which. M. Burnouf has succeeded in decyphering these
twenty lines, hut shall copy, in a note,- this first-discovered
continuous specimen of the language of Cyrus and Darius.*
Results obtained from the study of the ancient inscriptions
of Iran.
The following are the principal results drawn by M.
Burnouf from the elucidation of this and other Perse-
politan inscriptions, in regard to the literature and language
of ancient Iran.
I . The Persepolitan writing does not represent all the
elements of speech necessary for pronouncing, and evidently.
belonging to the words. This proves, -in-the- opinion
of Burnouf, the vowelsjbeing chiefly, deficient,% that >the
system of writing occupying the first rank on the monuments
of Persepolis, is of Semitic origin; the language,
however, plainly belongs to the—series of Indo-Persian
dialects, in which the complete and regular indication of all
the vowels is requisite, in order to.-display the, inflections,
and ascertain the sense and relation of words. The disagreement,
in M. Burnouf s opinionj is owing to a contest
* Inscription.
1. Bû izrk âurmzdâ
2. ah ômâm buîôm
3. âdâ ah âim âçmâmu
4. âdâ ah mrtôhm
5. âdâ ah chôhâtâm
6. âdâ mrtôhahâ
7. ah dâfhxum khchâhyôhm
8. aqûuucli âôim
9. dlunâm khchâhyôhm
10. âôim plâm
11. frmâtârm âôm
12. dâchiuch khchâhyôh
13. izrk khchâhyôh
14. khchâhhyôh ânâm
15. khchâhhyôh ôahunâm
16. pl ôzuâ nâm khchâhy
17. khchâhhyôh âahâhâ buîôhâ
18. izrkâhâ rurôh
19. âpôh gôchtâcpahâ
20. pap akhâmuôchôh
Inter al Interprétation.
L’être divin Ormuzd
il le Homa excellent
a donné ; il ce ciel \
a donné ; il l’homme
a donné j il la nourriture
a donné^àrl’homme j
il Darius Roi
a èngendré ce*1
des braves Roi,
ce des bravés—
Chef céci est
Darius Roi
divin, Roi
des Rois,
Rôi des provinces
qui produissènt les braves, Roi
du monde excellent,
divin ; redoutable
Protecteur de Gôchtâçpa
fils Achéménide.
between the Semitic and Japetic literature in Upper Asia.
He supposes that the Persians,;ibefore Cyrus, were ignorant
of the use of letters, and adopted them from the Assyrians.*
2. In regard to. the .language t.of, these inscriptions, it
has been shown, by MBurnouf, to |bear a very near
affinity to the Zend* and this extending,.even to the most
minute; features in the . structure, of swords. He adds,
ie,we can thus1 positively - affirm, that the language which
occupies the first rank in the Persepolitan inscriptions, is
not. thes idiom*,óf sacred books ofiZoroaster; but, at
the Same time,'.we may be sure, that it* has sprung from
thessame origin. It as a proximate dialect;.-’of .the Zend,
and more closely resembles that language than does the
Sanskrit or the idiom of thé Brahmans.f ^ It has a character
of its own,4Whicfe is- that ofi?a derived dialect, the
grammatical forms -of which havet/a .tendency,uto become
effaced, an^ to furnish a foundation - or 'Commencement
of the modern. Persian.'’ The,'Persepolitan dialect, har-
barous .a& it is, appears tonfie more interesting than would be
inseraptiofisithe exact dialeët^ofhthe Zendawesta. Buch
a discovery would give no information, as,lMï the language
s p o k e n p e o p l e s fivelëenturies’'bëföfe„iihe^Christian
era. But,these-inscriptions,enable us*to affix a date to
the ' Zend~r-langnage itself, and to , thé r« religious System
gf which it has preserved ’.the -remains. They indicate,
also, the wide extent of its influence.-in Eastern Asia,
by the,Surprising number of geographical and ethnographical
names, explicable* Uby means o f -thé5 Zend, and
testified by the evidence of ancient writers -to h^ye ‘belonged
to. various nations and provinces . between the
* This opinion is confirmed by^tba {testimony ,of «Rerodotusywho says that
Assyrian letters were used byytljs l^edo-Persian kings. We tare told .by that
writer, that Darius engraved pn a pillar,, s|tu a te j;p n te Thracian
Bosphorus, the names of all the tribek of which his army consisted, in Greek
letVers'otf-dtfe side, and Assyrian on%b'e othe?.*t ^Burnouf supposes thefie Assyrian
letters to have been the arrow-headed characters introduGedat that early
period into Persia,. .ithfough the medium Qf the Medes, from Nineveh and
Babylon.
t Burnouf, Mem. sur fieux Inscriptions, &c.—Résumé, p, 105.