پهلوی

Persian

Etymology

From Middle Persian 𐫛𐫍𐫓𐫇𐫀𐫗𐫏𐫃 (phlwʾnyg /⁠pahlawīg⁠/, “Parthian”), ultimately from Old Persian 𐎱𐎼𐎰𐎺 (p-r-θ-v /⁠Parθavaʰ⁠/, “Parthia”).

In the time of the Islamic conquest, Pahlawīg referred specifically to the Parthian language, as opposed to Pārsīg, literary Middle Persian, and Darīg, the vernacular descendant of Pārsīg which would become New Persian. But with the revival of Persian literature in the tenth century, both پارسی (pārsī) and دری (darī) came to refer to the same New Persian language written in Arabic script. As a result, Middle Persian was now also called پهلوی (pahlawī), which came to mean "pre-Islamic language of Iran". In practice, this usually refers to Middle Persian if without any further specification.

پهلو (pahlaw, literally “Parthian”) was also affected by this semantic shift, so that by surface analysis, the word is now پهلو (pahlav, “ancient hero”) +‎ ـی (-i): the language of the pre-Islamic heroes.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Persian) IPA^(key): [pah.la.ˈwiː]

 

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [pʰäɦ.lä.wíː]

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [pʰäɦ.lä.wíː]
  • (Kabuli) IPA^(key): [pʰɑː.lä.wíː]
  • (Hazaragi) IPA^(key): [pʰɔː.lä.wí]

• (Iran, formal) IPA^(key): [pʰæɦ.læ.víː]

• (Tajik, formal) IPA^(key): [pʰäɦ.lä.ví]

Readings
Classical reading?	pahlawī
Dari reading?	pahlawī
Iranian reading?	pahlavi
Tajik reading?	pahlavī

Proper noun

Dari	پهلوی
Iranian Persian
Tajik	Паҳлавӣ

پهلوی • (pahlavi)

1. the Middle Persian language

   Synonym: فارسی میانه (fârsi-ye miyâne)

   ادبیات پهلوی ― adabiyat-e pahlavi ― Middle Persian literature

   • c. 1011, Abu'l-Qāsim Firdawsī, “The Reign of Khusraw Nōshēnrawān”, in شاهنامه [Book of Kings]‎^[1]:

     کلیله به تازی شد از پهلوی
     بدین سان که اکنون همی‌بشنوی

     kalīla ba tāzī šud az pahlawī
     bad-īn sān ki aknūn hamē-bišnawī

     The Kalīla was translated from Middle Persian to Arabic,
     It is in this way that you hear it [recited] today.

     (Classical Persian romanization)

   1. the Pahlavi scripts, in which Middle Persian was written

      خط پهلوی ― xatt-e pahlavi ― Pahlavi script

      • c. 1011, Abu'l-Qāsim Firdawsī, “The Reign of Khusraw Nōshēnrawān”, in شاهنامه [Book of Kings]‎^[2]:

        نبشت او بران نامهٔ خسروی
        نبود آن زمان خط جز پهلوی

        nibišt ō bar-ān nāma-yi xusrawī
        na-būd ān zamān xatt juz pahlawī

        He wrote an imperial book on it;
        In those times, there was no script except for Pahlavi.

        (Classical Persian romanization)

   2. (obsolete, poetic, higher register) the New Persian language (emphasizing the language's prestigious history)

      Synonyms: پارسی (pârsi), دری (dari)

      مثنوی معنوی مولوی هست قرآن در زبان پهلوی.

      masnavi-ye ma'navi-ye mowlavi hast qor'ân dar zabân-e pahlavi.

      Rumi's Spiritual Masnavi is the Quran in the Persian tongue.

      (a couplet attributed to the fifteenth-century poet Jami)

      • c. 1590, Fayzī, دیوان فیضی:

        گر هندیم ولیکن دارم بزور قدرت
        با پهلوی زبانان دعوی پهلوانی

        gar hindī-am walēkin dāram ba zōr-i qudrat
        bā pahlawī zabānān da'wā-yi pahlawānī

        Even if I am Indian, I have, by force of talent,
        A claim to championship among those of Persian tongue.

        (Classical Persian romanization)

2. A Northwestern Iranian language:
   1. the Parthian language; usually پهلوی اشکانی (pahlavi-e aškâni, “Arsacid Pahlavi”) for disambiguation.

      Synonym: پارتی (pârti)

   2. (obsolete) Alternative form of فهلوی (fahlavi, “medieval NW Iranian vernacular dialects, especially in Jibal and Azarbaijan”).
      • c. 1340, Ḥamdallāh Mustawfī Qazvīnī, نزهةالقلوب [Nuzhat al-Qulub]:

        مردمش سفیدچهره و ترک‌وش میباشند و بیشتر بر مذهب حنفی میباشند و زبانشان پهلوی معرب است

        mardum-aš safēd-čihra u turk-waš mē-bašand u bēštar bar mazhab-i hanafī mē-bašand u zabān-išān pahlawī-yi mu'arrab ast.

        Its people are white-faced and resemble Turks, and most of them are of the Hanafi rite, and their language is an Arabized Northwestern Iranian. (The language described is Old Azeri.)

        (Classical Persian romanization)

3. a surname, Pahlavi: the surname of the last shahs of Iran

   رضا شاه پهلوی ― rezâ šâh-e pahlavi ― Reza Shah Pahlavi

Usage notes

• Since the existence of Old Persian was unknown in premodern times, medieval sources assume that all pre-Islamic Iranians spoke پهلوی (pahlavi).

Adjective

پهلوی • (pahlavi)

1. (archaic) ancient, pre-Islamic; of or relating to the age of the Iranian heroes before Islam
   • c. 1011, Abu'l-Qāsim Firdawsī, “The Tale of Siyāwush”, in شاهنامه [Book of Kings]‎^[3]:

     چو نزدیکی شهر ایران رسید
     همه جامهٔ پهلوی بردرید

     ču nazdīkī-yi šahr-i ērān rasīd
     hama jāma-yi pahlawī bardarīd

     When they arrived near the realm of Iran,
     They tore asunder all their pahlawī robes.

     (Classical Persian romanization)