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Persian (فارسی), also known as Farsi, Parsi, or Dari, is a language spoken
in Iran, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Georgia, part of India and part of
Pakistan.
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It has over 46 million native speakers.
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Persian is a member of the Indo-European family of languages, and within
that family, it belongs to the Indo-Iranian (Aryan) branch, within which,
the Iranian sub-branch consists of the following chronological linguistic
path: Old Persian (Avestan and Achaemenids Persian) ==> Middle Persian (Pahlavi
-- Parthian and Sassanids Persian) ==> Modern Persian (Modern Persian starts
approximately around 900 CE to present).
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In Iran the Academy of Persian Language and Literature is a center that
evaluates the new words in order to initiate and advise its Persian
equivalent. In Afghanistan, the Academy of Sciences of Afghanistan does the
same for Afghan Persian (among other languages).
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Persian, the more widely recognized name in
English, is the Hellenized form
of the native term Parsi. Farsi is the Arabicized form and its use in the
English
language is very
recent. Native Iranians and Afghans typically call it "Farsi" in modern
usage. ISO, the Academy of Persian Language and Literature, and many other
authentic sources call the language "Persian". The government of Afghanistan
uses both "Dari" and "Persian" in
English
communications.
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Communication is generally mutually intelligible between Iranians,
Tajiks, and Dari speaking Afghans, however by popular definition:
Dari is an eastern dialect of Persian, one of the two official
languages of Afghanistan; Tajik is also an
eastern dialect of Persian, but contrary to Iranian and Afghan
Persian, is written in the Cyrillic script.
- Judeo-Persian was a language spoken by Jews in Persia.
- Although it uses the same alphabet as
Arabic,
Persian adds four letters, and changes the shape of another two. The
Persian language is an entirely different language, with a different
phonology and grammar.
- It should also be noted that many Persian words with an
Arabic
root are spelled differently than the original
Arabic word. Alef with
Hamza Below (إ) always changes to Alef (ا), Teh Marbuta (ة) usually,
but not always, changes to Teh (ت) or Heh (ه), and words using various
Hamzas get spelled with yet another kind of Hamza (like مسؤول becoming
مسئول).
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