What is Pārsīg and what do we want to do with it?
The term Pārsīg designates the Middle Persian language, which evolved from the tongue in which the royal Achaemenid cuneiform inscriptions were composed —a language called Ariya ("Aryan") by the king of kings Darius I (522–486 B.C.). For this reason, the term Pārsīg is preferred over Pahlavi, the latter being more precisely the name of the Parthian language and its literary tradition, not the Persian one.
What follows is a brief overview of our project.
A very brief presentation of Pārsīg and its unique significance for the Iranian Civilization
Pārsīg was spoken across a vast stretch of time —roughly from 300 B.C. to 800 A.D.— and within Ērānšahr, the realm of the Perso-Aryans, it held a position comparable to that of Latin in the medieval Western church. After the Arab conquest, it continued to live on in Iran and India as the sacred language of religious tradition, cultivated by those who remained faithful to the Good Religion (vehdēnān, i.e., the Zoroastrians), well into the thirteenth century. Original Pārsīg compositions were still being produced as late as the end of the tenth century. After that point, Pārsīg writers rarely attempted anything beyond invocational introductions and colophons to manuscripts they had copied. They also produced Pāzand —that is, Persian renderings of Pārsīg texts in which the original words were transcribed into Avestan or Persian script.
Of the imaginative and secular literature of Sasanian Persia (Ērānšahr), only a fragment has survived in Pārsīg directly, and this scarcity has long obscured the true breadth, variety, and richness of that tradition. Some works survive through Arabic and Persian translations, and a considerable portion through Persian recensions and adaptations. Much of the original corpus was destroyed: first during the Arab-Muslim conquest, then through subsequent invasions —most devastatingly the Mongol onslaught— and through sustained religious censorship within Iran itself, persisting down to modern times.
From the ruins of this older tradition, a new literature eventually emerged: that of New Persian (Darī). It absorbed and continued many of the norms and conventions of Sasanian literature, meeting the cultural needs of the population. It is through this literature, above all, that we can trace the outlines of Sasanian literary genres. The principal genres of secular Pārsīg literature included poetry, fiction, wisdom literature (handarz), history, and scientific writing. Much of this wealth was destroyed outright; much of the rest was absorbed —without attribution— into the Arabic and Persian literary canon. What survived in Pārsīg represents mainly those religious and scholastic texts that a steadily dwindling band of priestly copyists managed to preserve through centuries of poverty and persecution.
As priestly communities shrank in number, they found it increasingly impossible to maintain even their religious manuscripts, let alone texts on secular subjects. Under these conditions, much of the Pārsīg literary legacy was simply lost between the seventh and thirteenth centuries. Yet enough has come down to us —in Syriac and Arabic translations, in Persian adaptations, and in allusions scattered through later writings— to convey the impression of a rich Sasanian heritage that passed, partially, into the Persian tradition after the fall of the last Sasanian king, Yazdegird III.
amāh handāg | Our project
What is the ērmān ī uzvān ī pārsīg and what are its main tasks?
In recent years, the number of learners and active users of Pārsīg has been slowly growing. The revival of the language is a process that must begin from the point at which its vitality was interrupted. The broader goal is to make possible a daily use of Pārsīg —a goal that gains particular weight given the language's unique position among all Middle and Modern Iranian languages, and its surprisingly simple, almost modern grammatical structure. This project advances along two parallel lines: the revival of written and literary Pārsīg, and the revival of spoken Pārsīg.
This revival —more precisely, a rehabilitation project— began with the founding of ērmān ī uzvān ī pārsīg ("the Society of Friends of the Pārsīg language") in 2010 (1379 A.Y.). Its aim is not only to reintroduce Pārsīg as a literary language, but to enrich and standardise it across all walks of modern life.
Ērmān standardises the phonemic system of sixth-century A.D. Pārsīg, and expands its lexicon through the extension of existing words' meanings, and occasionally through calques from related languages.
The corpus of extant Pārsīg texts consists mainly of inscriptions, the bulk of the Aryan (Mazdayasnian) religious literature, a collection of non-Aryan (Manichaean and Christian) texts, and to a lesser extent official and administrative documents —papyri, parchments, ostraca, seals, and bullae. Part of our task is to make available to learners and researchers a standardised transcription of this entire corpus.
In terms of vocabulary, Ērmān gives priority to attested Pārsīg words drawn from primary texts, adapting them where necessary to modern usage. When no ancient Pārsīg word exists for a contemporary concept, we create one —following a principled hierarchy:
- First, Pārsīg roots are used wherever possible.
- Second, words from the Avesta may be considered if no Pārsīg equivalent is available —but must be properly Persicised in both pronunciation and spelling.
- Third, Pārsīg may draw on related Middle Iranian languages such as Parthian, Sogdian, Khvarazmian, Bactrian, and Khotanese.
- Fourth, living Iranian dialects and vernaculars —Persian, Kurdish, Luri, Baluchi, Pashto, Ossetic, Tati, Shughni, Wakhi, Gilaki, and others— may contribute.
- Finally, roots from other Aryan languages, especially Sanskrit, are considered.
Dictionary of Pārsīg : Currently comprising over 10,000 entries and updated regularly, The English=Pārsīg Learner´s Dictionary of Ērmān is an essential companion for learners at all levels. Thematic dictionaries covering specific fields of knowledge and art are planned for future publication.
The reintroduction & revival of Pārsīg as a spoken language
The project began in 2010 (1379 A.Y.) with a small group of friends of Iranian descent learning Pārsīg together through a direct, natural, inductive approach. From that beginning, a website was launched to make the programme accessible to a broader audience, laying the groundwork for a creative yet methodologically sound way of teaching the language. After several years of dormancy, the project has re-emerged —this time with new collaborators and a firmer commitment to continuity.
The central aim remains: to restore Pārsīg to active life, not as a museum piece, but as a language capable of carrying living thought. This means reviving it not only as a literary and intellectual language, but standardising and enriching it across all spheres of life —so that it might gradually reclaim its rightful position within the Iranian world, and also, among other major classical languages: that of the primary civic and conceptual language of Iranian spiritual heritage, uniquely equipped to help Iranians think and rethink their past, present, and future with clarity and depth.
The mission of ērmān ī uzvān ī pārsīg is threefold:
First — to rehabilitate Pārsīg as a spoken language in all spheres of life by carefully and consciously "defrosting" it from the weight of centuries. At home, in schools, in public life, in trade, the arts, philosophy, and science, Pārsīg should be potentially capable of expressing any idea and context. Ērmān therefore takes upon itself the task of equipping the language with the flexibility and instruments necessary for the full expression of human thought.
Second — to safeguard the classical qualities of the language by establishing a genuine standard orthography and determining the precise pronunciation of its letters and sounds.
Third — to expand the existing classical corpus of Pārsīg by retranslating (or retro-translating) the many surviving ancient translations and adaptations of Pārsīg texts still extant in Syriac and Arabic. In doing so, we apply the highest philological standards in order to produce the most faithful possible reconstruction of the original Pārsīg texts.
Some FAQs
The purpose of Ērmān is to teach and popularise Pārsīg (Middle Persian) as a living language; to provide public access to Pārsīg texts; to publish and expand the corpus of Pārsīg literature; and to conduct research on related Iranian literatures and traditions.
1- Why Pārsīg?
- Pārsīg stands in relation to Iranian civilisation much as Greek and Latin stand in relation to the West. Virtually everything that has been written about Iranian culture —whether in Arabic or Persian— ultimately traces back to the Pārsīg tradition. To understand the history, morals, ceremonies, customs, folklore, and intellectual inheritance of Iran, one must know Pārsīg. It is, in the truest sense, the key to the concept of Iran itself, to the idea the Iranians have called ērīh — "Iranianness." Without Pārsīg, our access to this tradition is always mediated, always at one remove. With it, the sources open directly.
2- Why "living" Pārsīg? Isn’t it a “dead language”?
- This question deserves a careful answer, because the premise is open to challenge. Pārsīg is not "dead" in the way Latin or Ancient Greek are generally considered to be. Its structural and lexical distance from Modern Persian is surprisingly small —small enough, in fact, that the two can reasonably be understood as the same language in two different historical circumstances, separated more by convention and script than by any radical linguistic rupture. There is no compelling reason, in principle, to treat Pārsīg as irrecoverably foreign.
- There is also a pedagogical point worth stressing: the so-called Grammar-Translation Method, designed in the nineteenth century for teaching Latin in European schools, is a poor tool for language acquisition. Research has consistently shown that genuine command of a language requires the ability to think in that language —something rote translation exercises cannot produce. This is why Ērmān teaches Pārsīg through immersion and natural use, not through paradigm drilling and word-for-word construing.
3- What do we aim to achieve by teaching Pārsīg?
The goals of our teaching work are several, and they are connected:
- Widening popular knowledge of Pārsīg and its literature means recovering access to the deepest roots of Iranian culture —a recovery comparable, in scope and significance, to the rediscovery of classical antiquity during the European Renaissance. Without that root, Iranian cultural identity risks becoming either superficial or purely reactive.
- Researching and popularising Pārsīg —the lingua franca of the historic Ērānšahr— also has a broader linguistic effect: it naturally raises awareness of the other Iranian languages spoken across the region, including smaller ones currently at risk of extinction. Pārsīg knowledge opens a window onto the whole family.
- Finally, and perhaps most importantly, a thorough command of Pārsīg reveals the evolutionary arc of Iranian values and thought with an intimacy no external account can match. It gives scholars the tools to trace two thousand years of continuity and change. It gives thinkers and philosophers the primary materials from which to rethink and, where necessary, rebuild the foundations of Iranian civility.
The website's main sections:
hamōzišn ī uzvān ī pārsīg | Learning Pārsīg Language
Here you will find information about our periodic online classes, the "Pārsīg in 30 Lessons" self-study course, a concise descriptive grammar, a dictionary, and exercises for learning the language.
mādayān | Texts
A selection of classical Pārsīg literature —including The Book of the Deeds of Ardašēr, The Memorial of Vazurgmihr, and The Jāmāspīg— alongside new works translated or retro-translated into Pārsīg, such as stories from Aesop and ʿAwfī's Collection of Stories.
māhrōz | History
Historical texts and research, including Pārsīg inscriptions and works relating to the traditional historiography of Iran, with particular attention to the Iranian bipartite ideology of religious and royal institutions.
dānišn | Sciences
Works on the sciences of Ērānšahr, ranging from encyclopaedia writing, logic, and philosophy to astronomy and medicine.
āfrīn ud jašn | Benedictions and Feasts
Texts and research on benedictory formulas, Iranian festivities, banquets, and related ritual materials.
A note on sustainability
Keeping this website freely accessible —and publishing an open-access self-study book alongside other reference materials— requires ongoing support. If you find value in what we do, you can contribute by enrolling in our courses or making a donation through the website. For any further information, write to us at parsig@protonmail.com.
kasān | People
Almost the entire original vision of this project, as well as the methodological approach underlying it, was inherited from Raham Asha, whose knowledge and generosity were foundational. Beyond him, a number of other people contribute to the project in various capacities — most of them young Iranian scholars, students, and artists. For reasons that will be apparent in due course, we are not yet able to publish the full names of all contributors. We hope this will change as the project continues to grow.
People associated with this project
Core Team
Ario Sedaghat
M. Reza Torabi
Ali Xomami Pamsari
Parsa R.
Director, Instructor
Instructor
Editor, Archivist, Digital Humanities
Social media content developer, Writer
Other collaborators
Shervin B.
Vahid A.
Mohammad G.
Mohammad Rasoulipour
Tanir-Vefa Avci
…
Raham Asha
Singer, Filmmaker (documentary)
Classicist
Software developer, Data scientist, AI expert
Visual artist
Expert in Central Asian material culture, visual artist, Turkologist
Perso-Aryan studies