Middle Iranian languages

E133967

group of languages historical language stage

Middle Iranian languages are the historically intermediate stage of the Iranian branch of Indo-Iranian, spoken roughly between the 4th century BCE and the 9th century CE and including languages such as Middle Persian, Parthian, and Sogdian.

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

All labels observed (4)

Label	Occurrences
Middle Iranian period	4
Middle Iranian languages canonical	3
Eastern Middle Iranian languages	1
Tumshuqese Middle Iranian	1

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T1023285 — 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 Iranian languages
Context triple: [Iranian languages, hasStage, Middle Iranian languages]

A. Old Iranian languages
Old Iranian languages are the earliest attested branch of the Iranian language family, including ancient tongues such as Avestan and Old Persian used in early Iranian civilizations.
B. Eastern Iranian languages
Eastern Iranian languages are a subgroup of the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian language family, comprising languages such as Pashto and Ossetian spoken mainly in eastern Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and parts of Central Asia and the Caucasus.
C. Judeo-Iranian languages
Judeo-Iranian languages are a group of Iranian languages traditionally spoken and written by Jewish communities in Iran and surrounding regions, often featuring Hebrew and Aramaic influences.
D. Southeastern Iranian languages
Southeastern Iranian languages are a subgroup of the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian language family, historically spoken in eastern Iran and surrounding regions and including languages such as Pashto and Ossetian.
E. Northwestern Iranian languages
Northwestern Iranian languages are a subgroup of the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian language family, encompassing several related languages spoken primarily in western Iran, the Caucasus, and surrounding regions.
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 Iranian languages
Target entity description: Middle Iranian languages are the historically intermediate stage of the Iranian branch of Indo-Iranian, spoken roughly between the 4th century BCE and the 9th century CE and including languages such as Middle Persian, Parthian, and Sogdian.

A. Old Iranian languages
Old Iranian languages are the earliest attested branch of the Iranian language family, including ancient tongues such as Avestan and Old Persian used in early Iranian civilizations.
B. Eastern Iranian languages
Eastern Iranian languages are a subgroup of the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian language family, comprising languages such as Pashto and Ossetian spoken mainly in eastern Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and parts of Central Asia and the Caucasus.
C. Judeo-Iranian languages
Judeo-Iranian languages are a group of Iranian languages traditionally spoken and written by Jewish communities in Iran and surrounding regions, often featuring Hebrew and Aramaic influences.
D. Southeastern Iranian languages
Southeastern Iranian languages are a subgroup of the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian language family, historically spoken in eastern Iran and surrounding regions and including languages such as Pashto and Ossetian.
E. Northwestern Iranian languages
Northwestern Iranian languages are a subgroup of the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian language family, encompassing several related languages spoken primarily in western Iran, the Caucasus, and surrounding regions.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (56)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	group of languages ⓘ historical language stage ⓘ
endTime	9th century CE ⓘ
fieldOfStudy	Iranology ⓘ linked to: Iranian studies
followedBy	New Iranian languages ⓘ
follows	Old Iranian languages ⓘ
hasChronologicalPosition	between Old Iranian and New Iranian stages ⓘ
hasMorphologicalFeature	increased use of analytic constructions ⓘ reduction of case system compared to Old Iranian ⓘ
hasPart	Bactrian ⓘ linked to: Bactrians Book Pahlavi ⓘ linked to: Avesta Inscriptional Pahlavi ⓘ linked to: Inscriptional Pahlavi block Khotanese ⓘ linked to: Khotanese language Khwarezmian ⓘ Manichaean Middle Persian ⓘ linked to: Middle Persian language Middle Ossetic ⓘ linked to: Ossetian language Middle Parthian ⓘ linked to: Parthian language Middle Persian ⓘ linked to: Middle Persian language Middle Persian of Fars ⓘ linked to: Middle Persian language Middle Saka ⓘ linked to: Saka Middle Scythian ⓘ linked to: Scythian languages Pahlavi ⓘ Parthian ⓘ linked to: Parthian language Parthian of northeastern Iran ⓘ linked to: Parthia Saka languages ⓘ Sogdian ⓘ linked to: Sogdian language Sogdian of Sogdia ⓘ linked to: Sogdians
hasPhonologicalFeature	loss of final short vowels in many languages ⓘ
hasSyntacticFeature	tendency toward fixed word order compared to Old Iranian ⓘ
historicalPeriod	Hellenistic period ⓘ Parthian Empire ⓘ Sasanian Empire ⓘ early Islamic period ⓘ
influenced	Kurdish languages ⓘ New Persian ⓘ linked to: Western Persian Ossetic ⓘ linked to: Ossetian language Pashto ⓘ linked to: Pashto language Yaghnobi language ⓘ linked to: Pamir languages
partOf	Indo-European languages ⓘ linked to: Indo-European language family Indo-Iranian languages ⓘ Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian languages ⓘ
startTime	4th century BCE ⓘ
studiedBy	Iranian linguistics ⓘ
subclassOf	Iranian languages ⓘ
usedIn	Caucasus region ⓘ Central Asia ⓘ Iranian Plateau ⓘ linked to: Iranian plateau Mesopotamia ⓘ South Asia ⓘ
writingSystem	Avestan script ⓘ Bactrian Greek script ⓘ linked to: Bactrian script Brahmi script ⓘ Kharosthi script ⓘ linked to: Kharoṣṭhī script Manichaean script ⓘ Pahlavi scripts ⓘ linked to: Pahlavi script Sogdian script ⓘ linked to: Sogdian alphabet

How these facts were elicited