Language Research

Abstract “Zaristūn” the princess whose name is mentioned beside the name of her sister “Bēstūn” in the Pahlavi book of Ayādgār ī Zarērān is a daughter of Arjāsp, King of Hyons and of Iranian lineage. The choice of this name for a lady of the royal family calls for an understanding of its signification and position among Iranians and Iranian ancestries. A probe into the meaning of “Zaristūn”, “the (upholding) place of gold/golden (light) (one who shines with golden rays)” suggests a deity whose specifications accord well with the Indo-European Goddess of Dawn: a symbol of prehistoric radiance, heat and fire, pleasantness and sweetness and also the historic supervisor on marriage, fertility, birth and matrimonial and motherhood duties. In Iran she continued to survive as the Avestan Ušah. Similar to many other ancient concepts and later personifications, “Zaristūn” with its multiple manifestations can be expected to survive in different aspects of Iranian culture and this is what this article seeks to recognize.
 

Abstract “Bēstūn” other than a place name is the name of a noble lady mentioned in the Pahlavi book of Ayādgār ī Zarērān. This article presents the author’s revised method of reading the Middle Persian version of the ancient *baga-stāna- in the Sassanian Book Pahlavi sources and tries to give a clear view on the signification and cultural background of this name as well as tracing it down to the culture of the present day Iran. Though it has not yet been determined to which God *baga-stāna- had been devoted, based on the Avestan and Middle Iranian words derived from the root bag-, one may suggest that “Bēstūn” continued to be used as a proper name meaning “possessing wealth and power”. A practical approach to the recognition of survivals of this name in the indigenous sub-cultures of Iran is to pay proper attention to the multiple manifestations of material and non-material cultural relics as well as dialectal variants capable of unveiling the ancient lexicon from under the dust of time.

Abstract Time, aspect, person, number and active and middle voices are the categories based on which the verbal structure of the ancient Iranian languages are studied. According to the prevailing viewpoint, middle voice is the means by which a transitive root is changed to an intransitive one. This viewpoint has its origin in the verbal roots transitive when conjugated in the active voice and intransitive when in the middle, whereas a closer study of the verbal structure of ancient Iranian languages displays features challenging the validity of the current viewpoint. This article analyzes the general structure of middle verbs as an introduction to the study and re-categorization of the Younger Avestan middle verbs is to appear in another article.    

Abstract Time, aspect, person, number and active and middle voices are the categories based on which the verbal structure of the ancient Iranian languages are studied. According to the prevailing viewpoint, middle voice is the means by which to change a transitive root to an intransitive. This viewpoint has had its origin in the verbal roots transitive when conjugated in the active voice and intransitive when in the middle, whereas a closer study of the verbal structure of ancient Iranian languages displays features challenging the validity of the current viewpoint. This article analyses the general structure of middle verbs as an introduction to the study and re-categorization of the Younger Avestan middle verbs to be appeared in another article.