In "Footprints of the faith” (Zoroastrians Abroad, Parsiana, February 21, 2015) a sentence begins thus: "Whilst the theology is unchanging, languages currently in use by the community are Persian, Farsi, Gujarati and English…”
Could you kindly explain the differences between Persian and Farsi?
JAMSHED UDVADIA
udvadiajr@att.net
The editors reply:
Wikipedia notes: Farsi or Parsi has been the name for Persian used by all native speakers until the 20th century. Since the last decade of the 20th century, for political reasons, in English and French, Farsi has become the name of the Persian language as it is spoken in Iran.
London based independent researcher Farrokh Vajifdar explains:
Firstly a brief bit on theology — several variations work within the framework of Zarathushtra’s Gathic teachings. The sage had foreseen the inherent difficulty that the Mazdaic precepts would create for those coming to grips with the condensed language in which they were enshrined. He was a realist with deep insights into the human mind.
Thereafter: "Persian” is in fact right to left Modern Persian or Farsi. It is descended from Old Persian (the cuneiform left to right inscriptions) and Middle Persian or right to left Pahlavi. The Pahlavi alphabet is derived from the right to left Imperial Aramaic. The Gathas were firstly right to left scripted in the special, exact alphabet (53 characters!) devised in the fifth century CE. It is not easy to effectively transcribe into the 26 letter English alphabet, and this has given rise to defective vowel pronunciations in the three "religious” languages of Gathic Avestan, Standard Avestic and Pazand (all right to left). Hence the need for diacritics.
Farsi is the same as spoken Modern Persian. Strictly speaking, it should be called Parsi, from the language originating in Pars province in south western Iran. The Arabs were responsible for this since they never had P in their alphabet, but kept pronouncing it with an F. It has stayed that way ever since. Note also that the Arabs of today still have difficulty in saying all words in all languages beginning with P and struggle instead from a B (example is "barty” for party!). They also lacked characters for Ch, Zh, and Gh which the Persian script had to augment with diacritics. (Ancient/Classical Greek and Ancient Hebrew had to use such vocalizations and combinations which all students of these are eternally grateful for.)
When used in academic circles, "Persian” stands for all the languages spoken today in Iran from Azeri to Zaza, and one therefore has to be specific. Dari was spoken among the Zardushtis until recently, but knowledge of it is now scanty. "Dari” is presently a politically correct (!) way of referring to the official language of Afghanistan!
Whilst Farsi is thriving among all Iranians overseas, the same cannot be said for Parsi Gujarati which is dwindling with succeeding diaspora generations. I feel it is more important to preserve our ancient culture and heritage in English which has the merit of absorbing all ancient and current languages. This may not be a popular thing, but is coldly factual.
And so, with Ahura Mazda’s blessings, pray in whichever language suits you best.