552 Some Bemarhs on the Origin of the AfgMn people. [No. 6. 



the sacred volume of the Parsis or Guebres, two English transla- 

 tions of which are about to be given to the world — one by a 

 European Orientalist, the other by an Asiatic, and a disciple of Sapet- 

 man Zoroaster. From these researches we find, that three different 

 languages were spoken in Iran* — the Zend, in which the sacred 

 books of their religion were written ; the Pehlavi ; and the ancient 

 Persian, or Parsi. The date from which the Zend ceased to be the 

 medium of conversation is unknown, but as early as the reign of 

 Bahman, the Pehlavi was considered rude, and on this account held 

 in distaste at the court of that ruler ;t and in the reign of Bahram 

 Gur,J in the 5th century of our era, was proscribed by edict, and 

 soon after fell into total disuse. After this event the Farsi became 

 the idiom of Persia. It was divided into two dialects — the Deri, or 

 court language, and the Pars!, which was spoken by the people at 

 large. The Shah Nameh of Ferdousi is almost entirely written in 

 the former tongue. 



If we compare these dialects with the modern Persian, divested 

 of the Arabic and Turkish, which, during a period of several centuries, 

 has crept into it, we shall find them differing essentially in several 

 respects ; but at the same time, in phraseology and construction, 

 bearing such a striking similarity, as to prove almost indubitably, 

 that the dialects themselves, as also the people who spoke them, 

 must have sprung from one and the same original stock. 



It is a striking fact that no convulsions of government, no efforts 

 of literature, can so alter a language as to destroy every atom of 

 similarity between the speech of the present day, and that of most 

 ancient and remote origin. Nothing but the total extirpation of 

 the aborigines of a country appears capable of accomplishing so 

 singular and wonderful a change. For a striking instance of this 



* The eastern name for Persia. 



f According to the Ferang Jehangiri, Bahman also called Ardishir, was son of 

 Isfandiar, son of Kashtasib, son of Lohrasib. Some say he was so called for his 

 uprightness and justice ; others, that it was from his precociousness as a child ; and 

 others, that it was on account of the length of his arms which were so long that his 

 hands reached his knees. There are no less than thirteen meanings given to this 

 word in the work I have quoted : he died A. D. 240. 



X He ascended the throne A. D. 420, and reigned twenty years. 



