Editing Persian language (section)

===Old Persian===
{{Main|Old Persian}}
[[File:Persépolis. Inscription.jpg|thumb|right|An [[Old Persian]] inscription written in [[Old Persian cuneiform]] in [[Persepolis]], Iran]]
As a [[written language]], Old Persian is attested in royal [[Achaemenid Empire|Achaemenid]] inscriptions. The oldest known text written in Old Persian is from the [[Behistun Inscription]], dating to the time of King [[Darius I]] (reigned 522–486 BC).{{sfn|Schmitt|2008|pp=80–1}}{{citation not found|date=January 2024}} Examples of Old Persian have been found in what is now [[Iran]], Romania ([[Gherla]]),{{sfn|Kuhrt|2013|page=197}}{{sfn|Frye|1984|page=103}}{{sfn|Schmitt|2000|page=53}} [[Armenia]], [[Bahrain]], [[Iraq]], Turkey, and [[Egypt]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.avesta.org/op/op.htm |title=Roland G. Kent, Old Persian, 1953 |access-date=5 September 2015 |archive-date=19 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170719155757/http://avesta.org/op/op.htm |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="OPGTL 6">Kent, R. G.: "Old Persian: Grammar Texts Lexicon", page 6. American Oriental Society, 1950.</ref> Old Persian is one of the earliest attested Indo-European languages.<ref name=EI-IL-vi-vi(2)>{{harvnb|Skjærvø|2006|loc=vi(2). Documentation. Old Persian.}}</ref>

According to certain historical assumptions about the early history and origin of ancient Persians in [[Fars province|Southwestern Iran]] (where Achaemenids hailed from), Old Persian was originally spoken by a tribe called ''Parsuwash'', who arrived in the [[Iranian Plateau]] early in the 1st millennium BCE and finally migrated down into the area of present-day Fārs province. Their language, Old Persian, became the official language of the Achaemenid kings.<ref name=EI-IL-vi-vi(2)/> Assyrian records, which in fact appear to provide the earliest evidence for ancient Iranian (Persian and Median) presence on the Iranian Plateau, give a good chronology but only an approximate geographical indication of what seem to be ancient Persians. In these records of the 9th century BCE, ''Parsuwash'' (along with ''Matai'', presumably Medians) are first mentioned in the area of [[Lake Urmia]] in the records of [[Shalmaneser III]].<ref name=EI-IL-vi-vi(1)>{{harvnb|Skjærvø|2006|loc=vi(1). Earliest Evidence}}</ref> The exact identity of the Parsuwash is not known for certain, but from a linguistic viewpoint the word matches Old Persian {{lang|peo-Latn|pārsa}} itself coming directly from the older word {{lang|peo-Latn|*pārćwa}}.<ref name=EI-IL-vi-vi(1)/> Also, as Old Persian contains many words from another extinct Iranian language, [[Median language|Median]], according to [[Prods Oktor Skjaervo|P. O. Skjærvø]] it is probable that Old Persian had already been spoken before the formation of the [[Achaemenid Empire]] and was spoken during most of the first half of the first millennium BCE.<ref name=EI-IL-vi-vi(2)/> [[Xenophon]], a Greek general serving in some of the Persian expeditions, describes many aspects of Armenian village life and hospitality in around 401 BCE, which is when Old Persian was still spoken and extensively used. He relates that the [[Armenian people]] spoke a [[Armenian language|language]] that to his ear sounded like the language of the Persians.<ref>{{cite book |author=Xenophon |author-link=Xenophon |title=Anabasis |pages=IV.v.2–9 |title-link=Anabasis (Xenophon)}}</ref>

Related to Old Persian, but from a different branch of the Iranian language family, was [[Avestan]], the language of the [[Zoroastrianism|Zoroastrian]] liturgical texts.