wards the decyphering, of the Persepólitah and other inscriptions
found in Persia. These inscriptions coiitain, apparently,
records of ancient historical events. Secondly,"
this discovery has served to illustrate the relations which the
old Persian or Arian race bore to other branches of the Indo-
European stem. It also throws some light on the obscure
subject of the old Magian doctrines, which are supposed to be
one of the most ancient forms of Pagan theology. On this
latter inquiry, I shall make some remarks^®, a future ,s|è^
tion. Ij shall the present, which is devoted: to
merely -the philological part of my subject, by bringing
together the most important particulars relative tp the Zend
language, and its relations, and by a "very “brief and;
nummary statement of the facts discovered in the examination
of cuneiform inscriptions.
Paragraph 4.—Relations of the ZendT¥tO the dialects of
Persia and to the" other Indo-European languages. '
It has been a matter of dispute when, or in what proyipce
of the Persian empire, the.dialect preserved in the Zend-
ish_compositions was a popular and hying,language. Mr.
Erskine, the principal opponent of the antiquity and genuineness
of the Zen da vesta, expressed an opinion that it
could only be a provincial idiom, spoken On the borders^Of
India, or a comparatively modern Indian dialect. He has laid
much stress on the circumstance, that the ZendT is entirely
omitted in the enumeration of Persian dialects, given, inj^jp
Farhang Jehângiri. But Professor Rask has well observed,
that no dialect is assigned in that work to the provinces of
Shirwan, Ghilan, Azerbaijan, in-short, to the whole- of ancient
Media. In Azerbâijan, a great country, where the soil
spontaneously emits the consecrated element, and in the
naine of which the old Zendish term for fire is preserved, it
is supposed by Rask, that Zoroaster flourished, and that the
Zendavesta was composed.* This was the Opinion of An-
quétil du Perron, and the ^impression derived from his
Pars! instructors, as it had been that of Hyde. It has
* R. Rask, das Alter und die Echtheit der Zendavesta, &c. Deutsch-uebersetzt.
been generally received, that the Magi had their original
seat in IV^dia and Persia, or in the western provinces of
the;great empire of Iran, where, from the earliest periods
known to us,; were the seats of power; and this opinion
seemed .t-o be supported by the relations of the Medes with
the Babylonians, from whom, the former are said to have
derived t’the art of writing, at least the use? of cuneiform
letters# and with whom they had many of their habits and
institutions in common. A different opinion was maintained
by Rhode, author of an ingenious and learned work, which
contains thAb^t analysis 6%*tjie doctrines and fables of the
ancient Magi.# Rhode deduced his conclusions, as he says,
fronn geographical notices, collected from the. Vendidad.
Perbapli h§*4 may have- been-, .unconsciously influenced by
impressions derived from the Shahnameh and the oriental
fahJesh It was his opinion, and it,appears to be that of M.
E. BnrnfHjf' that Zend was the language, not of Mediä, but
nf Balkh or. Baetria, and of Sogdiana.t,
I shall have occasion to’ revert-to this question in the
* Dies iHbiSger '-Sage und das- gesammte Religiobs-system der alten Baktrer,
Meder^und, Perser# o,dêr des.Zendvolka, Von J.|Q. Rhode.. Frankfurt,. 1820. |
|» T h p proofs of this ppimon^wbich Lassen pronounces to be no longer a sub-
H nS-hfch es ist .jetzt nach Burnouf’s schönen Untersuchungen nicht
îih^ÈV sfivlfelhart,'”—arè‘lfewed,l>y M. !Bufnodf, "from an analysis of the names
pfîjiffic’es’.^ve'n * in a chapter of the Tbuduikd,- "which- contains a collection of
llgggraphical notices.
' M. Burnouf says, “ Il est sans dbute difficile dans l’étât actuel de nos con-
’näissanbes, de fixer même apprôximatlv^inein.les limites géographiques de cet
idiome. Mais 6n f)ëuf déjà avancêr, qu’au nord lé nom dé laBogdiane (gughdha),
auVnord-ouest celui de THyrCanie (WbTkhâria), au midi.celui de lÂrachosie
(Haraqaite)- sont'- dos preuves aussi- dncouteBt^bles qiie nouvelles de la nationalité
du Zend dans çes provinces. Le triangle "que formerait une ligne passant
par ces - trois îfrfÆSts, laisserait'certainement au midi, à 1 ouest, et au
h&îd-est plusieurs pays où. cette*‘langue a dû fleurir. Mais il embrasserait
déjà la-plus grande partie des contrées, 6U- les renseignemens que nous a conservé'
l’antiquité' classique placent une nation puissante, celle des Ariens, nation
double nom se trouve en Zend connue en Sanscrit, et pour laquelle le Zend dût
é tr ê l’idiome national, somme it fut plus tard pour les Perses, proprement
difs,.TÏdiome de'la-leligïôn et des*'lois. Il comprendrait, en un mût, non
seulement ce que les anciens appelaient l’Ariàne dans son amplitude la plus éten