Ancient Azari - (The Circle of Ancient Iranian Studies

Azari also known as Azeri, is believed to have been a part of the dialect continuum of Northwest Iranian languages. As such, its ancestor would be close to the earliest attested Northwest Iranian languages, Median. As the Northwestern and Southwestern Iranian languages had not yet developed very far apart by the first millennium CE, Azari would also still have been very similar to Middle Persian also known as Pahlavi.

Azari was spoken in Azarbaijan and Arran (today known as the Republic of Azerbaijan) provinces at least up to the 11th century, when it began to be gradually displaced by the spreading Turkic language Azeri. According to some accounts, it may have survived for several centuries after that up to the 16th or 17th century.. Today, Iranian dialects are still spoken in several linguistic enclaves within Azarbaijan. While some scholars believe that these dialects form a direct continuation of the ancient Azari languages, others have argued that they are likely to be a later import through migration from other parts of Iran, and that the original Azari dialects became extinct (Encyclopaedia Iranica, vol. I, p238-245).

Historical attestations

Ibn al-Nadim, in his famous book al-Kitab al-Fihrist, mentions that all the Median and Persian lands of antiquity (including what is today known as Azarbaijan) spoke one language. In the book, which is the most accredited account of spoken languages of Iran during the early Islamic era, he reports Dari to be the official language of the royal courts and the language of Khorasan and Balkh and eastern Iran while Parsi is the language of the Mobeds (Zoroastrian priests) of Fars; Khuzi is the unofficial language of the royalty and comes from Khuzestan; and Seryani originates in Mesopotamia.

This has also been verified and reported by such respected medieval historians as Tabari, Ibn Hawqal, Istakhri, Moqaddasi, Yaghubi, Masudi, and Mostowfi Qazvini. Iranian polymath, Khwarizmi mentions it in chapter 6, vol. 6 of his book Mafātīh al-'Ulūm.

Following the Islamic Conquest of Iran, Middle Persian, also known as Pahlavi, continued to be used until the 10th century when it was gradually replaced by a new breed of Persian language, most notably Dari. The Saffarid dynasty in particular was the first in a line of many dynasties to officially adopt the new language in 875 CE. Thus Dari, which contains many loanwords from its predecessors, is considered the continuation of Middle Persian which was prevalent in the early Islamic era of western Iran. The name Dari comes from the word darbār which refers to the royal court, where many of the poets, protagonists, and patrons of the literature flourished.

The main event of notable significance from this era was the adoption of Persian modifications of Arabic script. This development probably occurred some time during the second half of the 8th century, when the old Middle Persian script began dwindling in usage. The aforementioned script remains in use in contemporary modern Persian.

Pre-Turkic Azari

Etymological studies verify that the extinct dialects spoken from Baku to Semnan before 11th century, all originated from a common source. In other words, the people of Azarbaijan spoke the same language spoken by the Medes. (See UCLA's distinguished professor Ehsan Yarshater's report in Majaleh-ye Dâneshkadeh-ye Adabiyât, year 5, No. 1-2, p 35–37.)

According to Dehkhoda Dictionary, "the language of Azarbaijan is a branch of the Iranian languages known as Azari". (entry for "Azari", 2006 edition) Azari researcher Ahmad Kasravi Tabrizi in his book "The ancient tongue of Azarbaygan" supports this and reports that the medieval historian Yaqut al-Hamawi used the phrase Al-Ajam ol-Azariyah ("The Azari Iranian") in his books Mo'ajjem al-Udabā and Mo'jem al-Baladān. In other sources such as Surat al-Ardh, by Ibn Hawqal, Ahsan al-Taqāsim by Moqaddasi, and Al-Masālik wa al-Mamālik by Istakhri, people in Azarbaijan are recorded to be speaking Iranian languages. Abdullah Ibn al-Muqaffa identifies the Iranian languages as such:

"The Iranian languages are Fahlavi (Pahlavi), Dari, Khuzi, Persian, and Seryani. But Fahlavi comes from the word Fahleh; -and Fahlehevat is a name that refers to 5 regions: Isfahan, Ray, Hamedan, Mah-Nahavand, and Azarbaijan (here Arran is not included in Azarbaijan)." Obviously, this was all before the Turkic arrival.

Encyclopedia Iranica quotes Ibn al-Nadim's book Al-fihrist in verifying that all the Median and Persian lands of antiquity (including Arran province, what is today known as Azarbaijan) spoke one language. And Tabari in 849 also mentions that poets in Maragheh recited Pahlavi poetry. Some Azarbaijani poets however, such as Qatran Tabrizi, used the word "Persian" and "Pahlavi" interchangeably to describe their native language.

The historian Hamdollah Mostowfi even goes as far as describing variants of "Pahlavi" spoken in different areas of Azarbaijan (then part of Greater Persia). In his book Tarikh Gozideh, he describes eight poets from Azarbaijan, calling them Ahl-ol She'r Men-al-Ajam (Iranian poets), all Persian by tongue. By now, of course, Dari and Pahlavi had merged into one, as successive dynasties moved from east to west.

Suffice it to say that the number of records and documents from Azarbaijan in the Pahlavi language are so numerous that it has left no doubt that this was indeed the native tongue of Azarbaijan before the arrival of the Turks. Many words in the current Azeri vocabulary in fact are of Pahlavi origin. (See studies in Nashriyeh Adabiyāt of Tabriz University, by Dr. Mahyār Navābi, year 5 and 6. Also see Farhang-i Kamāleddin Teflisi, Ajāyeb al-Makhluqāt by Najibeddin Hamadāni, and also the books: Majmal-ol-Tavārikh, Al-qasas, Iskandar-Nameh e Qadeem, and others for lists of words.)

It is agreed that the current Turkic Azeri language spoken in Azarbaijan and Arran supplanted and replaced Pahlavi before the Safavid dynasty, perhaps starting with the arrival of Persianized Seljuk Turks, and during a gradual course. But some historians report Pahlavi being spoken in Tabriz as late as the 17th century. (See Rowdhat ul-Jinan by Hafez Hosein Tabrizi [d997 A.H/1588 CE.], and Risaleh ye Anārjāni written in 1577). Even the Ottoman Turkish explorer Evliya Çelebi (1611–1682) mentions this in his Seyahatname. He also reports that the elite and learned people of Nakhichevan and Maragheh spoke Pahlavi, during his tours of the region. It should be noted that the Pahlavi based language of Azarbaijan, is now extinct.