Abstract
The Median tribes and the Media are mentioned in sources from the last third of the 9th century BC. At the end of 7th – the beginning of the 6th century BC a vast Median empire developed that promoted the spread of the Median language belonging to the northwestern group of Iranian languages. Finally, the Median language, apparently, formed in the Media-Atropatene. Written monuments in the Median language were not found. Separate Median words – mainly proper names, tribal names and toponyms have been preserved in Assyrian, Babylonian and Greek sources, as well as in Old Persian inscriptions. Middle Median (Atropatene) language did not disappear with the inclusion of Atropatene (Adurbadagan) in the Sassanian state, and then the Arab Caliphate. Arabic authors of 9th–12th centuries inform about the language Āδarī (Azeri) spread on the territory of Southern Azerbaijan. A lexical-etymological and grammatical analysis of the surviving Azeri material indicates that it belongs to the northwestern group of Iranian languages. The Azeri language has survived to the present day in the form of relict northwestern Iranian dialects – Harzani, Khalkhali, Karingani, etc. The article proposes a conditional periodization of the Median language 1. Old Median language epoch – from the last third of the 9th century BC to the 320s BC; 2. Middle Median (Atropatene) language epoch – from the 320s BC to the 12th century AD; 3. New Median language epoch – from the 12th century until nowadays. The following are some of the etymologies of the Old Median names that are clearly marked in the multilingual and multi-temporal sources as Medians.
Keywords
Media, Atropatene, Adurbadagan, Median language, Āδarī (Azeri) language, Old Median onomastic
Aliyev, I. 1989: Ocherk istorii Atropateny [Essay on the history of Atropatene]. Baku.
Aliyev, I.G. 2002: O nekotorykh voprosakh etnicheskoy istorii azerbaydzhanskogo naroda [On some issues of the ethnic history of the Azerbaijani people]. Baku.
Benveniste, E. 1958: Notes sur les tablettes elamites de Persepolis. Journal Asiatique 246, 49–65.
Benveniste, E. 1966: Titres et noms propres en Iranien ancien. Paris.
Brandenstein, W., Mayrhofer, M. 1964: Handbuch des Altpersischen. Wiesbaden.
Brinkman, J.A. 1970: The inscribed silver fragment from Nush-i Jān. Iran 9, 107.
Cameron, G. 1965: New Tablets from the Persepolis Treasury. Journal of Near East Studies XXIV, 167–192.
Cowley, A. 1923: Aramaic papyri of the fi fth century B.C. Oxford.
Dandamaev, M.A. 1963: Iran pri pervykh Akhemenidakh (VI v. do n.e.). [Iran with the fi rst Achaemenids (the 6th century BC)]. Moscow.
Dandamaev, M.A. 1985: Politicheskaya istoriya Akhemenidskoy derzhavy [Political history of the Achaemenid Empire]. Moscow.
Dandamaev, M.A., Lukonin, V.G. 1980: Kul’tura i ekonomika drevnego Irana [Culture and Economics of Ancient Iran]. Moscow.
Diakonov, I.M. 1956: Istoriya Midii: ot drevneyshikh vremen do kontsa IV v. do n.e. [History of the Media: from ancient times to the end of the 4th century BC]. Moscow–Leningrad.
Diakonov, I.M. 1970: The origin of the «Old Persian» writing system and the ancient Oriental epigraphic and annalistic traditions. In: M. Boyce, I. Gershevich (eds.), W.B. Henning memorial volume, London, 98–124.
Edelman, D.I. 1999: Midiyskiy yazyk. In: V.S. Rastorguyeva (ed.), Yazyki mira. Iranskiye yazyki. II. Severo-zapadnyye iranskiye yazyki [Languages of the World. Iranian languages. II. North-Western Iranian languages]. Moscow, 13–14.
Eilers, W. 1940: Iranische Beamtennamen in der keilschriftlichen Überlieferung. T. 1. Leipzig.
Fuchs, A., Schmitt, R. 1999: E-parna. In: K. Radner (ed.), The Prosopography of the Neo- Assyrian Empire. Vol. 1. Pt. II. Helsinki, 397.
Fuchs, A., Schmitt, R. 2002: Ramateia. In: H.D. Baker (ed.), The Prosopography of the Neo- Assyrian Empire. Vol. 3. Pt. I. Helsinki, 1031–1032.
Gerschevitch, I. 1969: Amber at Persepolis. Studia classica et orientalia Antonino Pagliaro 2, 167–251.
Grantovskiy, E.A. 1971: O rasprostranenii iranskikh plemyen na territorii Irana. In: B.G. Gafurov (ed.), Istoriya Iranskogo gosudarstva i kul’tury [History of the Iranian state and culture]. Moscow, 286–327.
Grantovskiy, E.A. 2007: Rannyaya istoriya iranskikh plemyen Peredney Azii [The Early History of the Iranian Tribes of Western Asia]. Moscow.
Grayson, A.K. 1975: Assyrian and Babylonian chronicles. Locust Valley–New York.
Grayson, A.K. 1996: Assyrian Rulers of the Early First Millennium B.C. II (858–754 BC). The Royal inscriptions of Mesopotamia. Assyrian Periods. Vol. 3. Toronto– Buffalo–London.
Henning, W.B. 1955: The Ancient Language of Azerbaijan. Transaction of the Philological Society, Hertford, 157–177.
Henning, W.B. 1958: Mitteliranisch. Handbuch der Orientalistik I/4, Iranistik, I Abschnitt: Linguistik. Leiden–Köln, 20–130.
Herzfeld, E. 1910: Das Alter der altpersischen Keilschrift. Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft 64, Leipzig–Wiesbaden, 63–64.
Herzfeld, E. 1934: Medisch und Parthisch. Archäologische Mitteilungen aus Iran VII, 9–64.
Hinz, W. 1973: Neue Wege im Altpersischen. Wiesbaden.
Hinz, W. 1975: Altiranisches Sprachgut der Nebenüberlieferungen. Wiesbaden.
Justi, F. 1963: Iranisches Namenbuch. Hildesheim.
Kasumova, S.Yu. 1983: Yuzhnyy Azerbaydzhan v III–VII vv. (problemy etno-kul‘turnoy i sotsial‘no-ekonomicheskoy istorii) [South Azerbaijan in the 3rd–7th centuries (problems of ethno-cultural and socio-economic history)]. Baku.
Kent, R.G. 1953: Old Persian. Grammar, Texts, Lexicon. New Haven.
Kraeling, E.G. 1953: The Brooklyn Museum Aramaic Papyri. New Documents of the Fifth Century B.C. from the Jewish Colony at Elephantine. New Haven.
Mayrhofer, M. 1968: Die Rekonstruktion des Medischen. Sonderabdruck aus dem Anzeiger der philosophisch-historische Klasse der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften 1, 1–22.
Mayrhofer, M. 1979: Zur Frage nicht medisch-persischer Personennamen in Persepolis. In: J. Harmatta (ed.), Prolegomena to the Sources on the History of Pre-Islamic Central Asia. Budapest, 111–118.
Mayrhofer, M. 1992: Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altindoarischen. I. Heidelberg.
Medvedskaya, I.N. 2010: Drevniy Iran nakanune imperiy (IX–VI vv. do n.e.). Istoriya Midiyskogo tsarstva [Ancient Iran on the Eve of Empires (9th–6th centuries BC). The history of the Median kingdom]. Saint-Petersburg.
Meillet, B. 1931: Grammaire du vieux-perse. Paris.
Miller, V.V. 1953: Talyshskiy yazyk [Talysh language]. Moscow.
Müller, C. 1848: Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum. Vol. II, Paris.
Perikhanyan, A.G. 1965: Arameyskaya nadpis’ iz Zangezura (nekotorye voprosy srednevekovoy dialektologii) [Aramaic inscription from Zangezur (some questions of medieval dialectology)]. Istoriko-fi lologicheskiy zhurnal [Historical and philological journal] 4, 107–127.
Rastorgueva, V.S. 1990: Sravnitel’no-istoricheskaya grammatika zapadnoiranskikh yazykov: Fonologiya [Comparative historical grammar of Western Iranian languages: Phonology]. Moscow.
Rossi A.V. 2010: Elusive Identities in Pre-Achaemenid Iran: the Medes and the Median Language. In: C.G.Cereti (ed.), Iranian identity in the course of history. Proceeding of the conference held in Rome, 21–24 September 2005. Roma, 289–330.
Sancisi-Veerdenburg, H. 1988: Was there ever a Median Empire? In: E. Kurth, H. Sancisi- Veerdenburg (eds.), Achaemenid History III: Method and Theory. Leiden, 197–212.
Schmitt, R. 1967: Medisches und persisches Sprachgut bei Herodot. Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft 117/1, 119–145.
Schmitt, R. 1989: Andere altiranische Dialekte. In: R. Schmitt (ed.), Compendium Linguarum Iranicarum, Wiesbaden, 86–94.
Schmitt, R. 2009: Iranische Personennamen in der neuassyrischen Nebenüberlieferung. In: R. Schmitt (ed.), Iranisches Personennamenbuch. Bd. VII, Fz. 1a. Wien.
Schmitt, R. 2011: Iranische Personennamen in der Griechischen Literatur vor Alexander d. Gr. In: R. Schmitt (ed.), Iranisches Personennamenbuch. Bd. V, Fz. 5.Wien.
Shmitt, R. 1973: Deiokes. Sonderabdruck aus dem Anzeiger der philosofi sch-historishen Klasse der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 137–147.
Shmitt, R. 2014: Wörterbuch der altpersischen Königsinschriften. Wiesbaden.
Starr, I. 1990: Queries to the Sungod. State Archives of Assyria. Helsinki.
Stolper, M.W. 1985: Entrepreneurs and Empire. The Murašû Archive, the Murašû Firm and Persian Rule in Babylonia. Leiden.
Strassmaier, J.N. 1897: Inschriften von Darius, König von Babylon. Leipzig.
Struve, V.V. 1968: Etyudy po istorii Severnogo Prichernomor’ya, Kavkaza i Sredney Azii [Studies on the history of the Northern Black Sea region, the Caucasus and Central Asia]. Leningrad.
Tallqvist, K. 1914: Assyrian Personal Names. Acta Societatis Scientiarum Fennicae XLVIII/1, Helsingfors.
Tsereteli, G.V. 1941: Armazskaya bilingva [Armazi bilingual]. Tbilisi.
Tsereteli, G.V. 1962: Armazskaya nadpis’ epokhi Mitridata Iveriyskogo [Armazi inscription of the era of Mithridates from Iveria]. In: Trudy XXV mezhdunarodnogo kongressa vostokovedov [Proceedings of the XXV International Congress of Orientalists] 1, 376–378.
Voigtlander, E.N. 1978: The Bisitun Inscription of Darius the Great: Babylonian Version. In: Corpus Inscriptionum Iranicarum. Part I. Inscriptions of ancient Iran. Vol. II. The Babylonian versions of the Achaemenian inscriptions. Texts I. London.
Waterman, L. 1930: Royal correspondence of the Assyrian Empire. Vol. I. Chicago.
Yarshater, E. 1987: Azerbaijan vii. The Iranian Language of Azerbaijan. In: Encyclopedia Iranica. Vol. III/2, http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/azerbaijan-vii
Zadok, R. 1977: Iranians and Individuals Bearing Iranian Names in Achaemenian Babylonia. Israel Oriental Studies 7, 89–138.
Zadok, R. 2002: The ethno-linguistic character of Northwestern Iran and Kurdistan in the Neo- Assyrian period. Iran XL, 89–151.