LANGUAGE. 
lf>5 
©pinion, that the Pahlavi, or ancient Perfian, was a cog¬ 
nate dialed of the Chaldean, Hebrew, Arabic, Phoenician, 
ice. M. Anquetil has annexed to his tranflation of the 
Zendavefta two vocabularies in Zend and Pahlavi, which 
he found in an improved collection of Rawayat , or Tra¬ 
ditional Pieces, in modern Perfian. His vocabulary of 
the Pahlavi ftrongly confirms this opinion concerning the 
Chaldaic origin of that language. But, with refpett to 
the Zend, it abounded with valt numbers of pure San¬ 
skrit words, to fuch a degree, that fix or feven words in 
ten belonged to that language. From this deduction it 
would appear, that the oldelt languages of Perfia were 
Chaldaic and Sanlkrit; and that, when they had ceafed to 
be vernacular, the Pahlavi and Zend were deduced from 
them refpectively, and the Parfi either from the Zend, or 
immediately from the dialed of the Brahmins. 
To corroborate the cognation between the Chaldean 
and Pahlavi languages, we (hall fubjoin a few arguments 
derived from the Molaic hiltory, and the other writings 
of the Old Teftament. Elam is always allowed to have 
been the progenitor of the Perfians. This patriarch was 
the elded ion of Shem, the fon of .Noah; and, according 
to the Mofaic account, his pofterity fettled in the neigh¬ 
bourhood of the defendants of Aflnir, Arphaxad, Lud, 
and Aram, the other fons of Shem. The country where 
they fettled was denominated Elymais as late as the be¬ 
ginning of the Chriftian era. This name was retained till 
the Saracens conquered and took pofteflion of that coun¬ 
try. If this was the cafe, as it certainly was, the Ela¬ 
mites, or Perfians, fpoke a dialed of the primary language, 
which*we have proved to have been the Hebrew. When 
-the four eaflern monarchs invaded the five cities of the 
plain in Canaan, Chedorlaomer king of Elam was at the 
bead of the confederacy. Atnraphel king of Shinar, that 
is, Babylon or Chaldea, was one of the allies ; Arioch 
king of Elafar was another; and Tidal, king of (fome 
fcattered) nations (in the fame neighbourhood), was the 
fourth. That Chedorlaomer was principal in this expe¬ 
dition, is obvious from the hifiorian’s detail of the fecond, 
where that prince is placed firft, and the relt are named 
the kings that were with him. Gen. xiv. This paftage likewife 
demonilrates, that Elam, Shinar, and Elafar,lay contiguous, 
and were engaged in the (ame caufe. Wherever the coun¬ 
try in queftion is mentioned in Scripture prior to the era 
of Daniel and Ezra, it is always under the name of Elam. 
It now appears, we hope, to the entire fatisfadion of 
our readers, that the Pahlavi is a remnant of the old Per¬ 
fian, and that the latter is a cognate branch of the Hebrew, 
Chaldaic, Syriac, &c. The empire of the Arfacidee or 
Parthians, we apprehend, produced a very important al¬ 
teration upon the ancient Perfian. They were a demi- 
Scythian tribe ; and, as they conquered the Perfians, re¬ 
tained the dominion of thofe parts for feveral centuries, 
and actually incorporated with the natives, their language 
mull neceffarily have given a deep tinifture to the original 
dialed! of the Perfians. The Perfians, it is true, did once 
more recover the empire ; but the invafion of the Sara¬ 
cens in 636 demolilhed every monument of antiquity, and 
introduced a language, though not entirely new, yet wide¬ 
ly differing from the old exemplar. 
From the feventh till the tenth century, the Perfian 
tongue, now impregnated with Arabic words, appears to 
bave laboured under much difeouragement and neglect. 
Bagdad, built by Almanfor, became foon after the year 
762, the chief refidence of the caliphs, and the general re¬ 
fort of the learned and the ambitious from every quarter 
of the empire. At length the acceflion of the Buy ah 
princes to the Perfian throne marked in the tenth century 
the great epoch of the revival of Perfian learning. About 
the year 977 the throne of Perfia was filled by the great 
Azaduddawla; who firft affumed the title of Sultan, af¬ 
terwards generally adopted by eaftern princes. He was 
born in Ifpahan, and had a ftrongattachment to his native 
kingdom. His court, whether at Bagdad or in the capi¬ 
tal of Perfia, was the ftandard of talte and the favourite 
Vox.. XII. No. S19. 
refidence of genius. The native dialett of the prince 
was particularly diftinguifhed, and became foon the gene¬ 
ral language of compofition in almoft every branch of po¬ 
lite learning. From the end of the tenth till the fifteenth, 
century may be confidered as the molt flourifhing period 
of Perfian literature. The epic poet Firdufi, in his ro¬ 
mantic hiftory of the Perfian kings and heroes, difplays 
an imagination and fmoothnefs of numbers hardly infe¬ 
rior to Homer. The whole fanciful range of Perfian en¬ 
chantment he has interwoven in his poems, which abound 
with the noblelt efforts of genius. This bard has (tamped 
a dignity on the monfters and fiftions of the eaft, equal 
to that which the prince of epic poetry has given to the 
mythology of ancient Greece. His language may at the 
fame time be confidered as the molt refined dialect of the 
ancient Perfian, the Arabic being introduced with a very 
(paring hand ; vvhiHt Sadi, Jami, Hafiz, and other fucceed- 
ing writers, in profe as well as verfe, have blended in 
their works the Arabic without referve 5 gaining perhaps 
in the nervous luxuriance of the one language what may 
feem to have been loll in the fofter delicacy of the other. 
Hence Ebn Fekreddin Anju, in the preface to the diffi- 
onary called Farfiang Jehanguiri, fays, that the Deri and 
the Arabic idioms were the languages of heaven; God 
communicating to the angels his milder mandates in the 
delicate accents of the firft, while his (tern commands 
were delivered in the rapid accents of the ft-tft. 
For near three hundred years the literary fire of the 
Perfians feems indeed to have been almoft extinguifhed ; 
fince, during that time, hardly any thing of that people 
which deferves attention has appeared in Europe; enough, 
however, has already been produced, to infpire us with a 
very high opinion of the genius of the eaft. In tafte, the 
orientals are undoubtedly inferior to the belt writers of mo¬ 
dern Europe ; but in invention and fublimity, they are ex- 
excelled, perhaps equalled, by none. The Perfians affeft a 
rhetorical luxuriance, which to a European wears the air of 
imneceffary redundance. If to thefe leading diftindtions we 
add a peculiar tone of imagery, of metaphor, of allufion, de¬ 
rived from the difference of government, of manners, of 
temperament, and of fuch natural objects as charafterifc 
Afia from Europe ; we dial 1 fee, at one view, the great 
points of variation between the writers of the eaft and 
weft. Amonglt the oriental hiftorians, philofophers, rhe¬ 
toricians, and poets, many would be found who would 
do honour to any age or people ; whilft their romances, 
their tales, and their fables, Hand upon a ground which 
Europeans have not yet found powers to reach. We might 
here quote the Arabian Nights Entertainments, Perliare 
Tales, Pilpay's Fables, See. 
We have already obferved, that the language under con- 
fideration is partly Arabic and partly Perfian, though the 
latter generally has the afeendant. The former is nervous, 
impetuous, and -mafculine ; the latter is flowing, foft, and 
luxuriant. Wherever the Arabic letters do not readily 
incorporate with the Perfian, they are either changed into 
others or thrown away. Their letters are the Arabic with 
little variation; thefe being found more commodious and 
expeditious than the other letters of the Deri and Parfi. 
Their alphabet confilts of thirty-two letters, which, like 
the Arabic, are read from right to left. 
We mult not here omit to put the reader in mind of the 
vaft utility of the Arabian and Perfian languages. Num- 
berlels events are preferved in the writings of the orien¬ 
tals which were never heard of in Europe, and muft have 
for ever lain concealed from the knowledge of its inha¬ 
bitants, had not thefe two tongues been ftudied and un- 
derltood by the natives of this quarterof the globe. The 
.knowledge of thefe two languages has laid open to Eu¬ 
rope all the treafures of oriental learning, and has en¬ 
riched the minds of Britons with Indian fcience as much 
as the produce of thofe regions has increafed their wealth 
and enervated their conilitutions. 
Armenian language. The Armenians, according to 
the account given of them by Moles Chorenenfis, were, 
U.u iu 
