1 December 15, 2018 LESSON 1 THE AVESTAN ALPHABET The Avestan alphabet was invented, probably in ab. 600 CE, as a phonetic alphabet, in which every sound was to be represented by one letter. Two things must be kept in mind: 1. The sounds this alphabet was intended to record were those of the oral recitation as performed at the time of the invention, not the original pronunciation of Old and Young Avestan, and we do not know to what extent the pronunciation had changed in the ritual recitation. 2. The Avestan and (Book) Pahlavi alphabets are known only from the 13th century onward, and we do not know what their exact forms were at the time of the invention of the Avestan alphabet. The Pahlavi script, for instance, may have been more differentiated than it is in the standard form of the manuscripts. The alphabet was based upon the Pahlavi (Middle Persian) alphabet in use at the time, which was descended from Aramaic. The Avestan script is therefore also read from right to left. a A i I u U e E o O a ā i ī u ū e ē o ō r R 1 2 Å å ə ə̄ ą ą̇ (*ə̨ ) a ̣ ̊ å p b B P m M p b β f m m ̨ t d D ∂ f F T & n N t d δ δ 2 θ t ̰ t ̰ 2 n ṇ k g © G K q k g ġ γ x ŋ c j 3 0 c j ń C Y y X Q y Y ii x ́ ŋ ́ V v x w v uu x v ŋ v L S 6 7 4 5 z Z J h r s š́ š ṣ̌ z ž h ṣ̌ The letter Å is found in one manuscript only. For ą̇ , δ 2 , ġ, and t ̰ 2 one usually writes ą, δ, g, and t ̰ . In the mss., å is sometimes dived between lines as r + A. Most scribes write the b in two parts, first the downstroke n = n, then the long-stroke. Sometimes, the long-stroke is forgotten, and only the downstroke written, cf. Y.2.3, where J2 first has acEanamsrlan narəsmanaēca for acEanamsrlab barəsmanaēca, then acEabamsrlab barəsmabaēca with an extra long-stroke. Note that y Y v are only written in initial position, while <ii> and <uu> are used in non-initial position to express Eng. w and y. Before vowels, ii and uu = [ii ̯ , ii ̯ ] and [u ̯ , uu ̯ ], e.g.: yāna- “boon,” xšaiiat ̰ /xšai ̯ at ̰ / “he ruled,” maṣ̌ iiō /maṣ̌ ii ̯ ō/ “(mortal) man” (OInd. martiyo); vohu “good,” yauuat ̰ /i ̯ au ̯ at ̰ / “as long as” (OInd. yāvat), druuō /druu ̯ ō/ “sound, healthy” (OInd. dhruvo). Note that ii and uu are also found in inital position, although rarely: iieiiən, subjunctive of the perfect stem *iiāii- < √i (= OInd. iyāy-), uua [úu ̯ a] < *uβa “both.”