The Sound of the Old Persian language (Numbers, Words & Sample Text)

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Old Persian (𐎠𐎼𐎹 Ariya)
Region: Ancient Iran
Era: Evolved into Middle Persian by c. 300 BCE
Language family: Indo-European (Indo-Iranian)
Old Persian is one of the two directly attested Old Iranian languages (the other being Avestan) and is the ancestor of Middle Persian (the language of Sasanian Empire). Like other Old Iranian languages, it was known to its native speakers as ariya (Iranian).
Old Persian appears primarily in the inscriptions, clay tablets and seals of the Achaemenid era (c. 600 BCE to 300 BCE). Examples of Old Persian have been found in what is now Iran, Romania (Gherla), Armenia, Bahrain, Iraq, Turkey and Egypt, with the most important attestation by far being the contents of the Behistun Inscription (dated to 525 BCE).
Recent research (2007) into the vast Persepolis Fortification Archive at the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago unearthed Old Persian tablets, which suggest Old Persian was a written language in use for practical recording and not only for royal display.
en.wikipedia.o...
This video was made for educational purposes only. Non profit, educational, or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use. All credits belong to the rightful owners. Language Preservation & Documentation.
If you are interested to see your native language/dialect be featured here.
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Looking forward to hearing from you!

[@haniehnekooie724]

Old persian seems so much closer to its origin , Indo-European origin. I was shocked and surprised to see that we have had the sound "th" in old persian because we dint have such a letter in modern Persian. Lots of respect and love from Iran for your video❤🇮🇷

[@jame176]

As a Sanskrit speaker i could literally understand 70% of the words

[@alirhm2919]

As a native persian speeker, the sample text sounds really strange to my ears, however i can clearly recognize the origin of the words that we have in today's persian(farsi).it was fascinating to watch, thank you for your work, respect and love from Iran❤

[@benavraham4397]

You should look at Old English from 1000 years ago. You won't recognize anything!

[@imhummingbird8043]

درود بر شما هم میهن گرامی♥

[@nishkamrazdan]

As a Sanskrit speaker, it doesn't sound foreign at all.

[@retgaming7614]

Same

[@armannovin1819]

@پیاده نظام خان no that's because the difference between old persian and middle persian is very high middle persian has no arabic influence and we literally understand most of it

[@masikorski6411]

Persian is so far from Polish, yet I still can see how some words are related to ones we use/used. Really shows how it all evolved from PIE.

[@arshad1647]

bcz both languages belong to same indo-european language group

[@PHEROMONE-wz9bz]

Cuz aryans migrated from askimogi region near black sea in 🇷🇺

[@imhummingbird8043]

Thank you immensely, Andy! As a native Persian speaker, I can't appreciate this video enough. نام ایران تا ابد جاوید باد

[@hadisehlavasaniantiwahhabi1572]

ان شاءالله

[@nishkamrazdan]

As a Sanskrit speaker, this sounds closer to Vedic Sanskrit than modern Persian or even Urdu. Even the grammatical structure (including inflection) is similar. For instance look at kshatra kshatranaam. Virtually indistinguishable from Vedic Sanskrit if some transitions are implemented.

[@amortalbeing]

The level of shared heritage and history between Iran and Hindustan is just through the roof! both in the old times and contemporary era. the reason to me is pretty apparent! they were one!

[@drake5977]

@FichDich InDemArsch Cope

[@ryansmith8345]

Interesting !!!! As an Iranian I understood all the words but only about 30 to 40 percent of the sample text ! Are you saying you can understand almost of the sample text ?

[@promaja2]

Where did you learn Sanskrit?

[@ronlionheart1646]

This sounds exactly like Sanskrit, and words are so similar.

[@waliul280]

cousin languages

[@muslimproudtobe]

Weirdly does but this language has more x and h sounds while sanskrit is more rhythmic.

[@SinaArdestani]

Can you speak sanskrit?

[@ronlionheart1646]

@@SinaArdestani not really, but as an Indian I can understand it kinda.

[@mysteriumvitae5338]

Yes, except the religious terms are opposite. In Hinduism, thus in Sanskrit, "deva" means a God proper and "asura" means a demon or devil. In Zoroastrianism and in Avestan language, the Devas are precisely the devils and the Asuras the gods.

[@Yash-wm1nj]

Okay. Being related languages are one thing, but HOLY COW old persian and Sanskrit are related. There is literally no diffrence except some sound changes (ksh -> s, tri-> thy) and absence of Retroflex sounds. We are taught Sanskrit in our school in India and I could literally read like 75-80 % of this language. See this Old Persian -> Sanskrit -> English(Snskrt) Xsayathya -> Kshatriya -> king/warrior Puca -> Putra -> Son Pita -> pitru/pitaha -> Father Dahyunam -> Deshanaam -> of the Nation Vayam -> Vayam(exact match) -> We Adam -> Aham -> I Paruviyata -> Purviyatah -> from older times Amaxam -> Asmakam -> our Paruvam -> Purvam -> former (Not sure about the below one) Tauma -> Kutumba -> Family Most numbers are same, most pronouns are same Also grammatical structure is also same. Xsayathya xsayathya-an (Old Persian) Shah-en-Shah ( middle/modern persian) Kshatriya Kshtriya-an (Sanskrit) King of kings (English) Also The 'Achaemenid' Empire's name comes from Old persian 'Haxāmaniš' which meas : Having a friend's mind Break the words of Haxāmaniš Haxa + Manis (Old Persian) Sakha + Manish (Sanskrit) Friend + possession of mind Sakha becomes Haxa or Hacsa So persian turns S -> H and kh -> x/s This is how india got its exonym. The river Indus is called 'Sindhu' in Sanskrit Sindhu (Sanskritan native) Hindu ( Old persian S-> H) Indos (add greek like -os) Indus (add roman like -us) India (land after the river Indus)

[@IRANSHAHR_P]

Respect from Iran thanks❤

[@hadisehlavasaniantiwahhabi1572]

Hello

[@NoName-nz7jb]

Persian sounds the most poetic language to me as a Persian learner (but I am learning modern Persian).

[@soniahemmati2372]

It sounds very soft and calm and feminine as well I think.

[@NoName-nz7jb]

@@soniahemmati2372 Also melancholic and poetic.

[@NaderKhorasani]

The best poems are in Persian and there are really perfect musics in Persian

[@hareneishnadhar]

A beautiful crossover of Sanskrit and Avestan. For someone who knows little Sanskrti and learning Avestan now reading Avestan Manthras i couldt understand almost all without the Translation. Beautiful languages (Sanskrit, Avestan and Old Persian).

[@Տարոն-հ4ֆ]

As a native Armenian speaker I can understand 5% of this language, because of it's big influence on Armenian. That's because of Armenia being ruled by Persians several centuries in the early middle agеs

[@mithridatesi9981]

You would understand more the Parthian language. The Parthians controlled Armenia and not the Persians.

[@milotfokusi2124]

Also Armenian and Persian are both Indo-European languages. Greetings from Albanian.

[@faramarzkarimi9845]

@@mithridatesi9981 armenia was a satrap of achaemenid empire

[@ryansmith8345]

We're brothers & sisters :)) As an Iranian myself, I understood all the words but only 30 to 40 percent of the sample text !

[@jamjar1948]

Hello from Iran, It is because Iranians and Armenian are very close relatives.

[@advisor8387]

Numbers are not changed in persian languages in these 3000 years

[@formaxdng219]

Yeah expect number one (it's pronounce yek now )

[@aclpa2234]

@@formaxdng219 yek is in parthian tho

[@sivano4479]

@@aclpa2234 in parthian it was yew / ew not yek

[@Dwg256]

5346

[@sonofagun00]

As a Pashtoon speaker, this video was excellent. I can draw upon the origins of the Pashtoon language from ancient Persian as many of these words are still used and pronounced by us to this very day.

[@wanderingnomad1]

As an Indian I find ancient Persian is so similar to Sanskrit. Hearing it, I find that it it sounds a lot like Sanskrit hymns from Rigveda or Brahmin chants. Not surprised as they’re Indo European languages.

[@tarunhari1144]

Similar to Sanskrit, especially the numbers!

[@cyrusthegreat1893]

That’s correct and that’s because the Persian and Northern Indians share the same common Aryans ancestry.

[@ivanf.482]

Well that's why we say "indo-iranic" languages 👍

[@Idk-ks4ch]

Vocabulary too.

[@frenybahram4146]

@@cyrusthegreat1893 Correction, not just North Indians, both South and North (Hindus and converted Muslims/Christians) have a mixture of ANI & ASI. Aryan is not a race, it just means Noble.

[@AllanLimosin]

Numbers is a great index to link languages to a language family. Here, they also more or less look like numbers of the European languages, even more to their previous steps.

[@gurbanaarongulman2505]

As a Talysh speaker (often referred to as "A Dialect of Persian") I can actually recognize and understand certain words(many but not all of them of course) which is sooo weird

[@Lktravel1]

Wow I was just about to mention how many Sanskit words I saw and how sanskrit this sounded! More than modern Farsi, which now use a Tehrooni accent. Words like family, ninth, father and the numbers. Thousands of years of shared dynasties.

[@advisor8387]

Its hard to understand sentences for modern persian speakers but if we see separate words we can understand our old language

[@patriot5514]

Yes

[@user-ji3nm9vd1p]

Non difficile Molto facile

[@AllanLimosin]

Persian borrowed a lot from Arabic but if you can find some still-used archaic words in the Modern Persian language, Dari or Tajik, it would be maybe more understandable.

[@bal5930]

🇬🇷❤️🇮🇷

[@atomwaffen7943]

As someone who understands and learned Sanskrit I almost understand most part of it.

[@Farshad-Parvin]

This was very interesting and meant a lot yo Persian speakers. Thanks for this.

[@RealStalin]

Thank you for this video! Love from a Persian speaker ❤

[@DipanjanPaul]

Hakhamanash= Hakha(friend)+ manah (mind). Meaning friend of the mind. And Hakha is cognate to Sanskrit sakha (friend) and manah is same in Sanskrit for mind. There are so many similarities between old Persian and Sanskrit, Avestan is even more closer. But today it is hard to imagine Iranians languages have immediate common ancestors to North Indian languages.

[@ariamaher4353]

No a lot of Iranians know about their shared history with the Indian culture. We are descendants of the arya-language-group which was located in those areas U mentioned (Afghanistan, Pakistan, North India). Thank you a lot, today I finally learned where the root of the name hakhamanash comes from :) 🇮🇳🇮🇷❤️

[@sigmahacker1]

@@ariamaher4353 Maher is actually Meher which in turn is derived from Mihir which means Sun

[@smadrid]

as a persian i understood like 30%

[@aemiliadelroba4022]

This makes me and all Persians so proud of our heritage and language. before the Arab invasion.!

[@akashsharma-ip4on]

THIS IS ALMOST SANSKRIT

[@Vesper0xx]

thanks a lot for making this its very valuable for me to see someone intrested in my ancient language

[@tijojoseph3315]

It sounds like Sanskrit without the retroflex consonants. I wonder if that's got to do with Sanskrit being in contact with the Dravidian languages of India over the centuries/millenia?

[@nishkamrazdan]

Probably

[@fanzy1338]

Very interesting. First time hearing old Persian. Language of ancient Iranian kings.

[@myworld7562]

Old persian is so similar to sanskrit. In sanskrit Daiva can be translated to devine/Godly etc not devil. The concept of Devil is so modern. Old sanskrit/Aryan/Indian scriptures classify different species/ forms / realms, no concept of devils in ancient World, where they understood species/super beings. Who lacks knowledge and understanding calls those beings devils/ghosts etc. Greetings from the land of Sanatan.🚩🇮🇳

[@MahanUSW]

Today's Persian sounds much much better.

[@hadisehlavasaniantiwahhabi1572]

Right

[@GeoAlekos]

زنده باد نژاد آریایی درود بر شما از دوستان يونانی‌ 😍

[@nikhilalbert3084]

Good to see this back!

[@علیستوده-ل9ل]

Thanks from Iran💙🤩

[@aemiliadelroba4022]

Being Iranian helps me understand our old language. ❤❤❤

[@TheColombiano89]

As a Spanish and Italian speaker when I close my eyes I can understand them. Crazy how the PIE lineage holds strong to this day. Even though Spain and Iran fell to the Islamic Caliphate and had Semitic Arabic words intermixed.

[@Angelfeather100]

It seems to be a difficult language, especially the pronunciation. I enjoyed very much listening to this, thanks for sharing.

[@sudhirkhamari]

As an Indian I could link almost all words to its Sanskrit root-word. Small world.

[@panjava-austronesian7449]

land of aryan , salam from indonoesia.

[@japaneseapoist286]

Can we understand it by Avestan or Vedic sanskrit?

[@s30092]

I guess yeah, it sounds familiar

[@dariavushxerxes5309]

Yes. Because they are old indo-iranian(indo-ariya) languages

[@mett_2004]

as a native Persian speaker, at first i can't understand the text but if i pay more attention i can kind of recognise some words....

[@بپور-ك9ث]

من به عنوان یه ایرانی سیستانی ۶۰ درصد اینها را میتوانم بفهمم جالب این است که اعداد از دوهزار و پانصد سال پیش تا الان یکی است

[@orod595]

یکی از دلایل اصلیش اینه که سیستانی یکی از اصلی ترین اقوام ایرانی ایران هست

[@AliAseman]

Great video, thanks, numbers are almost exactly the same in modern Persian with a slight pronunciation difference.

[@prafful_sahu]

sounds like sanskrit. love from your future neighbour bharat.

[@Farshad-Parvin]

Future neighborhood?!

[@arditehrani1186]

Old Persian & Sanskrit were like brother & sister.

[@keatonsmith5669]

I love the long vowels and Shshs they make.

[@Settyy123]

The old Persian numbers are so familiar to modern persian

[@Passque666]

To my fellow Persian speakers, of course! There’s no way we can understand the language of Cyrus and Darius but if we look to Middle Persian, its almost mutually intelligible as we only have to do some basic grammar changes and use more Aryan words instead of Arabic.

[@ajmalsahak7784]

Thank you for the hard work I am from Afghanistan and these words are so close to my native language PASHTO language or Afghan. The numbers didn’t change since it’s incredible Yao,dwa,Penza and so on….

[@sigmahacker1]

Because of old Persian is closest to Dari. Their accent changed during Pahlavi rule. That's why modern Persian has the pahlavi accent

[@HM-jl8pr]

@@sigmahacker1 dari is the most conservative dialect of Persian.

[@Jonathunor]

The little persian guy looks exactly like Sid Meiers Civ 5's version of Darius I !

[@Jonathunor]

Except that guy spoke Aramaic! Yam Tavlach!

[@ryansmith8345]

As an Iranian, I understood all the words but only about 40-30 percent of the sample text !

[@kv1815]

What a beautiful language!

[@milotfokusi2124]

Land of Aryans Greetings from Albanian.

[@shortfilms4270]

Really beautiful language

[@pygtooiyre5553]

As an Iranian the dialect of his words was strange to me but I could almost understand them Modern Persian language is very similar to ancient Persian!

[@Azda_edits]

More please 🥺

[@LakshmiPraveenDiaries]

I love this Language!!!

[@1978hs]

Yes, finally, old Persian.

[@frenybahram4146]

Good job on pronounciation, as a student of both Sanskrit and Avestan, I understood almost all of it. I have also learnt a little modern Farsi, it sounds very different from Farsi, it would be cool to know how Farsi would sound like without the Arabic influence. Thanks for the video.

[@frenybahram4146]

@پیاده نظام خان I'm a Parsi, we don't speak Pahlavi. It was spoken initially, we learn only learn basic Avestan for prayers.

[@Hyperion-5744]

Old persian Proto iranian & Irish Army Spada CwáHdaH Scata mór Brother Brātar BráHtā Bráthair Man Martya Mártyah Fear Lie Druj Dráwgah Bréag Month Māha Mā́Hah Mí Horse Aspa Hácwah Capall Devil Daiva Daywáh Diabhal Sea Drayah Jráyah Farraige Hand Dasta Jástah Lámh

[@somerandomguy1621]

Thanks for bringing this back

[@void.defender]

Such a beautiful and eloquent sounding language, would be interesting to know how modern Persian would have sounded today without the massive influence of Arabic

[@parsamaleki1428]

massive influence of arabic?! modern persian its only 15 or 20 percent of arabic. and it made it really a poetic and beautiful language

[@armannovin1819]

middle persian/pahlavi is literally modern Persian without arabic loanwords and we can still understand most of it

[@hanifleylabi8628]

@@parsamaleki1428 About 40% of Persian words are Arabic in origin. It goes down to 20% for spoken and everyday language.

[@NJ-eo2oc]

@@armannovin1819 We really should stop using arabic loan words tbh. we have the equivelants of all those words in persian. the government should support this but of course we know the lslamic regime won't do it

[@hadisehlavasaniantiwahhabi1572]

@@NJ-eo2oc actually you can’t delete Language exchanges Among human civilizations.I love Language exchanges because all of the languages of the world are beautiful

[@44krishnan79]

This sounds like Sanskrit pitah means father right.....it feels like I can understand most of this language ....the word for king and many words seem similar.....,🙏🌼⚔️

[@bintangbenua]

Panca and nava are used in Indonesia, Pancasila and Nawacita.

[@hadisehlavasaniantiwahhabi1572]

Love from Iran to the world 💐

[@mishash7933]

However persian language has changed alot by the past of decades , but we are still using some words that are similar . There's only e few difference between pronunciations

[@zachsodinn8674]

@پیاده نظام خان چرت نگو

[@amirhesambeyhaghi]

Thank you, it was a very detailed and beautiful clip I was really happy and pleased that I understood how my Iranian and Persian ancestors spoke Today, Persian is spoken from the Pamirs to the Caucasus, from Indus to Khojand, from Bukhara and Dushanbe to Tehran and Shiraz, and from Mesopotamia to Kashgar. The beauty of Persian is in its music and calligraphy. پارسی 🇹🇯🇺🇿🇵🇰🇮🇷🇦🇲🇦🇫

[@SR-mv2mf]

I speak Telugu which has about 30% Sanskrit in it and this form of Old Persian sounds very familiar to me. Especially numbers and the grammar

[@ancientminds199]

It sounds like Sanskrit

[@yassinramazanamin9525]

great attend and beautiful video

[@jallouisbonapart5390]

Saka Language Please 💚

[@japaneseapoist286]

@@amirhoseinshams256 sogdian here

[@mahdimirzai5514]

@@amirhoseinshams256 گذاشته سغدی رو.

[@Batman-jq9jq]

@@amirhoseinshams256 they already did the sogdian language

[@agytjax]

OMG - Old Persian and Old Sanskrit sound so similar !🤨

[@marysh3840]

Amazing

[@gillkara]

Old Persian sounds more Sanskrit than New Persian

[@_Deepanshu-mn5pq]

Exactly seems like Sanskrit ❣️

[@frostflower5555]

Numbers=Ariya In Serbo-Croatian numbers is Broja (broya),Brojeve. Broj for singular and it is also used as a verb to count. I don't think other Slavs have this word. Not sure of its etymology though.

[@antidweller6373]

Ariya is the native name of the language. Persians called their language Ariya.

[@dariavushxerxes5309]

There many same words between Slavic and Iranic languages.

[@dariavushxerxes5309]

I can speak Russian and Tajiki

[@dariavushxerxes5309]

I can say that many same words we have. Like: Persian(tajiki) - Russian - English Mush - Mish - Mouse Gov - Govyadina - Cow Brat - Brat - Brother Shash - Shest - 6 Tu - Ti - You Harbuz - Arbuz - watermelon Divan - divan - sofa Naft - neft - oil Jamadon - Chemadan - suitcase And many other word

[@Dwg256]

3466

[@mpeshwar3187]

Same as Sanskrit

[@frostflower5555]

What's the difference between this video Old Persian langauge, and the video Proto Indo-Iranian language?

[@jonjakson888]

It’s very close to Sanskrit because they are in one family language including pashto also very similar

[@אדניה-ה1ת]

Im persian (Iran) love my race Aryan,

[@Nithincr1]

Sanskrit sound..!! Yes, Sanskrit is old Indo-Iranian language!

[@benavraham4397]

Not only are Old Persian and Sanskrit similar as languages, the gods are also the same.

[@ahura7307]

The vocabulary in this video is similar with modern Persian

[@NJ-eo2oc]

@پیاده نظام خان It still doesn't have. for those 20% arabic loan words there are its persian equivalents and we still use them all some times. i myself hate to say Salam. instead using Dorood

[@hadisehlavasaniantiwahhabi1572]

@@NJ-eo2oc well Salam is actually a religious Islamic word and that is why it is used in Iran. Salam

[@Meowie765]

Please make a comparison of Pali and Sanskrit.

[@jernivis8893]

thanks as a kurdish 🤗

[@सज्जनपुरुष]

as an indian i want to say it sounds a lot like Sanskrit, and yes in know both have same roots and are sister languages

[@I.Love.Slashers]

😍🇮🇷

[@KingOfAristonia]

Eyo civ 5 reference at 0:00 with king Darius!

[@moon-kp7qh]

Oh my God 🤩🤩🤩

[@zibaik4989]

it changed so much

[@ARIVSMAXIMVS]

My name is also Ariya

[@palecap]

Old Persian loved the vowel A.

[@陈天雄-i6w]

Why there are only a i u three vowels in the reconstructed old Persian language ?Is it because the cuneiform text wasn’t able to represent other vowels because the cuneiforms used to write Semitic languages that time didn’t have other vowels because the Semitic languages the cuneiforms represented didn’t have other vowels?

[@_Blue_Lightning]

Ahoora masda: god

[@n.sadequi4381]

Why Not go back to old persian ?

[@ectoplasm-369]

As a native Persian speaker, I can say our language is charged a lot, but it's still Parsi

[@aryanrana6096]

Fell said for Iranian because the can't understand old Persian text easily This is result of arabisation of Iran 🇮🇳 ❤ 🇮🇷

[@raindrop5025]

i know very very limited sanskrit and i could read(in latin) and understand 1/3 of the material in ancient persian

[@hanifnb8570]

ایران iran❤❤❤❤❤❤❤👍👍