Frā and Hā as Adpositions in Persian Texts

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Ph.D. student Department of Ancient Iranian Culture and Languages, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.

2 Professor, Linguistics Department, Allameh Tabataba'i, Tehran, Iran

3 Associate Professor, Linguistics Department, Allameh Tabataba'i, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Some Persian literary texts exhibit features that are less commonly observed in other texts from the Islamic era, however their origins can be traced back to ancient Iranian languages. One such feature is the use of frā and hā as adpositions and verbal prefixes. In some of these texts, frā is used, while in others, its variant hā is employed. In Tāj al-Tarājim, both forms are used. This article examines the evolution of frā in terms of form and function across the ancient periods of Iranian languages, highlighting its change from an adverb to an adposition and a verbal prefix. In Avestan, frā is an adverb meaning ‘forward’ or ‘ahead’. In some contexts, it lost its semantic function, and its placement before other sentence elements has led to its reanalysis as an adposition. In sentences, its proximity to the verb gradually causes it to become a verbal prefix. In Middle Persian and Parthian texts, frā mostly survived as a residual element in the structure of certain words. However, in some Persian literary texts, it continues to function as a verbal prefix or an adposition indicating the semantic roles of theme and goal of motion verbs. Through phonetic changes, f

Keywords

Main Subjects

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics