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Pazend
Script type
Alphabet
Time period
Until 7th century
Direction
Right-to-left script
Languages
Middle Persian
Related scripts
Parent systems
Egyptian hieroglyphs[1]
Proto-Sinaitic
Phoenician alphabet
Aramaic alphabet
Pahlavi script
Avestan alphabet
Pazend
This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.
Pazend (/pəˈzɛnd/) or Pazand (Middle Persian: 𐭯𐭠𐭰𐭭𐭣; Avestan: 𐬞𐬀𐬌𐬙𐬌 𐬰𐬀𐬌𐬥𐬙𐬌) is one of the writing systems used for the Middle Persian language. It was based on the Avestan alphabet, a phonetic alphabet originally used to write Avestan, the language of the Avesta, the primary sacred texts of Zoroastrianism.
Pazend's principal use was for writing the commentaries (Zend) on and/or translations of the Avesta. The word "Pazend" ultimately derives from the Avestan words paiti zainti, which can be translated as either "for commentary purposes" or "according to understanding" (phonetically).
Pazend had the following characteristics, both of which are to be contrasted with Pahlavi, which is one of the other systems used to write Middle Persian:
Pazend was a variant of the Avestan alphabet (Din dabireh), which was a phonetic alphabet. In contrast, Pahlavi script was only an abjad.
Pazend did not have ideograms. In contrast, ideograms were an identifying feature of the Pahlavi system, and these huzvarishn were words borrowed from Semitic languages such as Aramaic that continued to be spelled as in Aramaic (in Pahlavi script) but were pronounced as the corresponding word in Persian.
In combination with its religious purpose, these features constituted a "sanctification" of written Middle Persian. The use of the Avestan alphabet to write Middle Persian required the addition of one symbol to the Avestan alphabet: This character, to represent the /l/ phoneme of Middle Persian, had not previously been needed.
Following the fall of the Sassanids, after which Zoroastrianism came to be supplanted by Islam, Pazend lost its purpose and soon ceased to be used for original composition. In the late 11th or early 12th century, Indian Zoroastrians (the Parsis) began translating Avestan or Middle Persian texts into Sanskrit and Gujarati. Some Middle Persian texts were also transcribed into the Avestan alphabet. The latter process, being a form of interpretation, was known as 'pa-zand'. "Pazand texts, transcribed phonetically, represent a late and often corrupt Middle Persian pronunciation, and so present their own problems."[2] "The corruptions during this process are sometimes considerable."[3] Among the transcribed texts are the prefaces (dibacheh) to prayers in Avestan. These prefatory prayers are invariably written in Pazend because of the need for "accurate" pronunciation. This practice has led to the misconception that "Pazend" is the name of a language.
Following Abraham Hyacinthe Anquetil-Duperron's translation of some of the texts of the Avesta in the late 18th century, the term "Zend-Avesta" was mistakenly used to refer to the sacred texts themselves (as opposed to commentaries on them). This usage subsequently led to the equally mistaken use of "Pazend" for the Avestan script as such and "Zend" for the Avestan language.
^Himelfarb, Elizabeth J. "First Alphabet Found in Egypt", Archaeology 53, Issue 1 (January/February 2000): 21.
^Boyce, Mary (1984), "Sanskrit, Old Gujarati and Pazand writings", Textual sources for the study of Zoroastrianism, Manchester UP, p. 5.
^Boyce, Mary (1968), "Middle Persian literature: The later religious writings", Iranistik II: Literatur, Handbuch der Orientalistik, vol 4, Leiden: Brill, p. 47.
titles used to refer to Ahura Mazda. The list is preserved in Persian, Pazend, and Gujarati. The names are often taken during Baj (ceremonial prayer)...
as found in the Menog-i Khrad. The fourth and eighty-sixth entry of the Pazend prayer titled 101 Names of God, Harvesp-Khoda "Lord of All" and Khudawand...
language. As a side effect of its development, the script was also used for Pazend, a method of writing Middle Persian that was used primarily for Zend commentaries...
appears as Middle Persian eshm 𐭠𐭩𐭱𐭬 or 𐭧𐭩𐭱𐭬 kheshm, continuing in Pazend and New Persian as خشم khashm. Judaism's Asmodeus (Hebrew: אַשְמְדּאָי ʼšmdʼy)...
character for /l/ (a sound that Avestan does not have) was added to write Pazend texts. The Avestan script is alphabetic, and the large number of letters...
Zoroastrian Middle Persian) and Avestan alphabet (in which case it is known as Pazend). As Manichaeism was persecuted around Mesopotamia and the regions of the...
translation in the Middle Persian language and phonetic transcription in the Pazend alphabet. A 9th-century CE Irish dictionary, Sanas Cormaic, contained etymologies...
Script Old Persian Old Persian Cuneiform Middle Persian Manichaean Script Pazend Script Philistine Phrygian Phrygian Script Samalian South Arabian South...
frawahr (Book Pahlavi: plwʾhl, Manichaean: prwhr), frōhar (recorded in Pazend as 𐬟𐬭𐬋𐬵𐬀𐬭; it is a later form of the previous form), and fraward (Book...
derives from Middle Persian sēnmurw (and earlier sēnmuruγ), also attested in Pazend texts as sīna-mrū. The Middle Persian word comes from Avestan mərəγō Saēnō...
Script Old Persian Old Persian Cuneiform Middle Persian Manichaean Script Pazend Script Philistine Phrygian Phrygian Script Samalian South Arabian South...
readership not to take medicine on the day of the month dedicated to Zam. In the Pazend Afrin-i haft Amshespand ("Blessings of the seven Amesha Spenta"), Zam is...
Script Old Persian Old Persian Cuneiform Middle Persian Manichaean Script Pazend Script Philistine Phrygian Phrygian Script Samalian South Arabian South...
Middle Persian test of Wiktionary at Wikimedia Incubator Lessons in Pahlavi-Pazend by S.D.Bharuchī and E.S.D.Bharucha (1908) at the Internet Archive – Part...
Avestan passages, they are mostly composed in Middle Persian written in Pazend. They consequently originated during the Middle Iranian period, when Avestan...
(also an Aramaic derivative) but without any non-Iranian vocabulary. The Pazend version has survived in its entirety. a Modern Persian translation in Arabic...
choose. Several Khordeh Avesta editions are quite comprehensive, and include Pazend prayers, modern devotional compositions such as the poetical or semi-poetical...
Script Old Persian Old Persian Cuneiform Middle Persian Manichaean Script Pazend Script Philistine Phrygian Phrygian Script Samalian South Arabian South...
Pahlavi. Bharuchī, SD; Bharucha, ESD (1908), "Part 1", Lessons in Pahlavi-Pazend (PDF), The Internet Archive and 2 (partly outdated). de Harlez, Charles...
Script Old Persian Old Persian Cuneiform Middle Persian Manichaean Script Pazend Script Philistine Phrygian Phrygian Script Samalian South Arabian South...
language Avesta. This mistake resulted from a misunderstanding of the term pazend, which actually denotes the use of the Avestan alphabet for writing certain...
Script Old Persian Old Persian Cuneiform Middle Persian Manichaean Script Pazend Script Philistine Phrygian Phrygian Script Samalian South Arabian South...
born in Karachi, Pakistan, and studied the Avesta, Pahalvi, Persian, & Pazend languages, as well as Ancient Iranian literature at M.F. Cama Athornan Institute...
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