Everything about Mazandarani Language totally explained
Mazandarani or
Tabari (
Also known as: Mazeniki, Taperki) is an
Iranian language of the northwestern branch. Spoken mainly in
Iran's
Mazandaran and
Golestan provinces, it's partially, but not fully, intelligible with respect to
Persian. There are many similarities in grammar and vocabulary which render the Mazandarani and the standard
Persian, moderately intelligible between speakers of either. . In addition, virtually all speakers of Mazandarani are also fluent in standard
Persian.
Etymology
The name
Mazanderani (and variants of it) derives from the name of now Caspian Province of
Mazanderan (
Mazerun in Mazanderani), which was part of former
Kingdom of Tapuria. People traditionally call their language
Gileki, the same as
Gilekis do.
Gileki consist of two morphemes :
Gil + postfix
ki. The name
Tapuri (or
Tabari) which was the name of an ancient language of somewhere in former Tapuria, Nowadays becomes prevalent into youth groups instead of Gileki.
However the fact is Gilan & Mazanderan were part of the same state known as Tapuria which it's national language was known as Gileki.
History
Among the living
Iranian languages, Mazandarani has one of the longest written traditions, from the tenth to the fifteenth century. This status was achieved during the long reign of the independent and semi-independent rulers of
Mazandaran in the centuries after the Arab invasion.
The rich literature of this language includes books such as
Marzban Nameh (later translated into Persian) and the poetry of
Amir Pazevari. The use of Mazandarani, however, has been in decline. Its literary and administrative rank was lost to Persian perhaps long before the ultimate integration of
Mazandaran into the national administration in the early seventeenth century. .
The Mazandarani language is closely related to
Gilaki and the two languages have similar vocabularies. Notably, the language didn't come under the influence of other incoming languages such as
Arabic and
Turkish. According to
Ethnologue, there were more than three million native speakers of Mazandarani in
1993 speaking different dialects such as Gorgani, Ghadikolahi and Palani
Grammar
Mazanderani is an
inflected and
gender free language.
It is considered SVO in conventional typology. .
Morphology
Function Cases
| Case |
Position |
Meaning |
|
Səre-a
|
Nominative
|
The Home
|
|
Səre re
|
Accusative
|
To the Home
|
|
Səreo
|
Vocative
|
Home!
|
|
Səreşe
|
Genitive
|
Home’s
|
|
Səre re
|
Dative
|
To the Home
|
|
Səre Həje
|
Ablative
|
By the Home
|
|
Adjectives
| Adjective |
Position |
Meaning |
|
And-e Səre
|
Applicative
|
|
|
Gat Səre
|
Comparative
|
Big Home
|
|
Ota Səre
|
Determinative
|
That Home
|
| Səre
|
Superlative
|
Xaar Səre
|
|
Suffixes
Mazandarani is one of
Synthetic languages which uses many suffixes to construct adjectives, verbs, and especially nouns. The list below is a sample list obtained from the
Online Mazandarani-Persian dictionary
.
Locatives
|
Suffix
|
Example
|
Meaning
|
|
Kash
|
Kharkash
|
Good Place
|
|
Kel
|
Tutkel
|
Mulberry Limit
|
|
Ij
|
Yoshij
|
Yoshian
|
|
Bun
|
Chenarbon
|
At the Plantain
|
|
Ja
|
Səre Ja
|
Of Home
|
|
Sar
|
Bənesar
|
At the Below
|
|
Subjectives
|
Suffix
|
Example
|
Meaning
|
|
Chaf
|
Au Chaf
|
Water Sucker
|
|
Rush
|
Halikrush
|
Drupelet Seller
|
|
Su
|
Vərgsu
|
Wolf Hunter
|
|
Kaf
|
Ukaf
|
Who acts in water
|
|
Vej
|
Galvej
|
Mouse Finder
|
|
Yel
|
vəngyel
|
Bandmaster
|
|
Orthography
Perso-Arabic Script
Mazanderani is commonly written in the
Perso-Arabic script.
Romanization
Jahangir Nasr Ashrafi proposed Latin scripture of this language to be used in dictionaries and other textural resources for compatibly of foreigners.
It is also being usable in
Chat,
Email and
SMS messages.
Vocabulary
Although Mazandarani shares the great part of its vocabulary with
Gilaki (due to fact that it belongs to Caspian group of languages) and to lesser extend Modern Kurdish & Persian, it has many specific words of its own. Many
Proto Indo-Iranian words, no longer in use in Persian, survive in Mazanderani.
Sheltered by high Alborz mountains, Mazandarani preserves many Indo-European old words which are no longer in common use in many other
Iranian languages such as
Persian.
Below, a few common Mazanderani words & their
English cognates are listed for sample.
| English |
Mazanderani |
Persian |
Example of |
| New |
Neu |
Nau/no |
Adjective |
| Great |
Geat |
Bozorg |
Adjective |
| Better |
Better |
Behtar |
Adverb |
| Been |
Bine |
Budeh/Shodeh |
Auxiliary Verb |
| Be |
Be |
Budan |
Infinitive of Verb |
| Moon |
Moong |
Mâh |
Noun |
| Tulip |
Tulip |
Lâleh |
Noun |
| Cow |
Guw |
Gâv Mâda |
Noun |
| My |
Me |
az man |
Pronoun |
| Let (German: Lass) |
Lass |
Derang |
Verb |
| Gab |
Gab |
Goftogu |
Verb |
| Right |
Rast |
Râst/Haq/Amud |
|
Colloquial Mazandarani has also a few Nordic, French, English, and a handful of Russian loan words in everyday use.
Influences exerted by Mazanderani
Modern-day of Iran
There are many popular companies in Iran that their name are from the origin words of this language.
In non-Iranian languages
There are some Mazanderani loanwords in the
Turkmen language.
There is also evidence that
Sanskrit and Mazanderani share some words - for instance,
vrika is Sanskrit for wolf, while the Mazenderan equivalent is
varg as well it's swedish cognate,
varg.
Specimen
ozεrε-vâ énε dámbe sεvâí
iấnnε búye dεlbárrε dεvấi
qam o qossέye dεl vónε kεnârí
me jấne gεl dénε búye xεdâí
|
|
|
At break of dawn blows the cool breeze.
It brings over the healing odor of the beloved.
The sorrow of the heart will go away.
My dear flower smells like God.
|
|
| |
|
basutέ sinέye miónnε hấreš!
tévεsse – nấzεnin! – baímε nâxεš
tε armúne dέl i, εy nâzεnin yâr!
tévεsse mέsle bεlbεl zámbε nâlεš
|
|
|
|
|
Look at the middle of the burnt chest!
For you – O loveable! – I'm unwell.
You are the heart’s aspiration, O beloved!
For you I moan like a nightingale.
|
|
|
|
Dεl-e armun “Heart’s Aspiration”
Rezaqoli Mohammadi Kordekheyli
Transcribed and translated by: Habib Borjian |
mosalmunun! mέrε šabgir varέnnε
āx, mέrε bā kamεr-e haftir varέnnε
mέrε bavέrdεnε Tεrkεmun-e dam
Tεrkεmun kāfεr o gεlilε be-ra:m
Moslems! They are carrying me at the crack of dawn.
O, they're taking me away with a pistol on the[ir] waist.
They took me to the vicinity of the Turkmen [tribes].
Turkmen [are] unbelievers and the bullet [is] ruthless.
gεtε,
ašun xō badimā mεn še Ali-rε
sio dasmāl davέsso še gali-rε
age xā́nnε bā́urεn ámi badi-rε
bázεne xεrusεk šέme gali-rε
volvol sar-e dār gέnε εy zāri-zāri
me gol dāš báio sarbāz-e Sāri
He would say,
Last night I dreamed my Ali.
He [had] wrapped a black kerchief [round] his throat.
If it's their intention is malignant about us,
May croup-cough attack your throat!
The nightingale on the tree constantly bemoans (?)
My dear brother drafted in Sāri.
Quatrains sang by Sabura Azizi, transcribed and translated by Habib Borjian; Ref. Habib Borjian and Maryam Borjian, “Mysterious Memories of a Woman: Ethno-Linguistic Materials from Rural Mazandaran,” Iran and the Caucasus 11/2, 2007.
|
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|
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