Misplaced Pages

#245754

50-535: The name of the deity is considered a reflex of Indo-Iranian Yama . The name Imro or Yum in Kamkata-vari is thought to derive from a borrowing of Sanskrit Yama-rāja "King Yama" via a Middle Indo-Aryan form *Yam(a)rāy(a) with the characteristic northwestern sound change of j to y . It is likely a cognate of the Bangani title Jim Raza 'god of the dead'. He is also known as Mara "Killer, Death",

100-528: A common origin), a deity of Proto-Indo-European origin named * h₂eryo-men may also be posited. Vedic Sanskrit speakers viewed the term ā́rya as a religious–linguistic category, referring to those who spoke the Sanskrit language and adhered to Vedic cultural norms, especially those who worshipped the Vedic gods ( Indra and Agni in particular), took part in the yajna and festivals, and practiced

150-695: A hostile connotation and became for the Aryas of India the term for an inferior and barbarous people." In ancient Sanskrit literature , the term Āryāvarta (आर्यावर्त, the 'abode of the Aryas') was the name given to the cradle of the Indo-Aryan culture in northern India. The Manusmṛiti locates Āryāvarta in "the tract between the Himalaya and the Vindhya ranges, from the Eastern ( Bay of Bengal ) to

200-542: A later split between Iranian and Indo-Aryan languages. However, according to Hiebert, an expansion of the Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex (BMAC) into Iran and the margin of the Indus Valley is "the best candidate for an archaeological correlate of the introduction of Indo-Iranian speakers to Iran and South Asia", despite the absence of the characteristic timber graves of the steppe in

250-534: A member of the " master race " of humanity. Conversely, non-Aryans were legally discriminated against , including Jews , Roma , and Slavs (mostly Slovaks , Czechs , Poles , and Russians ). Jews, who were seen as part of the hypothetical Semitic race , were especially targeted by the Nazi Party , culminating in the Holocaust . The Roma, who are of Indo-Aryan origin, were also targeted, culminating in

300-727: A modern European language in 1771 as Aryens by French Indologist Abraham-Hyacinthe Anquetil-Duperron , who rightly compared the Greek arioi with the Avestan airya and the country name Iran . A German translation of Anquetil-Duperron's work led to the introduction of the term Arier in 1776. The Sanskrit word ā́rya is rendered as 'noble' in William Jones ' 1794 translation of the Indian Laws of Manu , and

350-461: A more ethnic meaning among Indo-Iranians , presumably because most of the unfree ( * anarya ) who lived among them were captives from other ethnic groups. The term * arya was used by Proto-Indo-Iranian speakers to designate themselves as an ethnocultural group, encompassing those who spoke the language and followed the religion of the Aryas ( Indo-Iranians ) , as distinguished from

400-455: A term derived from the Prasun language. Cognates of Kamkata-vari imro are found in other neighboring languages: Waigali yamrai , Kalash (Urtsun) imbro , Ashkun imra and Prasun yumr'a - all referring to a "creator god". This deity also acts as the guardian to the gates of hell (located in a subterranean realm), preventing the return to the world of the living - a motif that echoes

450-555: Is a term originating from the ethno-cultural self-designation of the Indo-Iranians , and later Iranians and Indo-Aryans . It stood in contrast to nearby outsiders, whom they designated as non-Aryan ( * an-āryā ). In ancient India , the term was used by the Indo-Aryan peoples of the Vedic period , both as an endonym and in reference to a region called Aryavarta ( Sanskrit : आर्यावर्त , lit.   ' Land of

500-569: Is at the origin of the English country name Iran . Alania , the name of the medieval kingdom of the Alans , derives from a dialectal variant of the Old Iranian stem * Aryāna- , which is also linked to the mythical Airyanem Waēǰō . Besides the ala - development, * air-y - may have turned into the stem ir-y- via an i-mutation in modern Ossetian languages , as in

550-456: The Avesta , exclusively used the term airya ( Avestan : 𐬀𐬌𐬭𐬌𐬌𐬀 , airiia ) to refer to themselves. It can be found in a number geographical terms like the ' expanse of the airyas ' ( airiianəm vaēǰō ), the ' dwelling place of the airyas ' ( airiio.shaiianem ), or the 'white forest of the airyas' ( vīspe.aire.razuraya ). The term can also be found in poetic expressions such as

SECTION 10

#1732765666246

600-594: The Rigveda were of 'non-Aryan' origin, demonstrating that cultural assimilation to the ā́rya community was possible, and/or that some 'Aryan' families chose to give 'non-Aryan' names to their newborns. In the words of Indologist Michael Witzel , the term ārya "does not mean a particular people or even a particular 'racial' group but all those who had joined the tribes speaking Vedic Sanskrit and adhering to their cultural norms (such as ritual, poetry, etc.)". In later Indian texts and Buddhist sources, ā́rya took

650-494: The Buddha (5th–4th century BCE), it took the meaning of 'noble'. In Old Iranian languages , the Avestan term airya ( Old Persian ariya ) was likewise used as an ethnocultural self-designation by ancient Iranian peoples , in contrast to an an-airya ('non-Arya'). It designated those who belonged to the 'Aryan' (Iranian) ethnic stock, spoke the language and followed the religion of the 'Aryas'. These two terms derive from

700-676: The Digorian dialect . The Rabatak inscription , written in the Bactrian language in the 2nd century CE, likewise uses the term ariao for 'Iranian'. The name Arizantoi , listed by Greek historian Herodotus as one of the six tribes composing the Iranian Medes , is derived from the Old Iranian * arya-zantu - ('having Aryan lineage'). Herodotus also mentions that the Medes once called themselves Arioi , and Strabo locates

750-653: The Indian subcontinent (where the Indic branch is spoken, also called Indo-Aryan) up to the Iranian Plateau (where the Iranic branch is spoken). This branch is also known as Aryan languages , referring to the languages spoken by Aryan peoples, where the term Aryan is the ethnocultural self-designation of ancient Indo-Iranians . But in modern-day, Western scholars avoid the term Aryan since World War II , owing to

800-927: The Kulturkugel ( lit.   ' the culture bullet ' ) model that has the Indo-Iranians taking over cultural traits of BMAC, but preserving their language and religion while moving into Iran and India. Aryan Pontic Steppe Caucasus East Asia Eastern Europe Northern Europe Pontic Steppe Northern/Eastern Steppe Europe South Asia Steppe Europe Caucasus India Indo-Aryans Iranians East Asia Europe East Asia Europe Indo-Aryan Iranian Indo-Aryan Iranian Others European Traditional Aryan ( / ˈ ɛər i ə n / ), or Arya in Proto-Indo-Iranian ,

850-729: The Levant ( Domari ) and Iran ( Persian ), eastward to Xinjiang ( Sarikoli ) and Assam ( Assamese ), and south to Sri Lanka ( Sinhala ) and the Maldives ( Maldivian ), with branches stretching as far out as Oceania and the Caribbean for Fiji Hindi and Caribbean Hindustani respectively. Furthermore, there are large diaspora communities of Indo-Iranian speakers in northwestern Europe (the United Kingdom ), North America ( United States , Canada ), Australia , South Africa , and

900-687: The Middle Persian Ērān-wēž , said to be the region where the first cattle were created and where Zaraθuštra first revealed the Good Religion. The Sasanian Empire , officially named Ērān-šahr ('Kingdom of the Iranians'; from Old Persian * Aryānām Xšaθram ), could also be referred to by the abbreviated form Ērān , as distinguished from the Roman West known as Anērān. The western variant Īrān , abbreviated from Īrān-šahr ,

950-567: The Porajmos . The genocides and other large-scale atrocities that have been committed by Aryanists have led academic figures to generally avoid using "Aryan" as a stand-alone ethno-linguistic term, particularly in the Western world , where "Indo-Iranian" is the preferred alternative, although the term "Indo-Aryan" is still used to denote the Indic branch . The term Arya was first rendered into

1000-495: The Ugaritic ary ('kinsmen'), **** although J. P. Mallory and Douglas Q. Adams find this proposition "hardly compelling". According to them, the original PIE meaning had a clear emphasis on the in-group status of the "freemen" as distinguished from that of outsiders, particularly those captured and incorporated into the group as slaves. In Anatolia , the base word has come to emphasize personal relationship, whereas it took

1050-537: The ' glory of the airyas ' ( airiianąm xᵛarənō ), the ' most swift-arrowed of the airyas ' ( xšviwi išvatəmō airiianąm ), or the ' hero of the airyas ' ( arša airiianąm ). Although the Avesta does not contain any dateable events, modern scholarship assumes that the Avestan period mostly predates the Achaemenid period of Iranian history. By the late 6th–early 5th century BCE, the Achaemenid king Darius

SECTION 20

#1732765666246

1100-484: The 10th-century Dēnkard . The Indian opposition between ārya - ('noble') and dāsá - ('stranger, slave, enemy') is however absent from the Iranian tradition. According to linguist Émile Benveniste , the root * das- may have been used exclusively as a collective name by Iranian peoples: "If the word referred at first to Iranian society, the name by which this enemy people called themselves collectively took on

1150-526: The 3rd century CE, however, traditionalistic and nationalistic movements eventually took the upper hand during the Sasanian period , and the Iranian identity ( ērīh ) came to assume a definite political value. Among Iranians ( ērān ), one ethnic group in particular, the Persians , were placed at the centre of the Ērān-šahr ('Kingdom of the Iranians') ruled by the šāhān-šāh ērān ud anērān ('King of Kings of

1200-705: The Aryans ' ), where their culture emerged. Similarly, according to the Avesta , the Iranian peoples used the term to designate themselves as an ethnic group and to refer to a region called Airyanem Vaejah ( Avestan : 𐬀𐬫𐬭𐬌𐬌𐬀𐬥𐬆𐬨 𐬬𐬀𐬉𐬘𐬀𐬵 , lit.   ' Expanse of the Arya ' ), which was their mythical homeland. The word stem also forms the etymological source of place names like Alania ( * Aryāna- ) and Iran ( * Aryānām ). Although

1250-615: The British-German philosopher Houston Stewart Chamberlain , this specific theory by Gobineau proved to be particularly popular among the European far-right and ultimately laid the foundation for Nazi racial theories , which also co-opted the concept of scientific racism . In Nazi Germany , and also in German-occupied Europe during World War II , any citizen who was classified as an Aryan would be honoured as

1300-468: The English Aryan (originally spelt Arian ) appeared a few decades later, first as an adjective in 1839, then as a noun in 1851. The Sanskrit word ā́rya ( आर्य ) was originally an ethnocultural term designating those who spoke Vedic Sanskrit and adhered to Vedic cultural norms (including religious rituals and poetry), in contrast to an outsider, or an-ā́rya ('non-Arya'). By the time of

1350-696: The Great and his son Xerxes I described themselves as ariya ('Arya') and ariya čiça ('of Aryan origin'). In the Behistun inscription , authored by Darius during his reign (522 – 486 BCE), the Old Persian language is called ariya , and the Elamite version of the inscription portrays the Zoroastrian deity Ahura Mazdā as the "god of the Aryas" ( ura-masda naap harriia-naum ). The self-identifier

1400-502: The Iranians and non-Iranians'). Ethical and ethnic meanings may also intertwine, for instance in the use of anēr ('non-Iranian') as a synonymous of 'evil' in anērīh ī hrōmāyīkān ("the evil conduct of the Romans, i.e. Byzantines"), or in the association of ēr ('Iranian') with good birth ( hutōhmaktom ēr martōm , 'the best-born Arya man') and the use of ērīh ('Iranianness') to mean 'nobility' against "labor and burdens from poverty" in

1450-709: The Near East, or south of the region between Kopet Dag and Pamir - Karakorum . J. P. Mallory acknowledges the difficulties of making a case for expansions from Andronovo to northern India, and that attempts to link the Indo-Aryans to such sites as the Beshkent and Vakhsh cultures "only gets the Indo-Iranian to Central Asia, but not as far as the seats of the Medes , Persians or Indo-Aryans". He has developed

1500-756: The Persian Gulf Region ( United Arab Emirates , Saudi Arabia ). The number of distinct languages listed in Ethnologue are 312, while those recognised in Glottolog are 320. The Indo-Iranian language with the largest number of native speakers is the Hindustani language ( Hindi - Urdu ). The term Indo-Iranian languages refers to the spectrum of Indo-European languages spoken in the Southern Asian region of Eurasia , spanning from

1550-641: The Western Sea ( Arabian Sea )". The stem airya- also appears in Airyanəm Waēǰō (the 'stretch of the Aryas' or the 'Aryan plain'), which is described in the Avesta as the mythical homeland of the early Iranians, said to have been created as "the first and best of places and habitations" by the god Ahura Mazdā . It was referred to in Manichean Sogdian as ʾryʾn wyžn ( Aryān Wēžan ), and in Old Persian as * Aryānām Waiǰah , which gave

Imra - Misplaced Pages Continue

1600-575: The art of poetry. The 'non-Aryas' designated primarily those who were not able to speak the āryā language correctly, the Mleccha or Mṛdhravāc. However, āryā is used only once in the Vedas to designate the language of the texts, the Vedic area being defined in the Kauṣītaki Āraṇyaka as that where the āryā vāc ('Ārya speech') is spoken. Some 35 names of Vedic tribes, chiefs and poets mentioned in

1650-498: The essence of their shared parental Indo-Iranian identity was linguistic and ritual, not racial. If a person sacrificed to the right gods in the right way using the correct forms of the traditional hymns and poems, that person was an Aryan." The Proto-Indo-European (PIE) origin of the Indo-Iranian stem arya - remains debated. A number of scholars, starting with Adolphe Pictet (1799–1875), have proposed to derive arya - from

1700-614: The land of Arianē between Persia and India. Other occurrences include the Greek áreion ( Damascius ), Arianoi ( Diodorus Siculus ) and arian ( pl. arianōn ; Sasanian period ), as well as the Armenian expression ari ( Agathangelos ), meaning 'Iranian'. Until the demise of the Parthian Empire (247 BCE–224 CE), the Iranian identity was essentially defined as cultural and religious. Following conflicts between Manichean universalism and Zoroastrian nationalism during

1750-651: The largest and southeasternmost extant branch of the Indo-European language family. They include over 300 languages, spoken by around 1.5 billion speakers, predominantly in South Asia , West Asia and parts of Central Asia . The areas with Indo-Iranian languages stretch from Europe ( Romani ) and the Caucasus ( Ossetian , Tat and Talysh ), down to Mesopotamia and eastern Anatolia ( Kurdish languages , Gorani , Kurmanji Dialect continuum , Zaza ),

1800-675: The meaning of 'noble', such as in the terms Āryadésa - ('noble land') for India, Ārya-bhāṣā - ('noble language') for Sanskrit, or āryaka - ('honoured man'), which gave the Pali ayyaka - ('grandfather'). The term came to incorporate the idea of a high social status, but was also used as an honorific for the Brahmana or the Buddhist monks. Parallelly, the Mleccha acquired additional meanings that referred to people of lower castes or aliens. In

1850-589: The nearby outsiders known as the * Anarya ('non-Arya'). Indo-Iranians ( Aryas ) are generally associated with the Sintashta culture (2100–1800 BCE), named after the Sintashta archaeological site in Chelyabinsk Oblast , Russia. Linguistic evidence show that Proto-Indo-Iranian (Proto-Aryan) speakers dwelled in the Eurasian steppe , south of early Uralic tribes ; the stem * arya -

1900-589: The perceived negative connotation associated with Aryanism . Historically, the Indo-Iranian speakers, both Iranians and Indo-Aryans, originally referred to themselves as the Aryans . The Proto-Indo-Iranian -speakers are generally associated with the Sintashta culture, which is thought to represent an eastward migration of peoples from the Corded Ware culture , which, in turn, is believed to represent

1950-413: The possible cognates of * arya - as a social status (a freeman or noble), and there is no evidence that Proto-Indo-European speakers had a term to refer to themselves as ' Proto-Indo-Europeans '. The term * h₂er(y)ós may derive from the PIE verbal root * h₂er- , meaning 'to put together'. Oswald Szemerényi has also argued that the stem could be a Near-Eastern loanword from

2000-410: The reconstructed Proto-Indo-Iranian stem * arya - or * āryo -, which was probably the name used by the prehistoric Indo-Iranian peoples to designate themselves as an ethnocultural group. The term did not have any racial connotation, which only emerged later in the works of 19th-century Western writers. According to David W. Anthony , "the Rigveda and Avesta agreed that

2050-402: The reconstructed PIE term * h₂erós or * h₂eryós , variously translated as 'member of one's own group, peer, freeman'; as 'host, guest; kinsman'; or as 'lord, ruler'. However, the proposed Anatolian, Celtic and Germanic cognates are not universally accepted. In any case, the Indo-Iranian ethnic connotation is absent from the other Indo-European languages, which rather conceived

Imra - Misplaced Pages Continue

2100-422: The role of Yama as the king of the underworld. In John Updike 's 1965 short story "God Speaks" (collected in "Museums and Women") Gish Imra is the name of one of the protagonists, the son of the assassinated leader of a Central Asian state called Nuristan . Indo-Iranian language The Indo-Iranian languages (also known as Indo-Iranic languages or collectively the Aryan languages ) constitute

2150-424: The stem * arya may originate from the Proto-Indo-European language , it seems to have been used exclusively by the Indo-Iranian peoples, as there is no evidence of it having served as an ethnonym for the Proto-Indo-Europeans . In any case, many modern scholars believe that the ethos of the ancient Aryan identity, as it is described in the Avesta and the Rigveda , was religious, cultural, and linguistic, and

2200-446: The technology, which spread throughout the Old World and played an important role in ancient warfare . There is almost a general consensus among scholars that the Andronovo culture , the successor of Sintasha culture, was an Indo-Iranian culture. Currently, only two sub-cultures are considered as part of Andronovo culture: Alakul and Fëdorovo cultures. The Andronovo culture is considered as an "Indo-Iranic dialect continuum", with

2250-412: The westward migration of Yamnaya-related people from the Pontic–Caspian steppe zone into the territory of late Neolithic European cultures. However, the exact genetic relationship between the Yamnaya culture, Corded Ware culture and Sinthasta culture remains unclear. The earliest known chariots have been found in Sintashta burials, and the culture is considered a strong candidate for the origin of

2300-454: The words of scholar Gherardo Gnoli , the Old Iranian airya ( Avestan ) and ariya ( Old Persian ) were collective terms denoting the "peoples who were aware of belonging to the one ethnic stock, speaking a common language, and having a religious tradition that centred on the cult of Ahura Mazdā ", in contrast to the 'non-Aryas', who are called anairya in Avestan , anaryān in Parthian , and anērān in Middle Persian . The people of

2350-419: Was inherited in ethnic names such as the Parthian Ary ( pl. Aryān ), the Middle Persian Ēr ( pl. Ēran ), or the New Persian Irāni ( pl. Irāniyān ). The Scythian branch has Alān or * Allān (from * Aryāna ; modern Allon ), Rhoxolāni ('Bright Alans'), Alanorsoi ('White Alans'), and possibly the modern Ossetian Ir ( adj. Iron ), spelled Irä or Erä in

2400-450: Was known in Vedic Sanskrit as Aryaman and in Avestan as Airyaman . The deity was in charge of welfare and the community, and connected with the institution of marriage. Through marital ceremonies, one of the functions of Aryaman was to assimilate women from other tribes to the host community. If the Irish heroes Érimón and Airem and the Gaulish personal name Ariomanus are also cognates (i.e. linguistic siblings sharing

2450-417: Was not tied to the concept of race. In the 1850s, the French diplomat and writer Arthur de Gobineau brought forth the idea of the Aryan race , essentially claiming that the Proto-Indo-Europeans were superior specimens of humans and that their descendants comprised either a distinct racial group or a distinct sub-group of the hypothetical Caucasian race . Through the work of his later followers, such as

2500-432: Was notably borrowed into the Pre-Sámi language as * orja -, at the origin of oarji ('southwest') and årjel ('Southerner'). The loanword took the meaning 'slave' in other Finno-Permic languages , suggesting conflictual relations between Indo-Iranian and Uralic peoples in prehistoric times. The stem is also found in the Indo-Iranian god * Aryaman , translated as 'Arya-spirited,' 'Aryanness,' or 'Aryanhood;' he

#245754