Volume 38, Number 3 & 4, Fall/Winter 2010 On the Derivational History of Iranian *mairya and *mariyaka Farrokh Hajiani, Seyyed Ayatollah Razmjoo and Jalal Rahimian Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran The present study aims at investigating the derivational history of old Iranian *mairya and *mariyaka in different Iranian languages through to Modern Persian as well as in Sanskrit. To fulfill the objectives, texts representative of the use of *mariyaka from five Iranian languages have been extracted and analyzed. 1. Introduction and Background of the Study The old Iranian words *mariyaka have exercised over a century of study. The most relevant ones are summarized chronologically as follows: a. Bartholome (1904) explored and discussed the term *mariyaka and its derivations. b. Herzfeld (1938) presented some points on the meaning of marí ka as it occurred in Old Persian. c. Wikander (1938) investigated the development and changes of meanings of the word *mariyaka from Vedic to Avestan. d. Dumézil (1952) presented some theories on márya and its relation to the Indo-Iranian gods. e. Kent (1953) dealt with the meaning of the term marí ka in Old Persian. f. Mayrhofer (1963) analyzed the etymology of the term ma'rya- while Nyberg (1964) discussed the word in Middle Persian regarding its etymology and meaning. g. Widengren (1969) investigated the term míre/a, and its relation with social institutions and organizations. h. Mackenzie (1971) investigated the term mérag in Middle Persian from a semantic point of view while Hinz (1972) discussed the term marí ka- in Old Persian. i. Mayrhofer (1986-2002) investigated the term márya- across the Indo-European languages. j. Schmitt (2000 & 2009) dealt with the term maríka- in Old Persian.