Middle Persian language

E125351

Indo-European language Indo-Iranian language Iranian language Western Middle Iranian language

Middle Persian language was the historical Iranian language of the Sasanian Empire and a direct ancestor of modern Persian (Farsi).

Try in SPARQL Jump to: Surface forms Disambiguation Statements Elicitation Referenced by

All labels observed (10)

Label	Occurrences
Middle Persian	52
Middle Persian language canonical	3
Manichaean Middle Persian	2
Classical Persian	1
Early Pahlavi	1
Middle Persian (for administration)	1
Middle Persian (originally, according to scholarly consensus)	1
Middle Persian of Fars	1
Middle Persian: Šāhān Šāh	1
Sasanian Pahlavi	1

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T1023237 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.

NED1 Entity disambiguation (via context triple) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Middle Persian language
Context triple: [Iranian languages, hasMajorLanguage, Middle Persian language]

A. Persian language
Persian language is a major modern Iranian language spoken primarily in Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan, known for its rich literary tradition and historical influence across the Middle East and Central Asia.
B. Iranian languages
Iranian languages are a branch of the Indo-Iranian family of Indo-European languages, historically spoken across Iran, Central Asia, and surrounding regions, including major languages such as Persian (Farsi), Pashto, and Kurdish.
C. Avestan language
The Avestan language is an ancient Eastern Iranian language known primarily as the liturgical language of Zoroastrianism and the sacred texts of the Avesta.
D. Persian
Persian refers to the Iranian ethnic group historically centered in Persia (modern-day Iran), renowned for its influential role in the Achaemenid Empire and broader Middle Eastern history and culture.
E. Judeo-Persian
Judeo-Persian is a group of Persian dialects historically spoken and written by Jewish communities in Iran, typically using the Hebrew script and incorporating Hebrew and Aramaic elements.
F. None of above. chosen
G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.

NED2 Entity disambiguation (via description) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Middle Persian language
Target entity description: Middle Persian language was the historical Iranian language of the Sasanian Empire and a direct ancestor of modern Persian (Farsi).

A. Persian language
Persian language is a major modern Iranian language spoken primarily in Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan, known for its rich literary tradition and historical influence across the Middle East and Central Asia.
B. Iranian languages
Iranian languages are a branch of the Indo-Iranian family of Indo-European languages, historically spoken across Iran, Central Asia, and surrounding regions, including major languages such as Persian (Farsi), Pashto, and Kurdish.
C. Avestan language
The Avestan language is an ancient Eastern Iranian language known primarily as the liturgical language of Zoroastrianism and the sacred texts of the Avesta.
D. Persian
Persian refers to the Iranian ethnic group historically centered in Persia (modern-day Iran), renowned for its influential role in the Achaemenid Empire and broader Middle Eastern history and culture.
E. Judeo-Persian
Judeo-Persian is a group of Persian dialects historically spoken and written by Jewish communities in Iran, typically using the Hebrew script and incorporating Hebrew and Aramaic elements.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (49)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	Indo-European language ⓘ Indo-Iranian language ⓘ Iranian language ⓘ Western Middle Iranian language ⓘ
alternativeName	Fars ⓘ surface form: Middle Fars Pahlavi ⓘ Middle Persian language ⓘ surface form: Sasanian Pahlavi
attestedFrom	3rd century BCE ⓘ
attestedUntil	9th century CE ⓘ
developedFrom	Old Persian ⓘ
directAncestorOf	Farsi ⓘ Persian language ⓘ surface form: Modern Persian
era	c. 3rd century BCE to 9th century CE ⓘ
followedBy	Western Persian ⓘ surface form: New Persian
follows	Old Persian ⓘ
glottocode	midd1356 ⓘ
hasFeature	extensive use of heterograms (Aramaeograms) ⓘ
historicalLanguageOf	Sasanian Empire ⓘ
influenced	Persian language ⓘ surface form: Classical Persian Persian language ⓘ surface form: Dari Persian Tajik language ⓘ surface form: Tajik Persian
ISO639-2Code	pal ⓘ
ISO639-3Code	pal ⓘ
languageBranch	Indo-Iranian languages ⓘ
languageFamily	Indo-European language family ⓘ surface form: Indo-European languages
officialLanguageOf	Sasanian Empire ⓘ
primaryScriptOrigin	Aramaic alphabet (historically) ⓘ surface form: Aramaic script
region	Fars ⓘ Iranian plateau ⓘ surface form: Iranian Plateau Pars ⓘ
religionAssociatedWith	Manichaeism ⓘ Zoroastrianism ⓘ
scriptType	abjad ⓘ
standardFormOf	Southwestern Middle Iranian dialects ⓘ
subBranch	Iranian languages ⓘ Southwestern Iranian languages ⓘ Western Iranian languages ⓘ
usedFor	Manichaean texts ⓘ Zoroastrian texts ⓘ administration ⓘ religious literature ⓘ royal inscriptions ⓘ
usedIn	Parthian Empire ⓘ surface form: Parthian Empire (late period) Sasanian Empire ⓘ
writingDirection	right-to-left ⓘ
writingSystem	Avestan script (for Zoroastrian texts) ⓘ Book Pahlavi script ⓘ Inscriptional Pahlavi block ⓘ surface form: Inscriptional Pahlavi script Pahlavi script ⓘ surface form: Psalter Pahlavi script