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Pahlavi is a term used in two senses, to mean (1) the Zoroastrian or Sasanian Middle Persian language; and
(2) the script used to write (religious and secular) Sasanian Middle Persian and closely similar material, also known as the
Pahlavi alphabet. It is closely related to Sanskrit.
The Zoroastrian or Sasanian Middle Persian language is the only Middle Iranian language that did not fall into complete disuse
for hundreds of years. The other Middle Iranian languages, Parthian, Sogdian, Sakan, Khwarezmian and Bactrian, now known to us all,
fell into disuse and were rediscovered only in the 20th century. Zoroastrian Middle Persian, by contrast, was transmitted by the
Zoroastrians in Iran and, in particular, in India where the Parsee community, descendants of Zoroastrian exiles from Iran, retained a knowledge of Avestan and Middle Persian and by copying the manuscripts, preserved them. Typologically,
Middle Persian is close to Modern Persian (just as Middle and Modern English are typologically close) but the latter
distinguishes itself from the former by being written in a different script, the Arabo-Persian script, and by a large number of
Arabic loan-words. Zoroastrian Middle Persian is the language of quite a large body of Zoroastrian literature which details the
traditions and prescriptions of the Zoroastrian religion which was the state religion of Sasanian Iran (224 to ca. 650), before
Iran was defeated by the Arab armies that introduced Islam.
See also The Pahlavi dynasty that ruled Iran, 1925 -
1979.
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