CAMBRIDGE LIBRARY COLLECTION Books of enduring scholarly value Linguistics From the earliest surviving glossaries and translations to nineteenth-century academic philology and the growth of linguistics during the twentieth century, language has been the subject both of scholarly investigation and of practical handbooks produced for the upwardly mobile, as well as for travellers, traders, soldiers, missionaries and explorers. This collection will reissue a wide range of texts pertaining to language, including the work of Latin grammarians, groundbreaking early publications in Indo-European studies, accounts of indigenous languages, many of them now extinct, and texts by pioneering figures such as Jacob Grimm, Wilhelm von Humboldt and Ferdinand de Saussure. Über das Alter und die Echtheit der Zend-Sprache und des Zend-Avesta, und Herstellung des Zend-Alphabets Rasmus Rask (1787–1832) was a Danish scholar who, having devoted the early part of his career to the Old Norse and Anglo-Saxon languages and literature, embarked upon a journey overland through Russia and Persia to India in search of the cradle of the Indo-European languages. He was delighted to rediscover the Avestan Zoroastrian texts preserved by the Parsis which Anquetil du Perron had first reported on sixty years earlier, and further Avestan materials, as well as a lively Zoroastrian community. On his return, he published, first in Danish and then in this German translation (1826), a thorough phonological and morphological analysis which showed that, contrary to the opinion of Anquetil’s opponents, the Avestan language and its religious texts were neither a dim folk memory or a deliberate coinage based on Sanskrit. Rask established that Avestan is a very ancient language, with origins in Persia, that it could provide important insights into cuneiform writings, and that it is an important early member of the Indo- European language family. Cambridge University Press has long been a pioneer in the reissuing of out-of-print titles from its own backlist, producing digital reprints of books that are still sought after by scholars and students but could not be reprinted economically using traditional technology. The Cambridge Library Collection extends this activity to a wider range of books which are still of importance to researchers and professionals, either for the source material they contain, or as landmarks in the history of their academic discipline. Drawing from the world-renowned collections in the Cambridge University Library, and guided by the advice of experts in each subject area, Cambridge University Press is using state-of-the-art scanning machines in its own Printing House to capture the content of each book selected for inclusion. The files are processed to give a consistently clear, crisp image, and the books finished to the high quality standard for which the Press is recognised around the world. The latest print-on-demand technology ensures that the books will remain available indefinitely, and that orders for single or multiple copies can quickly be supplied. The Cambridge Library Collection will bring back to life books of enduring scholarly value (including out-of-copyright works originally issued by other publishers) across a wide range of disciplines in the humanities and social sciences and in science and technology. Über das Alter und die Echtheit der Zend-Sprache und des Zend-Avesta, und Herstellung des Zend-Alphabets Nebst einer Übersicht des gesammten Sprachstammes Rasmus Rask CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paolo, Delhi, Dubai, Tokyo Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781108006613 © in this compilation Cambridge University Press 2009 This edition first published 1826 This digitally printed version 2009 ISBN 978-1-108-00661-3 Paperback This book reproduces the text of the original edition. The content and language reflect the beliefs, practices and terminology of their time, and have not been updated. Cambridge University Press wishes to make clear that the book, unless originally published by Cambridge, is not being republished by, in association or collaboration with, or with the endorsement or approval of, the original publisher or its successors in title. R. R a s k iiber das Alter und die Echtheit der Zend-Sprache und des Zend-Avesta, und Herstellung des Zend - Alphabets; nebst einer Ubersicht des gesammten Sprachstammes; i i b e r s e t zt von Friedr. Heinrich von der Hagen, Mit einer Schrifttafel. B e r l i n, bei Duncker u nd Humblot. 1826. V o r w o r t. JK-ask's Reise, iiber den Kaukasus, durch Persien nach Indien, hatte, ne- ben Erforschung des Zusammenhanges der Sprachen iiberhaiipt, besonders den Zweck, den grofsen und edlen Stamm- baiim der Skandinavischen und Germ anise hen Sprachen in seiner IV ganzen Ausbreitung und Ticfe zu er- forschen: wozu er sich schon durch seine in Island im Jahre 1814 abge- fafste Preisschrift tiber den Ur- sprung der Altnordischen Spra- che (gedruckt 1818) vorbereitet hatte. Nachdem er auf der Durchreise in Schweden, im Jahr 1817 eine Angel- sachsische Sprachlehre nebst Le- sebuch. geschrieben, seine 1811 her-, ausgegebene Islandische Sprach- lehre auf ahnliche Art erneuet (1818) und mit einem Lesebuche vermehrt (1819), die beidenEdda's verbessert und vervollstandigt heraus- gegeben (1818), und noch manche an- dere'Gastgeschenke dieser Art in Stock- holm und Upsala zuriickgelassen hatte, zog er iiber Finnland und Rufsland, wo er, wie die Beilage bekundet, die weit verbreiteten Finnisch-Scythi- schen Sprachfamilien imtersiichte, nach dem Urlande unsers Japetischcn Sprachstammes. Die langst erkannte Verwandtschaft der Persischen und Indischen (Sanskrit)Sprache mit den Gennanischen wird dadurch niin wei- ter begriindet. Hindustan scheint aber eher das Stammland des grofsen Scy- thischen Volkes, welches dnrch die Japetiden aus der Mitte — den Hochebe- nen Mediens und Persiens, an dem Nabelort der Erde, dem Indischen Kaukasus — iiberall an die Kiisten gedrangt worden, wie auf der Indi- schen Halbinsel, so in Europa (die, Lappen, Finnen undBasken); auf ahnliche Weise wie die alteren Japeti- den selber, die Kelten, von den jlin- geren, den Germanen, an den Westrand