Middle Persian
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Middle Persian | |
|---|---|
| Region | Iran |
| Extinct | evolved into Modern Persian by the 9th century |
| Language family |
Indo-European
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-2 | pal (see text left) |
| ISO 639-3 | pal |
Middle Persian is the Middle Iranian language/ethnolect of Southwestern Iran that during Sassanid times (224-654 CE) became a prestige dialect and so came to be spoken in other regions as well. Middle Persian is classified as Western Iranian language. It comes from Old Persian and is the ancestor of Modern Persian.
The native name for Middle Persian (and perhaps for Old Persian also) was Pārsik, "(language) of Pārs", present-day Fārs Province. The word is consequently (the origin of) the native name for the Modern Persian language.
