Farsi (Persian) Language
Pre-Hijra (before Migration)
Before Islam came into the lands of Persia, Farsi (Persian) back than known as Parsi was written in many scripts, such as Old Cuneiform, Pahlavi, Aramaic, and Avestan. So since the beginning Farsi never really had an official script.
So just as Arabic, Farsi came from the same Semitic language known as Aramaic. The Persians used to write in script that originated from a Semite nation, called the Arameans . The Middle Persian script developed from the Aramaic script and became the official script of the Sassanian empire (224-651 AD). It changed little during the time it was in use, but around the 5th century AD, it spawned a number of new scripts, including the Psalter and Avestan scripts. So technically there is no original Persian script.
After Islam
After the Muslim Conquest of Persia, the Persians adopted Arabic letters as there script, but added some modifications, such as adding letters containing PE (پ), GAF (گ), CHA (چ), and JH (ژ) sounds, because Arabic didn't have these sounds. So adopting Arabic script, just as Aramaic script in the past was not forced upon Persians nor did it strip them of their identity as national bigots of Iran claim.
There are small variation to note in Farsi in its alphabets compared to Arabic. The Kaf letter in Arabic looks like ك and ک (initial and final),but in Farsi the letter only looks like ک.
Obviously Farsi had a lot of influence from Arabic, but it created its a variety of calligraphy scripts such as Nastaliq, Naskh and Taliq.
Legacy
Farsi has had a huge influence on several languages such as Urdu, Hindi, Turkish, Bosnian, Spanish, Arabic, and more.
Farsi was spoken in several regions, such as South Asia and Asia Minor, and even in Europe when the Ottomans ruled. In fact the Ottomans were fluent in Farsi, because there language Ottoman Turkish was heavily based on Farsi. In places like India, Farsi was the official language for nearly 500 years, until the British arrived, but its is still offered in schools of Pakistan as an extra language class. It is still spoken in Afghanistan, but it known as Dari.
Farsi was spoken in several regions, such as South Asia and Asia Minor, and even in Europe when the Ottomans ruled. In fact the Ottomans were fluent in Farsi, because there language Ottoman Turkish was heavily based on Farsi. In places like India, Farsi was the official language for nearly 500 years, until the British arrived, but its is still offered in schools of Pakistan as an extra language class. It is still spoken in Afghanistan, but it known as Dari.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
- "The Perso-Arabic Script - A Beauty & Honour for Persia." SONS OF SUNNAH. 8 Jan. 2015. Web. 31 Oct. 2015.
- "Persian (Fārsī/فارسی)." Omniglot. Kualo. Web. 31 Oct. 2015.