Editing Middle Persian (section)

==Name==

"Middle Iranian" is the name given to the middle stage of development of the [[Iranian languages|numerous Iranian languages and dialects]].<ref>{{citation|last=Henning|first=Walter Bruno|year=1958|title=Mitteliranisch|series=Handbuch der Orientalistik I, IV, I|location=Leiden|publisher=Brill}}.</ref>{{rp|1}} The middle stage of the Iranian languages begins around 450 BCE and ends around 650 CE. One of those Middle Iranian languages is Middle Persian, i.e. the middle stage of the language of the Persians, an Iranian people of [[Persis|Persia proper]], which lies in the [[Zagros Mountains|south-western Iran highlands]] on the border with [[Babylonia]]. The Persians called their language ''Parsig'', meaning "Persian".

Another Middle Iranian language was [[Parthian language|Parthian]], i.e. the language of the [[Western Iranian languages|northwestern Iranian]] peoples of [[Parthia|Parthia proper]], which lies along the southern/south-eastern edge of the [[Caspian Sea|Caspian sea]] and is adjacent to the boundary between western and eastern Iranian languages. The Parthians called their language ''Parthawig'', meaning "Parthian". Via regular sound changes ''Parthawig'' became ''Pahlawig'', from which the word 'Pahlavi' eventually evolved.  The ''-ig'' in ''parsig'' and ''parthawig'' was a regular Middle Iranian [[wikt:appurtenance|appurtenant]] suffix for "pertaining to". The New Persian equivalent of ''-ig'' is ''-i''.<ref name=":0" />

When the [[Parthian Empire|Arsacids]] (who were Parthians) came to power in the 3rd-century BCE, they inherited the use of written Greek (from the successors of [[Alexander the Great]]) as the language of government. Under the cultural influence of the Greeks ([[Hellenization]]), some Middle Iranian languages, such as [[Bactrian language|Bactrian]], also had begun to be written in [[Greek alphabet|Greek script]]. But yet other Middle Iranian languages began to be written in a script derived from [[Aramaic script|Aramaic]]. This occurred primarily because ''written'' Aramaic had previously been the written language of government of the former [[Achaemenid Empire|Achaemenids]], and the government scribes had carried that practice all over the empire. This practice had led to others adopting [[Imperial Aramaic]] as the language of communications, both between Iranians and non-Iranians.<ref name="IGCHI">{{citation|last=Gershevitch|first=Ilya|chapter=Bactrian Literature|pages=1250–1260|title=The Seleucid, Parthian and Sassanian Periods|series=Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 3(2)|editor-last=Yarshatar|editor-first=Ehsan|year=1983|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=0-521-24693-8}}.</ref>{{rp|1251–1253}} The transition from Imperial Aramaic to Middle Iranian took place very slowly, with a slow increase of more and more Iranian words so that Aramaic with Iranian elements gradually changed into Iranian with Aramaic elements.<ref name="PWL">{{citation|last=Boyce|first=Mary|chapter=Parthian Writings and Literature|pages=1151–1165|title=The Seleucid, Parthian and Sassanian Periods|series=Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 3(2)|editor-last=Yarshatar|editor-first=Ehsan|year=1983|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=0-521-24693-8}}.</ref>{{rp|1151}} Under Arsacid [[hegemony]], this Aramaic-derived writing system for Iranian languages came to be associated with the Parthians in particular (it may have originated in the Parthian chancellories<ref name="PWL" />{{rp|1151}}), and thus the writing system came to be called ''pahlavi'' "Parthian" too.<ref name="Boyce_MPL" />{{rp|33}}

Aside from Parthian, Aramaic-derived writing was adopted for at least four other Middle Iranian languages, one of which was Middle Persian. In the 3rd-century CE, the Parthian Arsacids were overthrown by the [[Sasanian Empire|Sassanids]], who were natives of the south-west and thus spoke Middle Persian as their native language. Under Sassanid hegemony, the Middle Persian language became a [[prestige dialect]] and thus also came to be used by non-Persian Iranians. In the 7th-century, the Sassanids were overthrown by the Arabs. Under Arab influence, Iranian languages began to be written in [[Arabic script]] (adapted to Iranian [[phonology]]), while Middle Persian began to rapidly evolve into New Persian and the name ''parsik'' became Arabicized ''farsi''. Not all Iranians were comfortable with these Arabic-influenced developments, in particular, members of the literate elite, which in Sassanid times consisted primarily of Zoroastrian priests. Those former elites vigorously rejected what they perceived as '[[Aniran|Un-Iran]]ian', and continued to use the "old" language (i.e. Middle Persian) and Aramaic-derived writing system.<ref name="Boyce_MPL" />{{rp|33}} Numerous examples can be identified through the myriad of Middle Persian Zoroastrian scriptures, such as the Denkard, Shkand-gumãnig Vizār, and many more. In time, the name of the writing system, ''pahlavi'' "Parthian", began to be applied to the "old" Middle Persian language as well, thus distinguishing it from the "new" language, ''[[Persian language|farsi]]''.<ref name="Boyce_MPL">{{citation|last=Boyce|first=Mary|year=1968|title=Middle Persian Literature|series=Handbuch der Orientalistik 1, IV, 2|location=Leiden|publisher=Brill|pages=31–66}}.</ref>{{rp|32–33}} Consequently, 'pahlavi' came to denote the particularly Zoroastrian, exclusively written, late form of Middle Persian.<ref>{{citation|last=Cereti|first=Carlo|year=2009|chapter=Pahlavi Literature|title=Encyclopedia Iranica|publisher=(online edition)}}.</ref> Since almost all surviving [[Middle Persian literature]] is in this particular late form of exclusively written [[Zoroastrianism|Zoroastrian]] Middle Persian, the term 'Pahlavi' became synonymous with Middle Persian itself.

The [[ISO 639]] language code for Middle Persian is ''pal'', which reflects the post-Sasanian era use of the term Pahlavi to refer to the language and not only the script.