Persian Manual (Clarke)/Part 1/On the Letters and Parts of Speech

by H. Wilberforce Clarke

Layout 2

PERSIAN MANUAL

PART I.

SECTION I.

ON THE LETTERS AND PARTS OF SPEECH.

1. The Persian Alphabet consists of thirty- two letters. Of these twenty are common to the Persians and Arabs, eight are peculiar to the Arabs, and four to the Persians.

These thirty-two letters are to be considered as consonants, and are written from right to left ; con- sequently their books and manuscripts begin at what we call the end.

The letters often assume a different form according to their position in the formation of a word. Thus there will be in many cases three distinct forms ; namely, the initial, the medial, the final.

In the following Table we have in column 1, the names of the letters in the Persian character; in column 2, the names of the letters in the Roman character; in column 3, the detached forms of the

letters ; and, in column 4, the corresponding English letters.

( 2 )

the persi-arabic alphabet.
name.	detached form.	power.	combined form.			exemplification.
			Final.	Medial.	Initial.	Final.		Medial.	Initial.
الف alif	ا	a, etc.	ـا	ا	ا	وا	جا	نار	اب
بیِ[1] be	ب	b	ـب	ـبـ	بـ	باب	شب	مَبَر	بَر
پي pe	پ	p	ـپ	ـپـ	پـ	آپ	چُپ	سِپَر	پُر
تي te	ت	t	ـت	ـتـ	تـ	پُوت	دَس‍ت	سَتَر	تَپ
جِیم jīm	ج	j	ـج	ـجـ	جـ	کاج	کَج	شَجَر	جَنَر
چي che	چ	ch	ـچ	ـچـ	چـ	کُوچ	هیچ	عَچَه	چُپ
حي ḥe	ح	ḥ	ـح	ـحـ	حـ	رُوح	مُح	حَرَ	حَرّ
خي khe	خ	kh	ـخ	ـخـ	خـ	شاخ	یِخ	سُخم	خَر
دال dāl	د	d	ـد	ـد	د	صاد	صَد	فدا	دُرّ
ذال zāl	ذ	z	ـذ	ـذ	ذ	باذ	کاغَذ	نذر	ذم
ري re	ر	r	ـر	ـر	ر	مار	مَر	مَرد	رم
زي ze	ز	z	ـز	ـز	ز	باز	گَز	بَزَم	زر
ژی zhe	ژ	zh	ـژ	ـژ	ژ	کاژ	پاپُژ	غّژُب	ژَرْف
سین sīn	س	s	ـس	ـسـ	سـ	باس	بَس	فَسَق	سَر
شِین shīn

name.	detached form.	power.	combined form.			exemplification.
			Final.	Medial.	Initial.	Final.		Medial.	Initial.
صاد ṣād	ص	ṣ	ـص	ـصـ	صـ	ناص	نص	فّصُد	صّد

2. It will be observed that ا, د, ذ, ر, ز, ژ, و do not alter in shape, whether initial, medial, or final; neither do they unite with the letter following to the left. The letters ط, ظ, do not alter ; but they always unite with the letter following to the left. The eight letters peculiar to Arabic are-- ث, ح, ص, ط, ظ, ع, ق. They appear only in words purely, or originally, Arabic. The four letters peculiar to Persian are پ, چ, ژ, گ.

Pronunciation of the Letters

3. ت t. The sound of this letter is softer and more dental than that of the English t ; it is identical with the Sanskrit त.

ث ṥ is sounded by the Arabs like th in the words thick, thin; by the Persians as s in the words sick, sin.

چ ch has the sound of ch in the word church.

ح h is a strong aspirate like h in the word haul; it is uttered by compressing the lower muscles of the throat.

خ kh has a sound like ch in the word loch, as pronounced by a Scotchman.

د d is more dental than the English d.

ز z is sounded by the Arabs like th in the words thy, thine ; by the Persians as z in zeal. ر r is sounded as r in the French word pardon.

ژ zh is pronounced like j in the French word jour ; or as z in the word azure.

ش sh is sounded as in shun, shine.

ص ṣ has a stronger and more hissing sound than our s.

ض z is pronounced by the Arabs as a hard d or dt; by the Persians as z.

ط,ظ t and z in Persian are sounded like ت t, and ز z.

غ gh is like the letter r as pronounced by a Scotchman.

ق ḳ resembles the letter c in cup, calm.

ك k is sounded like k in king, kalendar.

گ g is sounded like g in go, give ; never as g in gem, gentle.

ل l is sounded like l in law. When alif is combined with it, the two take the form of لا or نلا^[2].

ن n at the Beginning of a word, or syllable, is sounded like n ; at the end of a word or syllable, if preceded by a long vowel, it has a soft nasal sound bike that of n in the French word garçon. When followed by the labials ب b, پ p, ف f, it assumes the sound of m, as in the word گنبد, gumbad, not gunbad.

ه h is an aspirate like h in heart, hand; but at the end of a word, if preceded by the short vowel a (fatḥa), it has no sensible sound, as in دّانة, dānǎ, "a grain." In this case, it is called هائ مختفي hā,e-mukhtafī or obscure h.

In a few words, where the fatḥa is a substitute for the long vowel alif, the final ه is fully sounded; as--

شه shah [for شاه shāh] " a king."

مه mah [for ماه māh] " a month."

ره rah [for راه rāh] " a road."

It is sounded in دّه dah, " ten," and all its compounds. It is imperceptible in the words که ki and چه chi, with their compounds, whether conjunctions or pronouns. A Persian word ending in the obscure ة h will have the h omitted when written in Roman characters ; as نامة nāma [not nāmah] "a letter," or "written communication."

4. It is difficult to distinguish between the sounds of the letters forming one of the following groups :

ح هع ات طز ض ظث س ص

The Persians never attempt to pronounce them as the Arabs ; they content themselves by sounding them according to the Persian letters, to which they most nearly assimilate. Observation—

5. When s and h, or z and h, represent two separate letters following each other, as in اسْهَل as,hal, " more or most easy' and اَزهار az,hār, "plants," a comma will be inserted, as shown in the examples.

At the end of Arabic words ه h is often marked with two dots, thus ة, and sounded like t. In such words the Persians generally convert the ة into ت t; sometimes they leave the ة unaltered, and frequently they omit the two dots, in which case the letter becomes imperceptible in sound.

Vowels and Orthographical Signs.

6. The primitive vowels in Arabic and Persian are three in number.

The first is called فَتْحَه fatḥa, and is written thus -َ, over the consonant to which it belongs. It is represented by the letter a in calendar.

The second is called کَسْرَه kasra, and is written thus -ِ, under the consonant to which it belongs. It is represented by the letter i in sip, or fin. In the Roman character it is represented by i unaccented.

The third is ضَمّه ẓamma, which is written thus -ُ, over its consonant. Its sound is like that of u in the words pull, push ; or like oo in foot, hood ; its sound is never that of u in use, perfume. In the Roman character it is represented by u unaccented.

In Persian these three short vowels are called respectively—

زَبَر zabar, " above."

زیر zer, "beneath."

پیش pesh, in front.

7. When a consonant is accompanied by one of the three vowels, fatḥa, kasra, or ẓamma, it is said to be مُتَحَرِّك mutaḥarrik, or moveable.

In Persian and Arabic, the first letter of a word is always accompanied, or moveable, by a vowel.When, in the middle or at the end of a word, a consonant is not accompanied by a vowel, it is said to be ساکن sākin, quiescent, or inert. Thus in the word مَرْدُم mardum, the م is moveable by fatḥa; the ر is inert, having no vowel ; د is moveable by ẓamma, and, finally, the م is inert. The symbol ْ called جزْم jazm, is placed over a consonant to show that it is inert, as in the example مَرْدُم mardum, "a man."

In Persian the last letter of a word is generally inert ; hence jazm is omitted.

1. Transcriber's Note: Also can be به
2. Transcriber's Note: The nūn is used as a placeholder for any preceding consonant.