PHONOLOGY
Palatalization of a:
synoptic table
Table of the palatalization rules for the 2nd and 3rd sing. primary
verbal endings—both active and middle:
|
-iiati
|
|
|
*jaiðiiati
|
>
|
jaiôiieiti "he
implores" 
|
|
-aiiati
|
>
|
-aiieiti
|
*sräuuaiiati
|
>
|
sräuuaiieiti "he recites"
|
|
-iiate
|
>
|
-iiete (-iieite.)
|
  kmaniiate
|
>
|
nzaniiete
(maniieite) "he thinks"
|
|
-aiiate
|
>
|
-aiiete (-aiie.ite)
|
*xšaiiate
|
>
|
xšaiiete (xšaiieite) "he rules"
|
|
|
|
|
*jaiôiiahi
|
>
|
jaiðiiehi "you implore"
|
|
 -aiiahi
|
>
|
-aiiehi
|
*sräuuaiiahi
|
>
|
sräuuaiiehi "you recite"
|
|
-iiahe
|
|
|
*maniiahe
|
>
|
maniiehe "you think"
|
|
-aiiahe
|
>
|
-aiiehe
|
*xšaiiahe
|
>
|
xšaiiehe "you rule"
|
Notes:
On the gen. sing. of nouns, see Lesson 11; on the feminine of adjectives
in the comparative, see Lesson 14.
The
development of -aiium and -aoiiam
The sequence -aiium, whether
original or secondary < *-aiiuuam, has the developments -aêum, -õiium, or
-aëm, e.g., õiium < aêuua-, vï.dõiiunz < vï.daë.uua-, but Vaë.rn <
*Vaiium and raëm < *raëum < raêuua-. The form õiium further shows up in
the manuscripts as õirn, aõim, etc.
The sequence -aoiiam shows the same developiïlents: haoiia-
"left": acc. masc. haoiium, hõiium, hõim; *aoiia- (or *aiia-?)
"egg": acc. aênr, Kasaoiia-, name of a sea: acc. Kqsaêm (Yt. 19.66).
Palatalization
of ã
Long ä becomes e when preceded by i and
followed by a nasal and i, i, or e. This
change takes place in several 1st singular verbal forms, e.g., present
indicative -iiämi > -iiemi, examples:
|
*naiiämi
|
>
|
naiiemi "I lead"
|
*sräuuaiiämi
|
>
|
sräuuaiiemi "I
recite"
|
|
*zbaiiämi
|
>
|
zbaiie.rni "I invoke"
|
*ä-vaëöaiiämi
|
>
|
ä.vaêôaiiemi
"I make known to"
|
|
*jaiôiiämi
|
>
|
jaiöiiemi "I
implore"
|
*hankäraiiämi
|
>
|
hankäraiiemi "I gather"
|
The original forms, e.g., -iiämi, are sometimes retained/restored by
analogy, especially in the vicinity of forms with regular -ämi, not preceded by
ii, e.g., yäsämi .. jaiöiiämi "I request ... I implore" (Y .65. I l),
vanämi ... varaziiämi "I overcome ... I produce" (Yt. 15.44).
A few nominal forms satisfy the conditions, as well: ziiäni- m.
"harm" > nom. ziieniš, acc. ziienim, but gen. ziiänõiš (see Lesson
I l).
NOUNS
Consonant
declensions: irregular Il-stems
In many n-stems, consonant changes occur in the weak forms, when the n
of the suffix comes in contact with the final consonant of the root.
Examples (asan-/ašn- "stone, heaven," xšapan-/xšafn-
"night," karapan-/karafn- "*lïlumbler," maratän/maraen-
"mortal"):
Sing.
|
nom. asa xšapa 
|
*karapa (OAv.)
|
marata
|
|
acc. asänam xšapanam
Plur.
|
*karapanam
|
maratananz
|
|
nom. asänõ xšapanõ
|
karapanõ
|
*maratänõ
(OAv.)
|
|
acc.  ašnõ xšafnas0
Consonant
declensions: irregular uuan-stems
|
*karafnõ
|
 maraOnõ
|
Following are some uuan-stems in which various phonetic changes have
produced some irregularlooking forms:
|
Sing.
|
|
|
|
|
nom.
|
spä
|
*aðPa
|
erizafå
|
|
voc.
|
|
|
Orizafam
|
|
acc.
Plur.
|
spänam
|
aðßanam
|
erizafanam
|
|
nom.
|
spänõ
|
|
|
|
acc.
|
sunõ
|
|
|
The stem span-/sun- is an original uuan-stem, but with su > sp. The
acc. plur. form sunõ is frequently used as nom. plur. in the Videvdad,
especially in the formula sunõ vä karafš.x Varõ vaiiõ vä karafš.x Varõ
"either flesh-eating dogs or flesh-eating birds."
The stem
aðßan- "road" is an original wan-stem, with ðu > ðP.
The masc. adj. eri.zafan- has nom. sing. eri.zafå, and short a in the
acc. like varaerajä, but the word is probably a wan-stem *Ori.zafuan-, hence it
has voc. sing. eri.zafam, like ašäum.
The
Dual
Few forms of
the dual are found, bút they suffice to show that this category was basically
of the old IndoIranian type. In Old Avestan four cases are distinguished, as
the gen. and loc. have not merged, as in Indic. In Young Avestan, however, no
locative dual forms appear to be attested.
The endings of the nom.-voc.-acc. are -a in masc. a-stems, diphthong
stems, and masc. and fem. consonant stems; -e in fem. a-stems and neut.
a-stems; and -i in neut. consonant stems. The i-, ï-, and Il-stems have no endings
(gaoša- "ear," uruuarä- "plant," Saohauuäcï-, name of
Yima's sister, baoiöi- "incense"):
Vowel stems a-stems ä-stems ï-stems i-stems pasu-
n.
Dual 
nom.-acc.
gaoša uruuaire Saohauuãci baoiði pasu
Notes:
uua > uuõ in gauuõ < gauua- "hand": apgš gauuõ
darazaiieiti "he ties (their) two hands in the back" (Yt. 10.48), but
hqm gauua nidarazaiiaðßam "you tie (their) two hands together" (Yt. I
.27).
The nom.-acc. dual of nouns such as mairiia- should be *maire, with -iia
> -e (see Lesson 4), but no examples are found.
srü- "nails"
It is unclear whether the forms of srü- "nails" are neut.
plur. or dual (the nails on the fingers/toes on both hands/feet). It is spelled
sruuî and sruiiê, sruuaê0 .
Diphthong
stems
Dual bäzao-
"arm" nom.-acc. gäuua bäzauua
Consonant stems in stops
Dual ap- pad- ãbarat- hauruuatät-,
amaratatätnom.-acc. dipa päða ãbarata hauruuatäta, hauruuata; amaratatäta, amaratäta
Note:
hauruuatät- and amaratatãt- have some contracted forms in the dual.
Consonant
stems.• n-stems
Dual rasman- span- "dog" ašauuannom.-acc. rasmana späna ašauuana
Consonant
stems: r- and h-stems
Dual nar- näh- "nose" nom.-acc. nara nål)ha
Consonant
stems: nt-stems
Dual m. n.
nom.-acc. barazanta xVairiianti
PRONOUNS
The dual
Dual m. n.
nom.-acc. tä
ima
VERBS
The
dual
For now note the following 3rd pers. dual forms (äi- < ä + i- 'come,'
yuiðiia- "fight," 0zaiia- "be born," tauruuaiia-
"overcome"):
Athematic: Thematic:
Present
indicative
Active: -tõ stõ
"they are" -atõ, -a6õ baratõ, sräuuaiiatõ; yuiöiiaOõ
Middle: -õi9e c.arõi9e, OzaiiõiÐe
Imperfect-injunctive
Active: -tam Oäitam "they came" -atam jasatam,
tauruuaiiatam
Present
indicative. Palatalized forms
The (a)iia-stems undergo
modifications of the thematic vowel as described above.
Note also that the long -ä- of the 1st plur. -ämahi—which tends to be
shortened in a-stems—is preserved in the iia-stemsfraêšiiämahi "we
send," namaíiiämahi "we pay homage," but shortened in the
aiia-stem zbaiiamahi.
Paradigm of (a)iia-stems (fraêšiia- "to send," jaiðiia-
"to implore," maniia- "think," sräuuaiia- "to make
heard, recite," varaziia- "to produce," xšaiia- "to
command, rule," zbaiia- "to invoke"):
|
Active:
Sing.
|
|
|
|
|
1 -iiemi
|
jaiðiiemi
|
-aiiemi
|
sräuuaiiemi
|
|
2 -iiehi
|
jaiðiiehi
|
-aiiehi
|
sräuuaiiehi
|
|
3 -iieiti
Plur
|
jaiðiieiti
|
-aiieiti
|
sräuuaiieiti
|
|
1 -iiämahi
|
fraêšiiämahi
|
-aiiamahi
|
zbaiiamahi
|
|
3 -iieinti
|
jaiðiieinti
|
-aiieinti
|
sräuuaiieinti
|
|
-inti
Middle: Sing.
|
varazinti
|
|
|
|
1 -iie
|
maniie
|
|
|
|
2 
|
|
-aiiehe
|
xšaiiehe
|
|
3 -iiete
Plur
|
maniiete
|
-aiiete
|
xšaiiete
|
|
1 -iiämaide
|
maniiämaide
|
|
|
|
3 -iiente
,
|
maniiente
|
-aiiente
|
xšaiiente
|
Note:
Note the
1st sing. pres. ind. äzbaiia "I invoke" for *äzbaiiemi.
The
manuscripts appear to favor(?) the spellings -eiti, -einti versus -ete, -ente.
Note 3rd sing. aênaÚhaiti < aênaÚha- "to make sinful" <
aênah-ia-.
SYNTAX
Uses of the
dual
The dual is used to indicate two items joined in a special ralationship.
It is used with the numeral duua"two," and the pronoun uua-
"both."
Occasionally
a word has only dual forms, e.g., uš- n. "hearing, consciousness."
Of special importance are the so-called open dvandvas. These denote a
pair consisting of two different objects, which may be singular, e.g.,
"firewood and incense," "Frašaoštra and Jämãspa," or
plural, e.g., "cattle and men." In these expressions both nouns are
in the dual, so that the expression looks like "2 firewoods, 2 incenses,"
"2 Frašaoštras, 2 Jämäspas," "2 cattle, 2 men.'
l . Two items
duua auruuanta yãsämi bipaitištãnamca
ca¶ara.paitištänamca
"I
ask for two coursers, one that has two legs and one that has four." (after
Yt.5.131)
panca.dasa fracarõiÐe pita puÐrasca katarascit
"Fifteen
(years of age) the father and the son went forth, each (of them)." (after
Y.9.5)
Varaeraynam ahuraðätam yazamaide yõ vï.räzaiti *aetara
rãšta rasmana
"We
sacrifice to Voraerayna, created by Ahura Mazdä, who arranges (things) between
the two straight battle lines." (Yt. 14.47)
ya! bä paiti Spitama Zaraeuštra näirikaca
aparanäiiukasca varai9im paetgm *azõi9e [ms. azõit] pqsnuuåoham hikuuåoham
jarazim baraiti väcim
"Where,
O Zarathustra Spitamid, a wife and child are driven along the road of
captivity,
*they lift up (their)
plaintive voice from a mouth full of dust, from a dry mouth." (after
V.3.11) baraiti 3rd sing. may have been introduced here from a different context
(cf. Yt. 10.38, Lesson 8), the 3rd dual should have been baratõ; alternatively,
it is for *barainti, dual neut.
auuat Vaiiuš bä ngma ahmi yat uua dama *viiemi yasca
daeat Spantõ Maniiuš yasca daeat Aorõ Maniiuš
"Therefore
I am called Vaiiu, because I pursue both creations [thematic masc.], both the
one that the Life-giving Spirit made and the one that the Destructive Spirit
made." (Yt. 15.43)
pairi šë uši varanuiði skandam šë manõ karanuiði
"Cover
up his senses, *debilitate his mind!" (Y .9.28)
2. Elliptical dual
häuuanaiiåsca
ašaiia frašutaiiå 
"of
the mortar (and pestle) moved forth in Orderly fashion" (Y.27.7)
3. Dual (open)
dvandvas
In these expressions two different items which form a unit are both in
the dual. If one of the items consists of two words, one of them is dropped.
Mi9ra
Ahura barazanta 
"The
two high ones, Mi9ra and Ahura (Mazdä)." (Yt. 10.145)
Yimõ karanaot amarsanta pasu vira aghaošamne ãpa
uruuaire
"Yima made cattle and men indestructible,
waters and plants indesiccable." (after Y .94) Saohauuäci Aranauuäci 
"(The two sisters) Sal]hauuäcï and
Aronauuäcï." (Yt.5.34) ašaiia da&mi aësma baoiôi 
"I place in Orderly fashion the firewood
and the incense." (Y.7.2) antara ahuna *airiiamana 
"between the Ahuna Vairiia and the
Airiiama išiiõ (prayers)." (N.85) What is "between" these two is
the entire Old Avesta.
To
express "both X and Y" Avestan uses the construction "both:
(namely) X and Y," where X and Y are in the singular or plural:
uiie ištišca saokäca uiiefšaonišca vq9Päca uiie er@sca
frasastišca
"Both
wish and *desire, both *sheep herds and (cattle?) herds, both satisfaction and
fame." (Yt.5.26,
Yima)
uua šuðamca taršnamca uua zauruugmca mara9iiumca uua
garamamca aotamca
. both hunger and thirst, both old
age and death, both heat and cold." (Yt.9.10, Yima)
Uses of the accusative
9. Accusative of respect
(with respect to. as far as ... is concerned)
yä asti auuauuaiti masõ ya9a vispå imå äpõ
"(She)
who is as much in size as all these waters (together)." (after Yt.5.3)
•
• 
-qè&.oè.
yat as
ašam ašauuastamam xšaeram huxšaerõ.tamam
"As
he was in Order the most Orderly, in command the one having the best
command." (Yt. 19.79)
mošu pascaêta Huuõuuõ ištim baon sauuišta mošu pascaëta
Naotaire
"Soon
thereafter the Huuöuuas became the ones most rich in life-giving strength with
respect to (their) wish, soon thereafter (also) the Naotairiias."
(Yt.5.98)
10. Use of the
nominative for the accusative
A typical feature of Young Avestan literary composition or—more
probably—of the late oral transmission, is that whole phrases in the
nominative, especially plural, e.g., noun + adjective, occupy a position in the
sentence which would require them to be in the accusative.
azam ahmi aißi.vaniiå vispe daëuua mašiiãca vispe yãtauuõ
pairikåsca
"I overcome all demons and men, all
sorcerers and witches." (after Yt. 15.12) cf.
azam
ahmi aißi.vaniiå ažim dahãkam 
"I
overcome the giant dragon." (after Yt.5.34)
ašãunqm valÿVhiš surå spavtåfrauuašaiiõ
staomi zbaiiemi ufiiemi yazamaide nmäniiå visiiå zantumå dafiiumå
zaraeuštrõ.tamå
"I
praise, I invoke, I weave (into my hymn)—we sacrifice to the good, life-giving
fravashis of the sustainers of Order, rich in life-giving strength,
those of
the home, of the house, of the tribe, of the land, those most like that of
Zarathustra." (Y. 17.18)
In a few instances the endings are even more confused, thus, in a couple
of cases we find nom.-acc. fem. endings with nom. plur. masc. i-stems used as
direct object:
vispå garaiiõ aša.xVã9rå pouru.xVã9rå
yazamaide
"We
sacrifice to all the mountains, whose bliss is in/through Order, with much
bliss." (Y.6.13)
unam kauuaëm xVaranõ mazdaütam yazamaide
ya! upaohacat Saošiiantam varaeräjanam uta aniiåscit haxaiiõ
"We
sacrifice to the strong kauuian Fortune established by Ahura Mazdã, which
accompanied the victorious Revitalizer as well as (his) other companions."
(Yt. 19.88-89)
EXERCISES 9
1.
Write
in transcription and Avestan script the nom. and acc. sing. and plur. (where
appropriate) forms of the following nouns and adjectives:
daraya-
zruuan-, yuuan- srira-, hauua- uruuan-, häu asan- barazant-, xšapan- tQ9riiä-,
kauuaë-ca karapan-ca druuant-; Gaiia- Maratan-.
2.
Write
in transcription and Avestan script the dual forms of the following nouns and
adjectives:
aegušta-,
xšaera-, aši-, vaohu- (m. , f., n.), späù-, haênä-.
3.
Write
in transcription and Avestan script the present indicative middle forms of the
following verbs:
kiriia-,
tauruuaiia-.
4.
Transcribe
and translate into English:
(after Y.55.1)
(after Yt.13.30)
( V.
4.45 )
、ー癶~癶も癶ゝ、癶やセ
、癶
(Yt.
19.79 )
( Y.
19.7 )
(after
Yt. 5.3 )
(after
Yt. 5.109)
( V.
18.31-32 )
(). 18.40-41 )
(Yt.
8.22-23 , 28 ) 
ー ・一
(Yt.
1.25 )
8 ,
(Y. 10.3-5)
5. Translate into Avestan and write in Avestan script:
l. For how long a time was the existence of living beings established?
2.
Thus
they said, Taeriiauuant the villain and the Lieful Po¥ana:
3.
O
Arojal.aspa, you who (are) the mightiest Turanian, you the greatest, the most
victorious,
4.
you
overcome all enemy armies, you overpower all the Aryan enemies.
5.
Strike
down the fortunate Kauui Vištäspa, then (you) rule!
6.
Two
dogs are driven along the road of captivity. They lament, each saying thus:
7.
O
Creator, Who fashioned me? Why did he make me?
8.
Wrath
pursues me, death frightens me.
9.
Why
does the one possessed by the Lie harm us [use plural] and deal us bloody
blows?
10.
There
is no protector for us. The sustainers of Order do not protect us.
How would you render the following "modern" statement into
Avestan?
"I believe in Ahura Mazda, am a follower
of Zarathustra, reject the wrong gods, and follow the guidance of Ahura Mazdä.
"
VOCABULARY
9
aõäL: from there, then aõßan- m.: road aë9rapaiti-: religious teacher
ahuna- = Ahuna Vairiia- (Lesson 7) ahura.!kaëša-: following the guidance of
Ahura 
Mazdä airiiaman- = ä.airiiõma.išiia-
(Lesson 12) amarsant-: indestructible al]haošomna-: indesiccable al]Vhä-:
thread of life(?); bow string
aota- n.: cold
Apaoša-: the demon of drought apaš: backward, in the back
Arojat.aspa-: name of Vištäspa's
principal opponent Aronauuäcï-: Yima's sister captured by Aži Dahäka 
ašaonam, gen. plur. of ašauuan- 
a\auuastoma-, superl. of ašauuan-:
most Orderly, who sustains Order the best a¥a.x Vã9ra-: providing
(residing in?) the good 
breathing space of Order, reaching
up into the free heavenly spaces illuminated by the sun
87
äi + voc.: O
ã.vaëòaiia- < Alvaëö/vi& to make known (to)
ä.zäraiia- < to anger baoõah- n.: consciousness
baoiõi- m.: fragrance, incense baxša- < {bag/baj act.: to give,
distribute; mid. to take on, enjoy bazah- n.: thickness bipaitištãna-:
two-legged ca9Paro.paitištäna-: four-legged daëuuaiiasna-: daëuua-sacrificer
dakiiuma-: related to the land däta-, past participle of ddã: made, created,
placed dronjaiia-: to learn by heart duždaëna-: having/with evil vision-soul
dužuuandru-: of evil respect (?) duraë.suka-: whose eyesight reaches far durät:
from afar
frabdö.dräjõ: the length of his leg (i.e., standing?) frasasti-: praise
and fame frasruta-: renowned
8,
frašuta-
< fra 4šao/šu: moved forth fraeah- n.: width frauuãxš- m., frauuaxša-: twig,
branch(?) fšaoni- m.: *sheep herd
garama- n.:
heat goroza- < Ågarz/jarz mid.: to complain, lament gufra-: deep, profound haënä-:
(enemy) army hanbãraiia- < Åbar: to carry together, accumulate hankãraiia-
< N/kar?: to gather (for the sacrifice to: + gen. or dat.) hã6ra- n. : a
length measure, "league" haerõ.masah- adj.: the length of a
"league" häuuana-, dual: (pestle) and mortar ham.bara-: to carry
together, store up ham.nidarozaiia-: to tie together hiku-: dry hikuuãh- <
hiku- + ãh-: with dry mouth hubaoiõi-: fragrant huxšaerõ.tama-, superl. of
huxšaera-: having/with good command
jaraziia-
< dgarz/jarz: plaintive katarascit nom. sing.: each (of the two) kauuaëm
< kauuaë-, kauuaiiakauuaiia- (= kãuuaiia-): belonging to the kauuis
Kasaoiia-:
name of a mythical lake from which the three saošiiants will emerge korafš.xVar-:
flesh-eating kiriia-, pass. of 4kar: to be done maëya-: cloud
mana
gen. < azom: my masah- n.: size, length masita-: long nãirikä-: woman, wife
nipãraiia- < dpar: to *transfer nmäniia-: related to the house/home
pairi.voronao-/voronu- < War: to cover (up) paiti + acc.: in(to), on(to),
upon paeana-: broad pasnu- m.: dust pasnuuãh- < pasnu- + äh-: with
dust-filled mouth poratu-, f. por09Pï-: wide
Pa$ana-:
name of a villain; Battle-maker
Vä9ra-: having/with much good
breathing pouru.x space
raë-/räii
m.: wealth (see Lesson 12) raëuua-: *brilliant raëuuastoma-, superlative of
raëuua-(?) and
raëuuant-: most *brilliant; most wealthy raoòa- < 4raod/rud mid.: to
grow räšta-, past participle of arranged, straight Sanhauuäcï-: Yima's sister
captured by Aži Dahãka saokã-: glow, burning; *longing, *desire skanda-, in
skondom dkar-: to *cripple, debilitate (+ acc.) späõa-: army stao-/stu-: to
praise šuò- m.: hunger taršna-: thirst
Taeriiauuant-:
name of a villain; Man-of-Darkness eräiia- < mid.: to guard, protect, save
6rå1Jhaiia- < 4tarš/9rah: to frighten erap- (9rafs-?) f.(?): satisfaction
uš- n. , only nom.-acc. dual uši: mind, consciousness uštäna-: life breath uta:
and varašaji- m.: branch vaxšaiia- < dvaxš: to make grow vãra-: rain vaepa-
herd varoziia1JVha- < vorozuuant- + alJVhã-:
having/with invigorating life thread(?) vorozuuant-: invigorating viia-, vaiia-
< Nvaë/vi: to pursue (?)
vira-: man
visiia-: related to the house vï.daëuua- (acc. vï.dõiium): discarding (and
rejecting) the daëuuas vÏ.rãzaiia- < 4räz: to arrange xšaiia- < 4xšä
mid.: to rule, be in command (of +
kiiaona-:
Xiiaonas, enemies of the Aryans xVäpara-: munificent yauuant-, f.
yauuaitï-, see auuauuant- . yauuant-
(Lesson 8) zantuma-: related to the tribe zaraeuštrö.toma-: the most
like that of Zarathustra zauruuä-: old age ziiäni- f.(?): harm, damage
