Proto-Indo-Iranian, also called Proto-Indo-Iranic or Proto-Aryan, is the reconstructed proto-language of the Indo-Iranian branch of Indo-European. Its speakers, the hypothetical Proto-Indo-Iranians, are assumed to have lived in the late 3rd millennium BCE, and are often connected with the Sintashta culture of the Eurasian Steppe and the early Andronovo archaeological horizon.
Proto-Indo-Iranian was a satem language, likely removed less than a millennium from its ancestor, the late Proto-Indo-European language, and in turn removed less than a millennium from its descendants: Vedic Sanskrit (of the Rigveda) and Old Avestan (of the Gathas).
It is the ancestor of Indo-Aryan languages, the Iranian languages, and the Nuristani languages, predominantly spoken in the Southern Asian subregion of Eurasia.
Descriptive phonology + Proto-Indo-Iranian consonant segments Type Labial Coronal Palatal Velar Laryngeal dental/alveolar post-alveolar first second Plosive voiceless aspirated voiced voiced aspirated Affricate voiceless voiced Fricative voiceless voiced () aspirated Nasal Liquid () Semivowel
+ PII vowel segments High Low
In addition to the vowels, , and could function as the syllabic core. In many reconstructions, instances of and occur instead of and .
Two palatal series Proto-Indo-Iranian is hypothesized to have contained two series of stops or affricates in the palatal to postalveolar region.Burrow, pp. 78–79 The phonetic nature of this contrast is not clear, and hence they are usually referred to as the primary or first series (*ć *ȷ́ *ȷ́ʰ, continuing Proto-Indo-European palatovelar *ḱ *ǵ *ǵʰ) and the second or secondary series (*č *ǰ *ǰʰ, continuing Proto-Indo-European plain and labialized velars, *k, *g, *gʰ and *kʷ, *gʷ, *gʷʰ, in palatalizing contexts). The following table shows the most common reflexes of the two series (Proto-Iranian is the hypothetical ancestor to the Iranian languages, including Avestan and Old Persian):
PII Proto-Indo-Aryan Sanskrit Proto-Iranian Avestan Old Persian Nuristani *ś ś () () s θ ċ () *j j () () z d j̈ () (> z) *źh h () *c c () č č č *j j () ǰ ǰ ǰ *źh h ()
Laryngeal Proto-Indo-European is usually hypothesized to have had three to four laryngeal consonants, each of which could occur in either syllabic or non-syllabic positions. In Proto-Indo-Iranian, the laryngeals merged as one phoneme /*H/. Beekes suggests that some instances of this /*H/ survived into Rigvedic Sanskrit and Avestan as unwritten glottal stops as evidenced by metrics.Beekes (1988), p. 50
Accent Like Proto-Indo-European and Vedic Sanskrit (and also Avestan, though it was not written downBeekes, p. 55), Proto-Indo-Iranian had a pitch accent system similar to present-day Japanese, conventionally indicated by an acute accent over the accented vowel.
Historical phonology The most distinctive phonological change separating Proto-Indo-Iranian from Proto-Indo-European is the collapse of the ablauting vowels *e, *o into a single vowel, Proto-Indo-Iranian *a (but see Brugmann's law). Bartholomae's law and the ruki sound law were also complete in Proto-Indo-Iranian.
A fuller list of some of the hypothesized sound changes from Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Indo-Iranian follows:
The Satem shift, consisting of two sets of related changes. The PIE palatals *ḱ *ǵ *ǵʰ are fronted or affricated, eventually resulting in PII *ć, *ȷ́, *ȷ́ʰ, while the PIE labiovelars *kʷ *gʷ *gʷʰ merge with the velars *k *g *gʰ.Burrow, pp. 74–75 PIE PII Sanskrit Avestan Nuristani Latin EnglishGlossary śatám satəm centum hund(red)id jā́nu zānu Kt. SE j̈õ genū kneeid himá ziiā̊ Kt. SE j̈im hiems'winter' / 'snow' kás ka quis whoid gaus gao Kt. go bōs cowid gharmás garəma formus warm'warmth, heat' Word final was lost after long vowels. PIE PII Sanskrit Avestan Nuristani Latin EnglishGlossary pitā́ ptā pater fatherid The PIE liquids merge as .Fortson, p. 182 PIE PII Sanskrit Avestan Nuristani Latin EnglishGlossary śrávas srauua clueō'fame, honour, word' vŕ̥kas vəhrka lupus wolfid gharmás garəma formus warm'warmth, heat' The PIE syllabic nasals merge with . Word final instead became . PIE pre-PII PII Sanskrit Avestan Nuristani LatinEnglish Glossary gatá gata Kt. gëvë́ ventus come 'come, gone' pā́dam padəm pedem'foot' (accusative singular) abhrá aβra imber 'rain, cloud' Bartholomae's law: an aspirate immediately followed by a voiceless consonant becomes voiced stop + voiced aspirate.Fortson, p. 181 PIE PII Sanskrit Avestan Nuristani English Glossary sámubdha ubdaēna web, weave 'woven' / 'made of woven material' vṛddhá vərəzda 'grown, mature' dógdhi *daogdi Pr. lüšt 'daughter' daugh(·ter) 'to milk' vaβžaka Kt. ušpí waspid The PIE double-dental rule is phonemicized with the sequence DD becoming *tˢt (or *dᶻdʰ if one of the dental consonants is an aspirate). Additionally, DsC̥ > tˢC̥ and DsC̬ > dᶻC̬. PIE PII Sanskrit Avestan Nuristani Latin English Glossary vittá vista vīsus OE. wiss 'found' buddhá busta 'aware, awake' uccā́ usca ū̆sque 'above, upwards' ádga Pr. izóg 'branch, twig' The Ruki rule: *s is retracted to *š when immediately following a liquid (*r *r̥ *l *l̥), a high vowel (*i *u), a PIE velar (*ḱ *ǵ *ǵʰ *k *g *gʰ *kʷ *gʷ *gʷʰ) or the syllabic laryngeal *H̥. Its allophone *z likewise becomes *ž. PIE PII Sanskrit Avestan Nuristani Latin English Glossary víṣas viša Katë viš vīrus 'poison, venom' aśiṣam sīšā 'teach!' jóṣati zaošō gustus 'to like, taste' kṣáp- xšap- 'darkness' plúṣi *fruši pūlex 'flea, noxious insect' nīḷá/nīḍá *nižda nīdus nest 'nest' Before a dental occlusive, *ć becomes *š and *ȷ́ becomes *ž. *ȷ́ʰ also becomes *ž, with aspiration of the occlusive.Burrow, p. 91 PIE pre-PII PII Sanskrit Avestan Nuristani LatinEnglish Glossary aṣṭá ašta octō eight 'eight' dr̥ṣṭá dərəšta 'seen, visible, apparent' mr̥ḷ-/mr̥ḍ- mərəžd- 'to forgive, pardon' ūḍhá *užda Kt. SE ṓzë 'came' vector weight 'carried'
The sequence *ćš was simplified to *šš.Burrow, pp. 92–94 PIE pre-PII PII Sanskrit Avestan Nuristani Latin English Glossary ákṣa aša axis axle 'axle, shoulder' The "second palatalization" or "law of palatals": *k *g *gʰ develop palatal allophones *č *ǰ *ǰʰ before the front vowels *i, *e. through an intermediate *kʲ *gʲ *gʲʰ.
PIE pre-PII PII Sanskrit Avestan Nuristani Latin English Glossary -ca -ča -que 'and' jīvás juuō Kt. ǰiv- 'to be alive' vīvus quick 'alive, living' hánti jaiṇti Kt. SE ǰaň- -fendit 'slays' Brugmann's law: *o or *ó in an open syllable lengthens to *ā.Fortson, p. 183 PIE pre-PII PII Sanskrit Avestan Nuristani Latin Glossary dātā́ram dātārəm datōrem 'giver' (accusative singular) The vowels *e *o merge with *a. Similarly, *ē, *ō merge with *ā. This has the effect of giving full phonemic status to the second palatal series *č *ǰ *ǰʰ. PIE PII Sanskrit Avestan Nuristani LatinEnglish Glossary dádāti dadāiti Kt. pře- dat 'to give' dant dantan Kt. dut dēns tooth 'tooth' bhrā́tr̥ brātar Kt. břo frāter brother 'brother' vā́k vāxš vōx 'voice'
In certain positions, laryngeals were vocalized to *i. This preceded the second palatalization.Beekes, pp. 85–86Lubotsky, p. 53 Following a consonant, and preceding a consonant cluster PIE PII Sanskrit Avestan Nuristani Latin Glossary pitré piθrē patrī 'father' (dative singular) Following a consonant and word-final PIE PII Sanskrit Avestan Nuristani Glossary -mahi -maidī/-maiδi (1st person plural middle ending) The laryngeal *h₂ (and possibly *h₁) aspirates the previous stop consonant and satem palatals. Notably this creates new voiceless aspirated stops. The laryngeal also disappears if it's followed by a vowel. PIE PII Sanskrit Avestan Nuristani Latin EnglishGlossary jagrabha jāgərəbuš 'grabbed' addhā́ azdā 'known' máhas mazah 'greatness' duγδar daughterid phéna 'foam' pṛthú pərəθu flat'broad' khidáti caedō'to cut' The Indo-European laryngeals all merged into one phoneme *H, which may have been a glottal stop. This was probably contemporary with the merging of *e and *o with *a. PIE PII Sanskrit Avestan Nuristani Latin EnglishGlossary dhitá dāta -ditus'placed, created' According to Lubotsky's Law, *H disappeared when followed by a voiced nonaspirated stop and another consonant:Beekes, pp. 88–89 PIE PII Sanskrit Avestan Nuristani Glossary bhájati bažat̰ 'to divide, distribute'
Subsequent sound changes Among the sound changes from Proto-Indo-Iranian to Indo-Aryan is the loss of the voiced sibilants *z, *ẓ, *ź; among those to Proto-Iranian is the de-aspiration of the PIE voiced aspirates. +Post-Indo-Iranian Phonological DevelopmentPII→ Vedic SanskritSpecial developments→ Proto-IranianSpecial developments*pp*p*f (before a consonant except after *s or *š)*pʰphp (Grassmann's law)*f*p (after a consonant)*bb*b*bʰbhb (Grassmann's law)*b*ttṭ (after *š, *ž, or *žʰ); kṣ (PII tć → kṣ)*t*θ (before a consonant except after *s or *š)*tʰthṭh (after *š or *ž); t (Grassmann's law); ṭ (after *š or *ž + Grassmann's law)*θ*t (after a consonant)*tˢt*s*ddḍ (after *š, *ž, or *žʰ)*d*dʰdhḍh (after *š or *ž); d (Grassmann's law); ḍ (after *š or *ž + Grassmann's law)*d*dᶻd*z*kk*k*x (before a consonant except after *s or *š)*kʰkhk (Grassmann's law)*x*k (after a consonant)*gg*g*gʰghkṣ (PII gʰžʰ → kṣ); g (Grassmann's law)*g*ćśch (PII *sć/šć → ch); cch (PII *VsćV/VšćV → VcchV); kṣ (PII ćš → kṣ)*c*š (PII *ćs/ćš/šć → *š); ∅ (after *s)*ȷ́jjj (PII *zȷ́/žȷ́ → jj)*j∅ (before *š)*ȷ́ʰhjj (PII *zȷ́ʰ/žȷ́ʰ → jj); kṣ (PII ȷ́ʰžʰ → kṣ); j (Grassmann's law)*j∅ (before *š)*čcch (PII *sč/šč → ch); cch (PII *VsčV/VščV → VcchV)*č*š (before *y)*ǰjjj (PII *zǰ/žǰ → jj)*ǰ*ǰʰhjj (PII *zǰʰ/žǰʰ → jj); j (Grassmann's law)*ǰ*ssḥ (before a pause)*h*s (before nasals and plosives, or after plosives and *n); *š (after *p or *b); *ž (after *bʰ); *x (word initially before a consonant)*šṣḥ (before a pause)*š*ž∅ (lengthening previous vowel)*ž∅ (after a palatal obstruent)*žʰ∅ (lengthening previous vowel)*ž∅ (after a palatal obstruent)*yy*y*wvu (after a vowel)*w*mmb (word initially before a consonant)*m*nnñ (before or after a palatal consonant); ṇ (after a retroflex consonant or *r within the same word with no palatal or dental consonant in between)*n*rrḥ (before a pause)*r*r̥ṛīr (before *H); ūr (before *H in the neighborhood of labials)*r̥*ii*i*aa*a*āā*ā*uu*u*H∅ (lengthening previous vowel)i (in between consonants)*H Proto-Indo-Iranian Old Iranian (Av, OP) Vedic Sanskrit</tr>*Háćwas "horse" Av aspa, OP asa áśva</tr>*bʰaHgás "portion, share" Av bāga bhāgá</tr>*bʰráHtā "brother" Av, OP brātar bhrā́tr̥</tr>*bʰúHmiš "earth, land" OP būmiš bhū́mi-</tr>*mártyas "mortal, man" Av maṣ̌iia, OP martiya mártya</tr>*mā́Has "moon" Av mā̊, OP māha mā́s</tr>*wásr̥ "spring" Av vaŋhar vásara "morning"</tr>*Hr̥tás "truth" Av aṣ̌a, OP arta r̥tá</tr>*dʰráwgʰas "lie" Av draoγa, OP drauga drógha "using malicious words"</tr>*sáwmas "pressed (juice)" Av haoma sóma-</tr>
Morphology and basic vocabulary Proto-Indo-Iranian has preserved much of the morphology of Proto-Indo-European (PIE): thematic and athematic inflection in both nouns and verbs, all three numbers (singular, dual and plural), all the tense, mood and voice categories in the verb, and the cases in the noun.
Personal pronouns (nominative case) Pronouns, nouns and adjectives are inflected into the eight cases of PIE: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, vocative, ablative, locative and instrumental (with also a comitative/sociative meaning). +PronounPIEPIII*éǵ > *eǵHóm*aȷ́Hám > *aȷ́ʰámYou*túh₂*túHHe*ey- (*eyóm?) *só*ayám *sáShe*séh₂*sáHIt*tód*tádWe*wéy > *weyóm*wayámYou (all)*yū́*yúHThey (m.)*tóy*táyThey (f.)*téh₂es*tā́s (or *táHas?)They (n.)*téh₂*táH
Three examples of verbs In verbs, the chief innovation is the creation of a passive conjugation with the suffix *-yá, with middle inflection.Fortson p. 205
The following examples lack the dual plural and are conjugated in the present tense.