Khwarezmian language
Chorasmian, also known as
Khwarezmian or
Khwarazmian, is the name of an extinct northeastern
Iranian language closely related to
Sogdian. The language was spoken in the area of Chorasmia/
Khwarazm on the northern banks of the river
Jaxartes in
Transoxiana (part of the modern Republic of
Uzbekistan).
Our knowledge of Khwarezmian is limited to its Middle Iranian stage and much like Sogdian, we are not sure of its ancient form. Before the advancement of
Islam in
Transoxiana (early 8th century AD), Khwarezmian was written in a script close to that of Sogdian and
Pahlavi with its roots in the
Aramaic alphabet. From the few remaining pieces of this script (from coins and artifacts), we know that it included
heterograms or Hozvaresh.
After the advancement of Islam, Khwareazmian adapted a version of the
Perso-Arabic alphabet with a few extra signs to reflect the specific Khwarezmian sounds such as 'ts' and 'dz'. A version of this script survives and is used by modern speakers of
Pashtu.
From the writings of the great Khwarezmian scholar,
Biruni, we know that the language was in use at least until the
13th century AD, when it was gradually replaced by various dialects of
Turkish as well as by
Persian.
Other than the
astronomical terms used by Biruni, our other sources of Khwarezmian include
Zamakhshari's
Arabic-
Persian-Khwarezmian dictionary and several legal texts that use Khwarezmian terms to explain certain legal concepts.
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Khwarezmia*
http://www.iranianlanguages.com*
http://www.iranologie.com/history/ilf.html*
Chorasmia entries in the
Encyclopædia Iranica
