I speak Irani

[Rasputin]

[Rasputin]

Part II

Many fear that the use of the term “Farsi” in non-Iranian settings would somehow result in the disappearance of such cherished Persian adjectival references as Persian Gulf, Persian cat, Persian carpet, and so on. The fear is misplaced for the same reason that after two thousands years plus Roman Law is still called “Roman Law” and no one to my knowledge has suggested that it be re-named Italian Law. By the same token, the name Persian Gulf did not become “Iranian Gulf” when the Iranian government suggested it at the time when the world was asked to refer to Persia as “Iran.”

The term “Farsi” is exclusively a lingual concept. Persian on the other hand is much broader, and it includes cultural features associated with Iran. For example, it is incorrect to say that one enjoys Farsi music; it is Iranian music. But one speaks Farsi. The hairy pussy in the corner is a Persian cat and not an Iranian or Farsi cat.

The language that the Persians spoke in Achaemenian times was the same as the one spoken by the Medes. Were it not for the domination of the Persian rulers and the Greco-Roman adoption of the name “Persian” to describe all the nations in Iran, the Iranians could be deciding today if heir language ought to be called Erani or Median.

The people known later as the Medes preceded the Partatua (=Persians) into the Iranian Plateau by a few centuries. Herodotus is quite clear (bk VII, ch. 62) that the Medes were called anciently by all people as Arians (Greek Eri). While he attributes the name change to Mede to Medea of Colchis, the name Mada for a people made its earliest appearance in Assyrian texts in the 9th century BC. In Greek mythology, Medea was the enchantress daughter of King Aeets of Colchis and helped Jason, the king of Argonauts, to get the Golden Fleece from her own father. Colchis itself was a mythically rich and fabulous place that is approximated to the region corresponding with the present-day eastern shores of the Black Sea down to southern Caucasus (namely, western part of Georgia).

That the people known as Eran (Arabicized: Aran) or Alan should still be identified with the Caucasus is a good indication that perhaps the enchantress Medea did rule over the Iranian tribes that inhabited the regions that corresponded with present-day Azarbaijan, Kordestan and Kermanshahan. The term Media Atropatente or Atropatente in ancient geography referred to the lands that are now called Azarbaijan above and below the Aras River east of the Caspian Sea. Before its takeover by the Turkic hoards from Central Asia in 9th to 11th centuries, this region was predominantly Iranian.

The term Arian or Eran or Iran has been the designation of the land of Iran since the Sasanid times, if not earlier backing into the Avesta. The first Gazetteer of Iran, called Eranshahr dated from pre-Islam.

There was a time when an Iranian would have been more inclined to say that she spoke Persian, because at the time there was on the political geographical map of the world a country called Persia. By the same token because there is now the name Iran I would feel more inclined to say that I speak Irani(an). This would not change anything about the language I speak or people’s perception of my origins. It is succinct and to the point, unambiguous, clear cut identity.

Some have argued with equal passion that it was wrong for Iran to have changed its foreign name from Persia to Iran. In some quarters the issue has gone so out of control that for example the Iranian foreign minister who held office in 1971 is referred to as the Persian foreign minister, Iran that has not been Persia since 1935 is referred to as Persia even in the present tense, and passages in quotation that refer to Iran as Iran get rendered into Persia.

Contrary to the general belief that return to “Persia” and “Persian” will save Iranian identity (!), it is my belief that this exercise will only help those who seek to divide Iran into its constituent ethnic parts. After all, Persia was just a province (Parsa) and Persians are not very many in the nation of some 70 million Iranians. That is why I choose to use the term Farsi over Persian and better yet will argue for the use of the term Irani(an) to allow for the expansion of the Iranian family beyond Iran’s own borders. As an umbrella designation, when I speak Iranian I could be speaking in the tongue of people who inhabit Iran, Afghanistan (Dari, Tajikestan, Kordish regions of northern Iraq and parts of Pakistan. In my Irani tongue I include Torki Azari, which is not really Torki Istanboli (Ottoman Turkish) and Baluchi and Giylaki and Tabari and Khorasani and Lori and Kordi and Dari and Ordu and very other dialect or related togue in between.

The Iranian who passionately argue in favor of Persian over Farsi in foreign parlance often draw the parallel to other people who are known to themselves in one way but refer to their language in foreign parlance in another way. So a German does not say to an Englishman in English that he speaks Deutsch, he says that I speak German, the name of the Deutsch language in the English language. Therefore, an Iranian should not say to an Iranian in English that he speaks Farsi; he should use the term Persian instead. This must be even more so when the other side is a foreigner. Ironically, the Englishman speaks English, as do the people of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, United States and many more countries. But when an Englishman writes about his language in Farsi he writes Inglisi and not Inglish.

The German language is an interesting example of the confusion that can result from a nation accepting another nation’s designation for its language. When a german wants to write in Farsi about his language he will write “Alamani.” This term entered Farsi from the French designation of Germany as Allemagne and its people and language as Allmand. However, prior to this the Farsi name for German was “Namseh” and so the German writing about his language in Farsi would have said “Namseh” and it would have said more or less the same if he were to write about his language and country in Russian (Nemsky). There is no rule of logic that requires that Iranians continue to abide by the designation given to their language 2,500 years ago by the Greeks, Romans and others. Above all, one should be true to oneself and others will follow.

Just as the people and country of England named the English language, I propose that the label Irani be used as an umbrella designation for the languages that are spoken in Iran, Kordish Iraq, Afghanistan, Tajikestan. It should not matter that a country called Iran be the cultural and linguistic epicenter of this broad-based language, just as England and English has for so many other countries.



By G Mirfendereski