Persian Language and Literature

NETBible: Persian Language and Literature (Ancient) The Persian language, ancient and modern alike, is an Aryan tongue. In its ancient forms it is more closely connected with Vedic Sanskrit than with any other language except Armenian. Most of its roots are to be found also in Slavonic, Greek, Latin and other tongues of the same stock. Dialects: There were two main dialects in the ancient language of Iran (Airyanem), (1) that of the Persians proper, and (2) that of the Medes. The former is known to us from the inscriptions of the Achemenian kings, the latter from the Avesta, and a few Median words preserved for us by Herodotus and other Greek writers.