Median language

The Median language (Mede language) was the language of Medes, the ancient peoples which inhabitted modern Northwest Iran. It's a common belief that Median was a Western Iranian language, classified with Persian, Parthian, Baluchi, Kurdish and others .

Although the Medes and Persians were closely connected, and there is nothing to justify us in looking for the true Median language either in the Old Persian cuneiform writings of the second class or in the Zend Avesta. On the other side, Strabo, in his "Geography", mentions the affinity of Mede with other Iranian languages:

"The name of Ariana is further extended to a part of Persia and of Median Dynasty, as also to the Bactrians and Sogdians on the north; for these speak approximately the same language, with but slight variations." (Geography, 15.8)

Mede words in Old Persian or Aryan are common, as these two languages were from a common origin. For example, Herodotus mentions the word Spaka (dog), still found in Iranic languages such as Talyshi. The following Iranian words are similarly thought to be of Mede origin (I.M Diakonoff, Medes)

• Farnah: Divine glory; (also appears in Avestan),
• Paridaiza: Paradise, (as in Pardis پردیس)
• Vazraka: Great, (as modern Persian Bozorg بزرگ),
• Vispa: All, (as in Avestan),
• Mithra: The yazata,
• Xshayathiya (King).

Controversy

Despite the theory claiming Median language being Iranian above, in 1890, in the article "The Early Races of Western Asia", C.R.Conder writes the following:

The Turanian language of Media, known through the trilingual inscriptions of Darius at Behistun, first read by Norris, and deeply studied by Dr. Oppert, is stated by the latter great authority to approach most closely to the Turkic group. We as yet only possess about 200 words of this tongue; but as these are written syllabically, there is less doubt about their pronunciation than is sometimes the case in Akkadian. The Medic language is not the same Akkadian, though in syntax and in vocabulary it presents a very marked connection. Considering the difference of some 2,000 years in date, and 400 miles in distance, there can be no real doubt that the two languages are of the same stock, and probably belonged to the same original race".