. The Hebrew language, Arabic language and Aramaic language had evolved from a common proto-Afro-Asian language.
The earliest written evidence of an Afro-Asiatic language is an Ancient Egyptian inscription dated to about 5,400 years ago. Afro-Asian language evolved approximately 9,500 years ago.
Airyan (Aryan) Language
The common ancestor of Iranic, European, and Indo-Aryan languages is the Proto-Airyan language. A consistent tool for oral communication emerged on the East-central region of Zagros Mountains by 8,000 BCE. About 4,700 BCE, the method for oral communication had developed into a coherent language with sufficient vocabulary among Airyan farmers and herders. The climatic adversely changed after 4,700 BCE; this change was responsible for forcing migration of the Airya tribes out of their core region into the northern and eastern regions of the Iranian Plateau.
The migrants language once separated from the core Airyan population, diverged into separate local dialects. It acquired special vocabulary to suite the new physical and social conditions. The Proto-Airyan is the ancestral language to the Celtic, Italic, Germanic, Baltic, Slavic, Iranic, Indo-Aryan, Albanian, Armenian, Greek, and Tocharian languages.
The oldest recorded documents for Airya languages are Vedic Sanskrit (ancient Indo-Airya), Older and Younger Avestan, and Old Parsi. Airya languages were spoken by Cimmerians, Scythians , Sarmatian and Alans. The speakers inhabited Eurasia, north of the Black Sea present-day Ukraine, Russia, Moldova and Romania. The Tocharians lived in the Tarim Basin and spoke an early Airya branch of the language. At the beginning of written history the entire steppe population west of Dzungaria spoke Airya (Iranian languages). The name of rivers Don, Dnieper, Danube originated from Airya (Iranian) language.
Ancient Documents of Aira Language
Avesta is the oldest preserved collections of Airyan sacred literature of the Zoroastrian religion from about 1250 - 1000 BCE period. The Airya language in Avesta is preserved in two dialects, it originated from different tribes inhabiting different regions of Airyana. The Old Avestan of the Gathas is similar to the Indian Vedas. The Young Avestan, from 10th to 6th centuries BCE, shows significant change from the older language. The Old Avestan language was no longer understood by about 6the century BCE.
The oldest Avestan and oldest Sanskrit are very similar. The text in one language can be translated into the other by applying few phonological changes. The Avestan alphabet was modelled on the Pahlavi script, which in turn was derived from Aramaic.
Old Parsi language is preserved by inscriptions of the Achaemenid kings at the ancient sites of Naqs-i-Rastam, Murghab, Susa, Hamadan, Behistan, and Elvend, and in Armenia and Western Egypt. The inscriptions are recorded usually in two scripts, cuneiform and Aramaic. Old Parsi did not evolve directly from the Avestan dialect.
Old Parsi had a long history of development. It evolved in the same region where Proto-Airya had emerged. Because of the proximity, it was affected by the Median dialect. It was influenced by Elamites and Aramaic languages. In addition, it had acquired additional vocabulary by interaction with both Assyrian and Babylonians.
Figure 1: A tablet inscribed in Old Parsi.
Image courtesy of University Of Chicago
The written Old Parsi language was used for practical recordings. The text in the Figure 1 was inscribed on a damaged clay tablet about 500 BCE. The tablet was recovered from archaeological excavations in the Persepolis. It is an administrative record of transaction at five villages near Persepolis.
The Modern Airyan languages
The three branches of modern Airyan languages are European, Indo-Airyan (indo-Aryan), Parsi, and Nuristani. The Airyan languages spoken in Airyana are classified into Western and Eastern groups:
· The Western family includes Parthian (Arsacid Pahlavi) and Middle Parsi.
· The Eastern family includes Bactrian, Sogdian, Khwarezmian, Saka (Scythain), and Old Ossetic (Scythe-Sarmatian).
Saka branch of Airya language originated from tribes who had migrated north-northeasterly toward the southern regions of Caspian Sea and Central Asia. The Scythian tribes dominated from the Central Asia, regions north of Caspian Sea, through Eastern regions of Germany. Figure 2 shows the extent of Scythian domain.
Figure 2: Airyan regions of Parthia and Scythia
Middle Parsi (Pahlavi) was the official language under the Sasanian dynasty in Iran (Fig. 3). The script used for Middle Parsi changed significantly during Sasanian period. Middle Parsi, Parthian and Sogdian were also used as literary languages by the Manichaeans, whose survived records are in written in Latin and Chinese. Manichaean texts were written in a script closely akin to the Syriac script.
Figure 3: Sasanian Empire
As of 2008, there were an estimated 150–200 million native speakers of Iranian languages. Ethnologue estimates there are 86 Iranian languages; the largest amongst them are Parsi, Pashto, Kurdish, and Balochi. The Airyana people at the present day includes: Azeris, Balochs, Kurds, Gilaks, Lurs, Mazanderanis, Ossetians, Pashtuns, Pamiris, Iranians, Tajiks, Talysh people, Wakhis and Yaghnobis.
The Median, Parthian and Kurdish belong to the Northwest Iranian branch of Airya language (Fig. 3). Median is classified as Northwestern Old Iranian branch. Parthian dialect was Northwestern branch from the Middle Iranian Period. Kurdish is a Neo-Iranian language from the Northwestern Branch.
The Balochi language belongs to Western Iranian languages. The original homeland of the Balochi tribes was southeast of the Caspian region. The tribes migrated over several centuries starting during the late Sasanian period.
Comparison of sentence structure, one phrase, between selected Airya languages:
English: My name is Darius.
German: Mein Name ist Darius.
Parsi: نام من داریوش است
نام : nam, من : man, داریوش : Darius, است : ast
Urdu: میرا نام دارا ہے.
میرا : miera , نام : nam, دارا : Dara, ہے : ye
Polish: Nazywam się Dariusz.
Spanish: Mi nombre es Darío.
French: Mon nom est Darius.
Irish : Is é mo ainm Darius.
Norwegian: Mitt navn er Darius.
Latin: Placuit Dario, et est nomen meum.
The following comparison shows similarity between major Airya languages:
English Latin Sanskrit Avestan Modern Parsi
mother māter mātár mātar madar
father pater pitár pitar pedar
daughter futír duhitár dugədar duxtar or Dokhtar
horse equus áśvaḥ aspa asb
Cow bōs gáuḥ gāuš gahv
Dog canis śvan spā sag