Edited by Joseph H. Peterson. Copyright 2002.

I have edited the text slightly in order to conform more closely with modern transcription conventions. I have also incorporated corrections from the printed errata.

NOTE: You will need Avestan fonts in order to read some of this text.

Office of the Trustees of the Parsee Panchayet Funds and Properties.

The University of Bombay having recently introduced the Avesta and Pahlavi languages jointly as one of the second languages for the Matriculation Examination, the attention of the Trustees of the Parsee Panchayet Funds and Properties was drawn by Mr. Kharshedji Rustamji Cama to the want of an appropriate series of textbooks for beginners in these languages. The work of supplying this desideratum was entrusted to Ervad Sheriarji Dadabhoy Bharucha. It could not have been placed in abler hands. The Trustees have got these books prepared and published at the expense of the Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy Translation Funds in their hands.

PREFACE.

These Lessons are intended for students who begin to learn the Avesta language. They comprise in a small compass much that is necessary for a beginner to learn. In the paradigms and exercises only such words and phrases are used which are met with in the extant Avesta. All rules of grammar are taught as much as possible in concise forms. Copious indexes, both Avesta-English and English-Avesta, will be separately given. Care has been taken to help the student to learn, at small expense of time and labour, as much of the language as would enable him to make his progress more intelligently and critically in the Avesta texts when he enters upon his college studies.

These Lessons are divided into three parts, intended to be learnt by the students of the fourth, fifth, and sixth standards respectively of our High Schools. In the Matriculation class all the three parts may be revised. This is the first part of these Lessons and will be followed by the second and the third parts in due time.

Bombay 21st February 1907.

SHERIARJI DADABHAI BHARUCHA.

Contents

• Preface
• Abbreviations
• Lesson I.
  • § 1. Alphabet
    • Original Vowels.
    • Substitute Vowels.
    • Epenthetic or Redundant Vowels.
    • Consonants: the first four
    • Nasals
    • Semivowels and Liquids
    • Sibilants
    • Aspirate
    • Ligatures or Compound Letters
• Lesson II.
  • § 2. Reading and Writing
  • § 3. Orthography
  • § 4. Hard or Surd and Soft or Sonant Letters
  • § 5. Syllables
  • § 6. A complete Avesta word
  • § 7. Final short vowels of Gathic words as well as all monosyllabic Avestan words (not used as enclitics)
  • § 8. Transliteration
  • § 9. Species of Writing
    • Iranian
    • Indian
  • Vocabulary 1.
  • Exercise 1.
• Lesson III.
  • § 10. Some Technical terms adopted from Sanskrit studies
    • (1) Guna
    • (2) VRddhi
    • (3) Samprasârana
    • (4) Sandhi
    • (5) PragRihya
  • Vocabulary 2.
  • Exercise 2.
• Lesson IV.
  • § 11. Vowel Sandhi
    • (1) Dîrgha Sandhi
    • (2) Antargata Sandhi
    • (3) Guna Sandhi
    • (4) VRddhi Sandhi
  • Vocabulary 3.
  • Exercise 3.
• Lesson V.
  • § 12. The Epenthetic or Redundant i, u, and v
    • I. i. Rule
      • Exception 1
      • Exception 2
      • Exception 3
      • Exception 4
    • II. u. Rule
      • Exception
      • Counter-exception
    • III. v. Rule
      • Note
  • Vocabulary 4.
  • Exercise 4.
• Lesson VI.
  • § 13. Substitution of Vowels.
    • Rule I.
    • Rule II.
    • Note
      • Exception 1.
      • Exception 2.
    • Rule III.
    • Rule IV.
    • Rule V.
    • Rule VI.
    • Rule VII.
  • Vocabulary 5.
  • Exercise 5.
• Lesson VII.
  • § 14. Aspiration of Consonants
    • General Rule
      • Exception
  • Vocabulary 6.
  • Exercise 6.
• Lesson VIII.
  • § 15. Consonantal Sandhi
    • General Rule
      • Special Rule for Assibilation
      • Exception 1
      • Revision of Consonantal Sandhi with or without a single or double aspiration
      • s s and z z changed to S S and Z Z
  • Vocabulary 7.
  • Exercise 7.
• Lesson IX.
  • § 16. Substitution of Consonants
    • I. Internal h h
    • II. Final h h
    • III. Initial or Internal r r or vrv vrv
  • Vocabulary 8.
  • Exercise 8.
• Lesson X.
  • § 17. Dropping of Vowels and Consonants
    • Rule I.
    • Rule II.
    • Rule III.
    • Contraction
  • § 18. Metathesis or Transposition of Vowels and Consonants
  • § 19. Addition and Insertion of Consonants
  • Vocabulary 9.
  • Exercise 9.
• Lesson XI.
  • § 20. Roots
  • § 21. Prefixes
  • § 22. Base, Theme, or Crude Form
  • § 23. Primary and Secondary Verbs
  • § 24. Parasmaipadî, Âtmanêpadî, and Ubhayapadî Verbal Forms
  • Vocabulary 10.
  • Exercise 10.
• Lesson XII.
  • § 25. Special and General Tenses
  • § 26. Present Indicative:
    • Terminations
    • Imperfect Indicative:
    • Terminations
    • Augment
    • Note
  • § 27. Subjunctive
  • Vocabulary 11.
  • Exercise 11.
• Lesson XIII.
  • § 28. Imperative:
    • Terminations
  • § 29. Potential:
    • Terminations
  • § 30. Strong and weak Verbal Terminations
  • Vocabulary 12.
  • Exercise 12.
• Lesson XIV.
  • § 31. Formation of Verbal Bases in the special tenses: The first, the fourth, the sixth, and the tenth classes.
  • Vocabulary 13.
  • Exercise 13.
  • Hints to Translation
  • Exercises

ABBREVIATIONS.

1. Alphabet.

Original Vowels:-

Substitute Vowels:

I.

For a a:- (1) v v (§ 13,i.); (2) e e internal (§ 13,iv); (3) o o and O O initial and internal (§ 13,vi); (4) Ma aM; ?a a? or ?ia ai?; ?e e?; vO Ov; O O (5) V V sometimes in the Gathic dialect (§§ 35,83,(12)) all the five never final (§ 13,ii).

II.

For A A:- (1) V V (§§ 35,83, (12)); (2) & & (§ 13,i); (3) Ml lM or ?l l? (§ 13,ii.); (4) internal l l before N N (") (§ 27 Exc.).

III.

For ea ae:- iO Oi (§ 13,v).

IV.

For oa ao:- uV Vu (§ 13,v).

V.

For final eaya ayae:- eV Ve (§ 13,vii).

VI.

For final hA Ah:- l l (§ 16,II. b)., and before the enclitics ac ca, Tic ciT, or TIc cIT, sl ls (§ 16,II. b).

VII.

For final & &:- (1) s& &s (§ 42); (2) gNV VNg in the Gathic dialect (§ 42).

VIII.

For final ay ya:- e e (§ 42, etc.).

IX.

For wu uw yu uy.

Epenthetic or Redundant Vowels.

I.

i i preceding certain consonants when they are followed by i i, I I, or y y (§ 12,I.).

II.

u u preceding r r when it is followed by u u, U U, or w w (§ 12,II.).

III.

v v (1) inserted between certain consonants (see § 12,III.); (2) attached to certain internal and final consonants as an anaptyctic vowel (see § 12,III.).

Consonants: The First Four:-

Nasals:-

Guttural, palatal, and dental n n, M M, or N N, the anusvâra (.); the last never initial nor final, nor between two vowels. Labial m m.

Semivowels and Liquids:-

(1) Palatal: % or Y Y initial; y y (sometimes, mostly in poetry, iy) internal; (2) lingual: r r; (3) labial: W W initial; w w (sometimes, mostly in poetry, uw) internal; B B never initial; mostly after q q and D D; and always (when not in the first syllable) before i i, and y y (rarely before final e e) and (sometimes in the first syllable) before Z Z.

Sibilants:-

(1) Palatal: hard s s (2) dental: hard s s soft z z; (3) lingual: hard C C initial and internal, S S final (or initial or internal before k k, c c, or t t), soft Z Z.

Aspirate:-

Guttural: soft h h.

Ligatures or Compound Letters:-

P P, F F never followed by a consonant, except y y; # #; iS Si; K K generally before y y; @ @; ! !; mh hm.

§ 2. Reading and Writing.

Read and write from right to left. Put a full stop or leave a little space at the end of each complete word. In the case of its being followed by certain enclitics, as ac ca, tic cit, anic cina etc., put the full stop after the enclitic; e.g. Opa apO (of water) acsapa apasca (and waters), ,mvt tvm (him), ,Ticmvt tvmciT (even him). In certain compound words as well as in words written conjointly a dot or hyphen is put between the components; in others they are dispensed with; e.g. argNaz-vraBqac caqBarv-zaNgra (four-footed, quadruped), argNazib bizaNgra (biped); ,iz,iDieY YeiDi-zi or ,iziDieY YeiDizi (for if).

§ 3. Orthography:-

(1) No vowel can be written after A A, except a a, i i, u u, or v v. (2) Initial D D, and internal * * following z z or Z Z, must be replaced by d d. (3) In the combination of the syllables yi iy or yi and vu vu or uv, one i i or u u is dropped. (4) No Avesta word begins with D D or B B.

The Iranian style of writing employs diagonal lines instead of horizontal ones in certain letters and a pointed head in S S, and not the rounded one used in Indian style. (see specimens below, § 9).

§ 4. Hard or Surd and Soft or Sonant Letters:-

k k, x x, c c, t t, q q, p p, f f, s s, and C C (or S S), these ten consonants are called hard or surd; all the rest, vowels or consonants, are called soft or sonant. The hard consonants have certain corresponding soft consonants; viz. k k, x x, and c c, have g g, G G, and j j; t t and q q have d d and D D; p p and f f have b b and B B; dental s ç has z z (sometimes also h h), and C C or S S has Z Z, respectively.

§ 5. Syllables:-

An Avestan syllable consists of either a single vowel or diphthong, or a vowel or diphthong with one or more consonants before, after, or on both sides. It may or may not have a redundant vowel; e.g. A A (at, to), iA Ai (O!), pa ap (water), Ad dA (to give), dNics sciNd (to cut, to break), atvrak karvta(knife, sword, scimitar, scissors), In the last word, v v is redundant. (See § 12, III.)

§ 6. A complete Avesta word can only end in one of the following letters:- ,a a, ,A A, ,i i, ,I I, ,u u, ,U U, ,v v, ,V V, ,e e, ,E E, ,O O, ,T T, ,s s, ,S S, ,n n, ,L L, ,m m, (sometimes in ,ts st and ,tS St).

§ 7. Final short vowels of Gathic words as well as all monosyllabic Avestan words (not used as enclitics) are always lengthened; e.g. Gathic ,Aruha ahurA (Lord!) and not ,aruha ahura; Avestic ,Arf frA (forth) and not ,arf fra; ,In nI (down) and not ,in ni; and so on.

§ 8. Transliteration:-

§ 9. Specimens of Writing:-

Iranian —

Indian —

Vocabulary 1.

,apsa aspa (m. horse) ,at ta (m. third pers. pron. he, she, it.) ,argNaz-vraBqac caqBarv-zaNgra (adj. four-footed, quaduped.) ,argNazib bizaNgra (adj. two-footed, biped.) A A (prep. at, to.) ,pa ap (f. water) *,Ad dA (cl. 2, 3, to give.)	,dNics sciNd (cl. 10, to cut, to break.) ,atvrak karvta (m. knife, sword, scimitar, scissors.) ,aruha ahura (m. Lord) ,arf fra (pref. forth) ,in ni (pref. down) ,TIc cIT (encl. even, any, certain, etc.)
* For the explanation of classes of roots see § 29. The student will do well to remember the class or classes of each root.

Exercise 1.

(1) Write the following in Avesta characters: —

aCvm WohU WahiStvm astI uStA astI uStA ahmAi hyaT aCAi WahiStAi aCvm.

(2) Point out the hard letters with their corresponding soft ones and vice versa in the above lines.

(3) Correct the following words, stating reasons:-
,taA, ,UhOB, ,vratAD, ,arqiOS, ,lIAd, ,OtF, ,ortCu, ,Cxurd.

(4) How many syllables are there in ,acSuAg, ,acsapsa, ,acsamoah?

(5) Name the only letters which can be at the end of a complete Avesta word.

(6) What would be the Gathic forms of the following Avesta words:-
,itsa, ,uhOW, ,ahMamvn?

(7) Transliterate into Roman characters:-

,ldad ,mUyAp ,Etiawam ,Adzam ,An-mVk ,EhManEa ,AtaCvradId ,lwgvrd ,Am ,Tayh ,AcsahManam ,AcsarqA ,TAmhaBq ,mVyna ,Aruha ,AtSoarq ,mvCa ,SiAnaqoayK ,lyaY . ,AcoawArf ,iAyanEad ,m&wts&d ,iOm ,m&t ,ItNvh ,iOY ,AhgNVs ,iOp ,ABq ,Aj-mvrqvrvW ,Vk ,IdZic ,mUtar ,SibmUha ,m&d ,iOm ,Arqic ,AhManam ,UtNaj ,OCoarvs ,UhoW ,iOh ,Ta . ,TIciAmhak ,ICaW ,iAmhaY ,iAmha ,Adzam ,acsatNvps ,acSitiamrA ,acsldzam ,iriap ,TatNayCibT ,On-atAp ,etSrakarf-OwEad ,esan ,erqic-OwEad ,esan ,Sxurd ,IwEad ,esan . ,itiAdarf-OwEad ,esan ,esanIW ,Sxurd ,apa ,arAwd ,Sxurd ,apa ,esan ,Sxurd ,apa ,ehaCa ,SItiawtsa ,lqEag ,SIniacNvrvm ,Am ,eheysan-apa ,erDvxApa . ,AcAZI ,SitiamrA ,AY ,Acsamvn ,EnArawarf ,SirtSuqaraz ,Onsayadzam ,Imha ,Onsayadzam ,Onam ,mvtamuh ,EyutsA . ,Acsatvrawarf ,AcsatUtsA . ,mvnaqoayK ,mvtSrawh ,EyutsA ,OcaW ,mvtxUh ,EyutsA ,m&rDvxoayApsarf ,mInsayadzAm ,mIhuMaW ,m&nEad ,EyutsA ,Acm&nitiAh ,AY ,mInoaCa ,m&qadawtEaX ,mvCiqiansADin ,AcAtSEars ,AcAtSihaW ,AcAtSizam ,Acm&nitNieyKUb ,SirtSuqaraz ,SiriUhA ,AY . ,Imhanic ,UhoW ,ApsIW ,iAdzam ,iAruha .. ,SitiUtsA ,SiOnsayadzAm ,lyanEad ,Itsa ,ACEa

(8) Write the following with Avesta characters:-

nvmO ahurAi mazdAi nvmO amvCaEibyO spvNtaEibyO.

LESSON III.

§ 10. Some Technicalities adopted from Sanskrit.-

(1) Guna is the change of i or I to ea or iO; of u or U to oa or uV; and of vrv to ra; e.g.:-

Vowel.	Guna	Vowel.	Guna.
diW (cl. 2. to know.)	deaW	Sud (to be depraved.)	SuVd
Id (cl. 3. to see.)	iOd	vrvk (cl. 5. to do.)	rak
sid (cl. 6, 10. to show.)	sead	vrvp (cl. 9. to fill.)	rap
Dub (cl. 4. to awaken.)	Doab	cur (cl. 10. to light.)	coar

(2) Vrddhi is the change of a or A to A; of i, I, ea or iO to iA; of u, U, oa, or uV to uA; and of vrv or ra to rA; e.g.:-

Glossary