Exploring Persian Writing Systems: A Comprehensive Guide

Persian boasts a rich literary heritage that spans 2,500 years. This language flourished during the Achaemenid and Sassanid Empires and was prominent in Central Asia, as well as in the courts of Mughal emperors and Ottoman sultans. Notably, Manichaean communities in Chinese Turkestan composed their sacred hymns in Middle Persian, while Jewish communities in Persian-speaking areas often wrote in Persian using Hebrew script.

In essence, Persian is a rich, multi-faceted language that reflects the diverse cultures and traditions of the many communities that have spoken and written it throughout history.

A fascinating aspect of Persian’s rich history and multicultural heritage is the diverse range of scripts employed throughout time to write the language.

In this article, we will briefly go over the various scripts that were historically employed when writing New Persian.

1. Persian written in the Hebrew Alphabet.

The history of the Jewish community of Iran stretches over several millennia.

When Cyrus the Great conquered Mesopotamia and united the Near East under Persian rule, it marked the beginning of significant interactions between the Jews and Persians. Evidence of this cultural exchange can be seen in the Persian loanwords that appear in later texts of the Old Testament, highlighting the influence of Persian language and culture on Jewish writings.

Throughout the Achaemenid era and into the Middle Ages, Jewish communities flourished across numerous cities within the Iranian empires, showcasing their resilience and cultural contributions in a diverse landscape.

The Jewish community significantly influenced the economy and military of the empire, notably exemplified by their military settlement in Elephantine, Upper Egypt, during Achaemenid times. Additionally, history reveals a Jewish queen at the Sassanian court who was the mother of Bahram Gur, one of Iran’s most renowned rulers, reigning from 420 to 438 AD.

In these new territories, Jewish communities embraced the local language and coexisted peacefully with their neighbors. While it’s unlikely that they used these Iranian languages for written communication in earlier times, they certainly spoke them fluently.

Since the mid-19th to early 20th centuries, a remarkable number of documents have been uncovered that are written in Persian but utilize the Hebrew script, known as Judaeo-Persian.

Interestingly, these ancient manuscripts were uncovered not in Iran or Israel, but rather in Cairo, Egypt. They were discovered stacked together in unique archives known as genizahs, located within synagogues.

To ensure that no writings containing the name of God were accidentally discarded, the priests (rabbis) took great care in their preservation efforts. They built designated chambers specifically for storing these discarded manuscripts, safeguarding them from being thrown away.

Subsequent discoveries of manuscripts and inscriptions in distant regions like Chinese Turkestan (specifically Dandān-Uiliq) revealed a fascinating history, with the earliest examples dating back to the mid-8th century AD.

These Judaeo-Persian texts contain various religious texts (mostly exegetic), private letters, legal documents, poetry, medical and grammatical treatises, etc.

The manuscripts are written in a unique language known as Judaeo-Persian. Scholars categorize this language into two distinct periods: Early Judaeo-Persian and Late Judaeo-Persian. The Late version closely resembles Standard New Persian, while the Early variant exhibits subtle grammatical differences from the Classical Persian of its time.

The EJP documents were composed from the 8th to the 13th centuries AD, whereas the LJP documents primarily date from after the 13th century.

Early Judaeo-Persian was the language spoken by Jewish communities across the Muslim world, including regions such as Jerusalem, Baghdad, Ahwaz, and Khorasan, extending all the way to the borders of China.

In addition to serving as a rich resource for understanding the economic and social conditions of the communities that created them, these documents are also invaluable for studying the Persian language of that era.

The primary value of these documents lies in their lack of manuscript transmission, which means they contain fewer scribal errors and alterations that often occur in texts copied repeatedly. These documents are crucial for shedding light on the obscure aspects of New Persian history, particularly its early development. Notably, the oldest known New Persian texts are letters discovered in Dandan Uiliq, which were written in Early Judaeo-Persian during the 8th century.

I strongly encourage you to explore “A Grammar of Early Judaeo-Persian” (2013) by Professor Ludwig Paul, with whom I had the privilege of studying EJP. This book stands out as the most thorough examination of Early Judaeo-Persian available, authored by one of the foremost experts in the field.

2. Persian written in the Armenian alphabet

What many people may not realize is that a significant collection of manuscripts written in Persian using the Armenian script exists. These valuable texts are currently housed at the Matenadaran, also known as the Mesrop Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts, located in Yerevan, Armenia, where they are diligently preserved for future generations.

These manuscripts primarily focus on religious themes, with most being translations of the New Testament crafted for the Christian Armenians who spoke Persian. In addition to these sacred texts, a notable collection of manuscripts featuring popular Persian poetry has also been discovered, reflecting the rich cultural tapestry of the time.

The language found in these manuscripts, some of which date back to the 15th century AD, closely resembles New Persian but features a unique transcription style influenced by Armenian.

The Armenian alphabet boasts a sophisticated writing system with 36 letters, surpassing that of Arabic. This extensive structure enables us to accurately explore the pronunciation of the language throughout different historical periods.

Overall, these manuscripts can be divided into several groups:

1) Religious texts,

2) Poetry fragments,

3) Bilingual dictionaries.

Dr. Hasmik Kirakosyan has delved into these manuscripts, and her article on the use of Persian in Armenian script provides an excellent gateway into this fascinating topic.

3. Persian written in the Arabic alphabet (Perso-Arabic).

Following the Arab conquest of Iran in the 7th and 8th centuries AD, the Arabic language and script began to flourish across the region. This period also saw the swift dissemination of Islam, which became the prevailing religion, profoundly influencing Iranian culture and society.

The Iranians, once proud rulers of a vast empire and followers of their ancient religion, Zoroastrianism, faced a challenging crossroads. With the rise of a new faith, the rich traditions and literature of Zoroastrianism were left behind. Meanwhile, Arabic emerged as the language of elite poets and scholars, yet it remained inaccessible to the majority of the population, leaving many feeling disconnected from both their cultural heritage and the new intellectual landscape.

The poets faced a challenging predicament as they composed beautiful poetry in Arabic, yet only a small audience could appreciate it. A breakthrough came when they decided to adapt the Arabic script for writing in Persian, a language understood by many. This innovation gave rise to New Persian literature, opening the doors for a wider readership and enriching the literary landscape.

The adaptation of the Arabic script was a necessary choice for a couple of reasons.

Historically, religion played a crucial role in determining the scripts used for writing various languages. For example, several centuries ago, Christian Armenians in Eastern Europe who spoke Kipchak, a Turkic language, chose to write in the Armenian alphabet. This choice reflected the association of the Armenian script with Christianity in their culture. Similarly, in the Near East, the Arabic script became closely linked to Islam, highlighting how faith influenced linguistic expression across different communities.

Secondly, the Arabic script proved to be significantly more user-friendly than the previous Pahlavi alphabet used for Persian. With its 28 characters, Arabic offered a richer and more versatile writing system compared to the limited 14-character Pahlavi alphabet, which was further complicated by an overload of ideograms. This increased character count made Arabic not only more practical but also more expressive for writers.

Arabic and Persian are distinct languages, leading to the gradual addition of several letters to the original 28-letter Arabic alphabet. Notably, this expansion included the letters p, č (ch), ž (zh), and g, allowing for more accurate representation of Persian sounds.

Another key factor was the cultural influence of Arabic, which served as the lingua franca of science and the arts across the Islamic world. Its profound study enriched various languages within Dar al-Islam, such as Swahili and Indonesian, with Arabic vocabulary and expressions. Persian, in particular, saw a significant influx of Arabic terms, bolstered by the adoption of the Arabic alphabet, which ensured accurate spelling and recognition of these borrowed words. Additionally, after the old script was phased out, Arabic emerged as a practical alternative. This mirrors today’s trend, where newly officialized languages often adopt the Latin alphabet to suit their requirements.

Throughout the 20th century, several minor changes were implemented in the Persian script. Despite calls from some intellectuals for a complete overhaul, the Persian or Perso-Arabic alphabet remains the official writing system for the Persian language in both Iran and Afghanistan.

4. Persian written in Cyrillic (Tajiki)

In contemporary Tajikistan, the Persian language is represented by Tajiki, which features subtle dialectical variations from the Persian spoken in Iran. Despite these differences, speakers of both Tajiki and Iranian Persian can easily understand each other.

In Tajikistan, speakers of this language utilize a unique alphabet that sets them apart from Persian speakers in Iran and Afghanistan. Instead of the Persian script, they employ a modified version of the Russian alphabet, specially tailored to meet the distinct requirements of the Tajiki language.

The evolution of the alphabet in the Tajik Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic traces back to the early 20th century. In 1927, Soviet officials introduced a Latin-based alphabet to replace the traditional Perso-Arabic script. However, by the late 1930s, this was replaced by a Cyrillic-based alphabet, which remains in use today.

The Tajiki alphabet consists of 35 letters and uniquely features separate characters for vowels, unlike the Perso-Arabic script. To accurately represent the distinct sounds of the Tajiki language, six additional letters were introduced: ғ (γ or gh), ӣ (ī), қ (q = ق), ӯ (ū), ҳ (h), and ҷ (j). These enhancements ensure that the alphabet captures the rich phonetic diversity of Tajiki.

The Tajiki alphabet features distinct compound letters borrowed from the Russian alphabet, which could have been substituted with other existing letters. These unique characters include ё (yo), ю (yu), and я (ya).

The letter has been embraced as a representation of the Arabic guttural stop (ع) ‘ayn, a sound that appears exclusively in Arabic loanwords.

Conclusion

The different alphabets used to write Persian showcase just a glimpse of the diverse cultures that have influenced Persian speakers throughout history.

Throughout its rich history, the Persian language has evolved significantly. It was initially inscribed in cuneiform script during the Old Persian period, later transitioning to the Aramaic and Manichaean alphabets in the Middle Persian era. Persian was once widely spoken by diverse communities across Eurasia, highlighting its cultural and linguistic importance.

Persian was a vibrant language echoing through the courts of Bukharan emirs, the offices of Ottoman scribes, the harems of Mughal emperors, and even among the colonial docks of British forces. This rich linguistic heritage fostered a flourishing tradition of poetry, cherished and celebrated by generations across various nations.

Exploring the history of the Persian language is akin to embarking on a fascinating journey through diverse lands and rich cultures that have shaped its evolution over time.

About the author:

Ruben Nikoghosyan is a distinguished graduate of the Department of Iranian Studies at Yerevan State University, where he focuses on Ancient Iranian and Zoroastrian studies. He has shared his expertise by teaching Armenian studies at the University of Isfahan and has enriched his knowledge through extensive travel across Iran. His research interests encompass a range of topics, including Ancient Iranian history, Zoroastrianism, and both Middle and New Persian literature.