This map shows the regions
of the world where Persian is commonly spoken (red circle).
Persian is also called Farsi. This language has been of immense
cultural and literary importance since the 800s of this era.
(For example, the great epic Shahnamah was written
in medieval Persian, as were many mathematical, scientific,
and astronomical and astrological works.) Modern Persian has
borowed a large number of Arabic vocabulary words--so much so
that it seems almost as much Arabic as it does Iranian. Persian
descended from Old Persian and
Pahlavi, the latter of which is an extinct language also known
as "Middle Iranian." Persian is related to Avestan,
Sogdian, Baluchi,
Kurdish, and Pashto.
| Daniel M. Short originally created this
map and the other Indo-European language charts for his website at http://www.danshort.com/.
I reproduce these images here with the author's permission, but they are
copyrighted by Daniel Short as of 2002. These charts should not be reproduced
or reused without Mr. Short's approval. You may contact him at danshort@gte.net
for more information. These images are not public domain. |