Avesta -- Zoroastrian Archives

Encoding and pronunciation of Avesta graphemes

sort order = aA&@bjdDeE=%fgKhQiIJklmMnN#*oOprscC$tT+uUvVwxqyYzZ

ASCII   HTML           description    pronunciation
  a      a             a              as in German, or as a in 'father'
  A      â (â)   a-macron       as a in 'father' only lengthened
  &      ã (ã)  a-tilde        as 'an' in French enfant, a nasalized 'a' 
  @      å (å)   a-ring         as aw in 'saw'
  b      b             b              as in English
  j      c             c              as ch in 'church'
  d      d             d              as in English
  D      dh (or eth=ð) delta (or eth) as th in 'that', a voiced th
  e      e             schwa          as u in 'but'
  E      ê (ê)   schwa-macron   as u in 'but', only lengthened
  =      e             e              as in German, or e in 'bed'
  %      ê (ê)   e-macron       as in German only lengthened or a in 'made'
  f      f             f              as in English
  g      g             g              as in English
  K      kh            gamma          voiced x (often transcribed gh)
  h      h             h              as in English
  Q      h'            h-ogonek       as h, possibly stronger (before y)
  i      i             i              as in German, or i in 'it'
  I      î (î)   i-macron       as i in 'it' only lengthened
  J      j             j              as in English
  k      k             k              as in English
  l      l             l              as in English (not used in Avesta)
  m      m             m              as in English
  M      hm            hm-ligature    m which has become voiceless after h
  n      n             n              as in English
  N      ng            n-long-tailed  nh (gutteral nasal) before stops
  #      ñ (ñ)  n-tilde        as n (used before stopped consonents)
  *      ng            n-ogonek       as nh
  o      o             o              as in German, or o in 'rope'
  O      ô (ô)   o-macron       as o in 'rope' only lengthened (or o in 'Minnesota')
  p      p             p              as in English
  r      r             r              as in English
  s      s             s              as in English
  c      sh            s-hacek        as sh in 'show' (palatal)
  C      sh            s-hacek-ogonek as sh in 'show' only more retroflex
  $      sh            s-hacek-cedilla  as sh in 'show' (used before y)  
                                      (sometimes transcribed by s-acute)
  t      t             t              as in French 'tout' (dental, i.e. with tongue at same
                                      position as for English th in 'thin')
  T      t             t-ogonek       as t in 'try'
  +      th            theta          as th in 'thing'
  u      u             u              as in German, or u in 'put'
  U      û (û)   u-macron       as oo in 'book'
  v      v             v              as w in Dutch water (a bilabial semivowel similar to Engl.
                                      v but not a fricative) (Humbach transcribes 'uu')
  V      v             v-acute        as v above (used initially with a few exceptions)
  w      w             w              as in English
  x      x             x              as German ch, or ch in Scottish 'loch'
  q      xv            x-superscript-v  as x (as above) with v immediately following
  y      y             y              as in English (Humbach transcribes 'ii')
  Y      ý (ý)  y-acute        as y above (used initially)
  z      z             z              as in English
  Z      zh            z-hacek        as z in 'azure'

Note:

HTML does not currently allow for the accurate representation of all Avesta graphemes. In particular, the shwa, and different forms of "n", "sh", and "t" are not distinguished. Thus the ASCII-encoded versions are preferred for research purposes.

Other notes on pronunciation

as bite
ao
as out
ere
much like 'pretty' (when pronounced 'peretty') e.g. peresat

ASCII-encoded version of Avesta Corpus:

[ Khorda Avesta (90K) | Yasna (84K) | Visperad (14K) | Vendidad (51K) | Fragments (37K)]

The data encoded during this phase of the project, with the exception of Avesta fragments, is taken from Geldner's edition of the Avesta. It was decided to start with the Avestan and Pazand portions only, omitting such things as page numbering, headings, and critical apparatus. Ellipses have not been filled in with the exception of "Yazamaide" for "Y..." in Yt13. Note that all ellipses, which are variously marked in the manuscripts and by Geldner, are all marked by "...". This text will be expanded later to include critical apparatus and expand ellipses.

In this edition, Pazand passages, which are marked by Geldner with a smaller type font, are here enclosed in parentheses. Geldner's versification has been preserved by preceding lines of verse with 5 blank spaces (ASCII 32), and by following each line with a line feed (ASCII 10). Numbers which are written in Pazand words by Geldner are here reduced to the equivalent Arabic numerals.

Sample text: Y0

(pa n&m i Yazd&)
1 aCem VohU>(1 u 3).
fravarAn= mazdayasnO zara+uctric VIda%vO ahura-Tka%CO, hAvanE= aCaon= aCah= ra+w= YasnAija VahmAija xCnao+rAija frasastaya%ja, sAvaNhE= VIsyAija aCaon= aCah= ra+w= YasnAija VahmAija xCnao+rAija frasastaya%ja.
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