Khwarezmian language

Extinct Eastern Iranian language of Central Asia

Not to be confused with Khorezmian Turkic.

Khwārezmian

Chorasmian
𐾸𐾲𐾰𐾻 𐾰𐾺 𐾹𐾶𐾰𐿂𐾺𐾸𐾽 زڨاك ای خوارزم
Native to| Khwarezm
Region| Central Asia
Era| 550 BCE – 1200 CE[1]

Language family

Indo-European

* Indo-Iranian
* Iranian
* Eastern Iranian
* Khwārezmian

Writing system

| Khwarezmian script, Aramaic alphabet, Sogdian alphabet, Pahlavi script, Arabic script
Language codes
ISO 639-3| `xco`

Linguist List

| `xco`
Glottolog| `khwa1238`

Khwārezmian (Khwarezmian: زڨاک‌ای خوارزم zβ'k 'y xw'rzm;[2] also transliterated Khwarazmian, Chorasmian, Khorezmian) is an extinct Eastern Iranian language[3][4][5][6] closely related to Sogdian. The language was spoken in the area of Khwarezm (Chorasmia), centered in the lower Amu Darya south of the Aral Sea (the northern part of the modern Republic of Uzbekistan and the adjacent areas of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan).

Knowledge of Khwarezmian is limited to its Middle Iranian stage and, as with Sogdian, little is known of its ancient form. Based on the writings of Khwarezmian scholars Al-Biruni and Zamakhshari, the language was in use at least until the 13th century, when it was gradually replaced by Persian for the most part, as well as several dialects of Turkic.[7]

Sources of Khwarezmian include astronomical terms used by al-Biruni, Zamakhshari's Arabic–Persian–Khwarezmian dictionary and several legal texts that use Khwarezmian terms and quotations to explain certain legal concepts, most notably the Qunyat al-Munya of Mukhtār al-Zāhidī al-Ghazmīnī (d. 1259/60).[7][8]

The noted scholar W.B. Henning was preparing a dictionary of Khwarezmian when he died, leaving it unfinished. A fragment of this dictionary was published posthumously by D.N. MacKenzie in 1971.[9]

## Writing system

[edit]

Khwarezmian

Chorasmian

Direction| Right-to-left script, top-to-bottom
ISO 15924
ISO 15924| Chrs (109), ​Chorasmian
Unicode

Unicode alias

| Chorasmian

Unicode range

| U+10FB0–U+10FDF

Before the advance of Islam in Transoxiana (early 8th century), Khwarezmian was written in a script close to that of Sogdian and Pahlavi with its roots in the Imperial Aramaic script. From the few surviving examples of this script on coins and artifacts, it has been observed that written Khwarezmian included Aramaic logograms or ideograms, that is Aramaic words written to represent native spoken ones e.g. 𐿃𐾾𐿄 (ŠNT) for سرذ, sarδ, "year", 𐾾𐿁𐿃𐾺 (NPŠY) for خداك, xudāk, "self" and 𐾽𐾼𐾻𐾰 (MLK') for اى شاه, ī šah, "the king".[10]

Letter  | Transliteration  | IPA | Corresponding letter in

|
|
|

Phoenician  | Imperial Aramaic  | Inscriptional Parthian  | Inscriptional Pahlavi  | Old Sogdian  | Sogdian
𐾰 | ʾ | /[ʔ]/  | 𐤀 | 𐡀 | 𐭀 | 𐭠 | 𐼀 | 𐼰
𐾲 | b | /[b]/  | 𐤁 | 𐡁 | 𐭁 | 𐭡 | 𐼂 | 𐼱
𐾳 | g | /[ɡ]/  | 𐤂 | 𐡂 | 𐭂 | 𐭢 | 𐼄 | 𐼲
𐾴 | d | /[d]/  | 𐤃 | 𐡃 | 𐭃 | 𐭣 |  |
𐾵 | h | /[h]/  | 𐤄 | 𐡄 | 𐭄 | 𐭤 | 𐼅 | 𐼳‎
𐾶 | w | /[w]/  | 𐤅 | 𐡅 | 𐭅 | 𐭥 | 𐼇 | 𐼴
𐾸 | z | /[z]/  | 𐤆 | 𐡆 | 𐭆 | 𐭦 | 𐼈‎ | 𐼵
𐾹 | ḥ | /[ħ]/  | 𐤇 | 𐡇 | 𐭇 | 𐭧 | 𐼉‎ | 𐼶
𐾺 | y | /[j]/  | 𐤉 | 𐡉 | 𐭉 | 𐭩‎ | 𐼊 | 𐼷
𐾻 | k | /[k]/  | 𐤊 | 𐡊 | 𐭊 | 𐭪 | 𐼋 | 𐼸
𐾼 | l | /[l] | 𐤋 | 𐡋 | 𐭋 | 𐭫 | 𐼌‎ | 𐼹‎
𐾽 | m | /[m]/  | 𐤌 | 𐡌 | 𐭌 | 𐭬 | 𐼍‎ | 𐼺
𐾾 | n | /[n]/  | 𐤍 | 𐡍 | 𐭍 | 𐭭 | 𐼎 | 𐼻‎
𐾿 | s | /[s]/  | 𐤎 | 𐡎 | 𐭎 | 𐭮‎ | 𐼑 | 𐼼
𐿀 | ʿ | /[ʕ]/  | 𐤏 | 𐡏 | 𐭏 |  | 𐼒 | 𐼽
𐿁 | p | /[p]/  | 𐤐 | 𐡐 | 𐭐 | 𐭯‎ | 𐼔 | 𐼾
𐿂 | r | /[r]/  | 𐤓 | 𐡓 | 𐭓 |  | 𐼘 | 𐽀
𐿃 | š | /[ʃ]/  | 𐤔 | 𐡔 | 𐭔 | 𐭱 | 𐼙 | 𐽁
𐿄 | t | /[t]/  | 𐤕 | 𐡕 | 𐭕 | 𐭲 | 𐼚 | 𐽂

After the advance of Islam, Khwarezmian was written using an adapted version of the Perso-Arabic alphabet with a few extra signs to reflect specific Khwarezmian sounds, such as the letter څ which represents /ts/ and /dz/, as in the traditional Pashto orthography.[11]

### Unicode

[edit]

Main article: Chorasmian (Unicode block)

Khwarezmian script was added to the Unicode Standard in March, 2020 with the release of version 13.0.

The Unicode block for Khwarezmian, called Chorasmian, is U+10FB0–U+10FDF:

Chorasmian[1][2]
Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)

| 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | A | B | C | D | E | F
U+10FBx  | 𐾰 | 𐾱 | 𐾲 | 𐾳 | 𐾴 | 𐾵 | 𐾶 | 𐾷 | 𐾸 | 𐾹 | 𐾺 | 𐾻 | 𐾼 | 𐾽 | 𐾾 | 𐾿
U+10FCx  | 𐿀 | 𐿁 | 𐿂 | 𐿃 | 𐿄 | 𐿅 | 𐿆 | 𐿇 | 𐿈 | 𐿉 | 𐿊 | 𐿋 |  |  |  |
U+10FDx  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Notes

1.^ As of Unicode version 16.0
2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points

## See also

[edit]

* Afrighids
* al-Khwārizmī
* Ancient Iranian peoples
* Al-Biruni
* Central Asia
* Iranian peoples
* Iranian languages
* Khwarezm
* Zoroastrianism
* Zamakhshari

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ Khwārezmian at MultiTree on the Linguist List
2. ^ Chwarezmischer Wortindex. pp. 686, 711.
3. ^ D. N. Mackenzie. "The Chorasmian Language" In: Encyclopedia Iranica. Online access at June, 2011.
4. ^ Andrew Dalby, Dictionary of Languages: the definitive reference to more than 400 languages, Columbia University Press, 2004, pg 278.
5. ^ MacKenzie, D. N. "Khwarazmian Language and Literature," in E. Yarshater ed. Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. III, Part 2, Cambridge 1983, pp. 1244–1249.
6. ^ Encyclopædia Britannica, "Iranian languages" (Retrieved 29 December 2008)
7. ^ a b CHORASMIA iii. The Chorasmian Language
8. ^ MacKenzie, D. N. (1990). The Khwarezmian Element in the Qunyat Al-munya. Psychology Press. ISBN 9780728601611.
9. ^ Henning, Walter Bruno; MacKenzie, D. N. (1971). A fragment of a Khwarezmian dictionary. Lund Humphries. ISBN 9780853312925.
10. ^ Pandey, Anshuman. "Proposal to encode the Khwarezmian script in Unicode" (PDF).
11. ^ THE KHWAREZMIAN GLOSSARY—I, D. N. MacKenzie Link

## Literature

[edit]

The Khwarezmian Glossary

* MacKenzie, D. N. (1970). "The Khwarezmian Glossary--I". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies. 33 (3). University of London: 540–59. doi:10.1017/S0041977X00126552. JSTOR 614521..
* MacKenzie, D. N. (1971). "The Khwarezmian Glossary--II". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies. 34 (1). University of London: 74–90. doi:10.1017/S0041977X00141588. JSTOR 614624..
* MacKenzie, D. N. (1971). "The Khwarezmian Glossary--III". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies. 34 (2). University of London: 314–30. doi:10.1017/S0041977X00129568. JSTOR 612694..
* MacKenzie, D. N. (1971). "The Khwarezmian Glossary--IV". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies. 34 (3). University of London: 521–37. doi:10.1017/S0041977X00128526. JSTOR 613900..
* MacKenzie, D. N. (1972). "The Khwarezmian Glossary--V". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies. 35 (1). University of London: 56–73. doi:10.1017/S0041977X00107360. JSTOR 612794..

## Further reading

[edit]

* Livshits, Vladimir (2003). "Three Silver Bowls from the Isakovka Burial-Ground No. 1 with Khwarezmian and Parthian Inscriptions". Ancient Civilizations from Scythia to Siberia. 9 (1–2): 147–172. doi:10.1163/157005703322114874..
* Lurje, Pavel B. (2018). "Some New Readings of Chorasmian Inscriptions on Silver Vessels and Their Relevance to the Chorasmian Era". Ancient Civilizations from Scythia to Siberia. 24 (1–2): 279–306. doi:10.1163/15700577-12341333..

## External links

[edit]

* Encyclopedia Iranica, "The Chorasmian language" by D.N. Mackenzie
* https://web.archive.org/web/20040201160726/http://iranianlanguages.com/
* https://web.archive.org/web/20041009124244/http://www.iranologie.com/history/ilf.html

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