Bibliographia Iranica

A predominantly bibliographic blog for Iranian Studies

Author: Arash Zeini

  • Pepper, Peach, Paradise

    Pepper, Peach, Paradise

    Paul, Ludwig. Pfeffer, Pfirsich, Paradies: Kleines Lexikon deutscher Wörter persischer Herkunft. München: C.H.Beck.

    Wie ist der Algorithmus aus dem Persischen ins Deutsche gelangt? Warum bezeichnet Diwan sowohl ein Sofa als auch eine Gedichtsammlung? Und was hat unser Schal mit einem indischen Sari zu tun oder die Tulpe mit dem Turban? Ludwig Paul erklärt in rund 140 kurzweiligen Artikeln, wie Wörter aus dem Persischen ins Deutsche gewandert sind. Sein glänzend geschriebenes Buch lädt zum Nachschlagen und Schmökern ein und lässt uns eine erstaunliche Dimension der deutschen Sprache neu entdecken.
    Die persische Sprache war einst von der Türkei bis Indien die Sprache der Gelehrten, Dichter und kultivierten Höfe. Sie hat Einflüsse aus indischen Sprachen und dem Arabischen aufgenommen und ihrerseits andere Sprachen bereichert. Das Lexikon beschreibt, auf welchen oft verschlungenen Wegen zahlreiche Wörter und Namen ins Deutsche gelangt sind. Doch es bietet viel mehr als reine Sprachgeschichte: Ludwig Paul versteht es meisterhaft, immer wieder aufschlussreiche Schlaglichter auf die Geschichte der Kulturen zwischen Indien und Europa zu werfen und zu zeigen, wie eng die Wanderung von Wörtern mit dem Transfer von Dingen – Gewürzen, Früchten, Artefakten – und Ideen zusammenhängt.

  • Text and translation of the Yasna Haptaŋhāiti

    Text and translation of the Yasna Haptaŋhāiti

    Heindio Uesugi has done it again. Under the supervisory editorship of Adam Alvah Catt, Uesugi has now published an addendum to the second part of his Old Avestan dictionary: a translation and glossed version of the Yasna Haptaŋhāiti.

    Uesugi, Heindio (ed.). 2026. Old Avestan dictionary. Addendum to Part II: Text and translation: Yasna Haptaŋhāiti. Tokyo: Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa.

    For more context on these publications, I recommend the blogs in Language Hat and Language Log.

    This is the draft version of the annotated new translation of the Yasna Haptaŋhāiti (YH) along with that of Yasna 42. We have prepared this translation as an addendum to Part II. We hope to further improve it (along with the corrigenda) when time permits, taking into consideration any feedback we may receive.
    Although arguably less contentious than the Gāthās, the YH is of course not without its share of difficulties. Even where there is general consensus on the basic meaning, the view on the intended nuance, implications, and significance can vary, at times considerably.

    From the ‘Short Introduction’
  • Two unpublished Bactrian documents

    Two unpublished Bactrian documents

    Sims-Williams, Nicholas. 2026. Two unpublished Bactrian documents in the al-Sabah Collection, Kuwait. Bulletin of SOAS FirstView. 1–8.

    Bactrian, the principal written language of pre-Islamic Afghanistan, was little known until the early 1990s, when more than 150 contracts, economic documents and letters, together with a few Buddhist texts, were acquired by collectors. Most of these were published by Nicholas Sims-Williams between 2001 and 2012 in three volumes entitled Bactrian Documents from Northern Afghanistan. The present article presents two additional documents which have come to light more recently, a receipt for a sum of ten dirhams and a letter from an otherwise unknown ruler of Rōb, modern Rui in the Hindukush mountains. The text and translation of the documents are accompanied by a discussion of their linguistic and historical significance.

    Abstract
  • Studia Iranica (53/1)

    Studia Iranica (53/1)

    The first issue of Studia Iranica 53 is out. Here is the table of contents:

    • BELELLI, Sara: Laki Nominal Morphology in Historical and Comparative Perspective
    • BORJIAN, Habib: Southern Kurdish in the Anti-Alborz: A Case of Language Isolation
    • PREUD’HOMME, Nicolas: The Fall of Safavid Power According to an Anonymous Manuscript from Post-Revolutionary France
  • Christians in Middle Eastern History

    Christians in Middle Eastern History

    Ghobrial, John-Paul, Michael Reynolds, Christian C. Sahner & Jack Tannous (eds.). 2026. Christians in Middle Eastern history: Strangers no more (Edinburgh Studies in Middle Eastern Christianity). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

    The dazzling array of languages and religions in the Middle East, from Late Antiquity to the present, has long made the region a source of fascination. But the specific features of pluralism in the Middle East have also made writing its history a difficult enterprise, as scholarly specialisation has often meant that this or that religious group becomes invisible. The challenges of the Middle East’s particular pluralism, however, also represent an opportunity for creative reflection and innovation in historical research.
    This volume takes as its starting-point the fact that, for much of the past 1,500 years, the population of the Middle East has been significantly Christian. It offers a series of case studies by leading scholars that offer different answers to the question of what histories of the region might look like if this demographic situation were taken seriously. Critiquing dominant narratives that conflate the history of the Middle East and the history of Islam, they show how integrating Christian actors, experiences and sources can enrich our understanding of the region.

  • Language and script in Achaemenid and Hellenistic Central Asia

    Language and script in Achaemenid and Hellenistic Central Asia

    Mairs, Rachel. 2026. Language and script in Achaemenid and Hellenistic Central Asia (Elements in Writing in the Ancient World). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    This Element examines – for the first time in a single volume – the written evidence from the ‘Far East’ of the Hellenistic world (Bactria, Sogdiana, Arachosia, Gandhara). It examines how successive invaders of this region, from Persia, Greece and India, left their linguistic and textual mark. It reviews the surviving Hellenistic-period written material from archaeological sites in Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Pakistan in Aramaic, Greek and Prakrit.

    Summary
  • Research in Iranian Studies

    Research in Iranian Studies

    Ehrenberg, Erica (ed.). 2025. The American Institute of Iranian Studies: Half a century of foundational research. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press.

    The American Institute of Iranian Studies is devoted to fostering research in the field of Iranian studies and promoting scholarly exchange between the United States and Iran. This collection of essays addresses the history and development of Iranian studies in the United States and the pivotal role of the Institute in furthering research in the field.

    The purview of the Institute is vast, covering Iranology—the study of Iranian peoples and cultures both within and across regions of Central and South Asia and the Middle East, where various forms of the Persian language are spoken. In keeping with the Institute’s dedication to facilitating research in Iran, the chapters in this volume represent fields of inquiry that have benefited from direct access to materials in the country. The essays describe the founding and work of the Institute, the emergence of Iranian studies in American universities, the Encyclopaedia Iranica, early archaeological research in Iran by the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Chicago, the birth and development of American museum collections of art from Iran, and case histories of areas of Iranian Studies that have been the traditional focus of Institute-sponsored research, including art history, history, philology, religion, and sociology.

    The contributors to this volume are Ahmad Ashraf, Shiva Balaghi, Medhi Bozorgmehr, Elton L. Daniel, Erica Ehrenberg, Carl W. Ernst, Stephen C. Fairbanks, Prudence O. Harper, Linda Komaroff, Judith A. Lerner, Franklin D. Lewis, Beatrice Forbes Manz, Alessandro Pezzati, Holly Pittman, D. T. Potts, Richard L. Spees, Mathew W. Stolper, Keyvan Tabari, and Christopher Thortnon.

    Description
  • Bahari Career Development Fellow

    Bahari Career Development Fellow

    Bahari Career Development Fellow in Sasanian Studies

    A postdoctoral opportunity at the University of Oxford, Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (AMES):

    The Bahari Career Development Fellow will carry out original research in the field of Sasanian studies broadly defined.  The Fellowship offers early career researchers the opportunity to develop their research within one of the world’s leading universities and to strengthen their future position in the academic job market. The postholder will be a member of both the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (AMES) and Wolfson College, joining Yuhan Sohrab-Dinshaw Vevaina (Bahari Professor of Sasanian Studies) and the Faculty’s team in Persian Studies. She or he will be part of a lively and intellectually stimulating research community which performs to the highest international levels in research and publications and will have access to the excellent research facilities which Oxford offers.

    For more information, see the job details.

  • Aramaic Literature

    Aramaic Literature

    Holm, Tawny L. 2026. Aramaic literature from Egypt and the Levant (Writings from the Ancient World 30). Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature.

    In this volume, Tawny L. Holm provides bilingual editions of the majority of Aramaic literary compositions written between the fifth century BCE and first century CE. Each text is presented in transliteration and accompanied by an introduction, notes, and an English translation. The section on Egypt includes, among others, the fascinating anthology found on Papyrus Amherst 63, an Aramaic text written in the Demotic Egyptian script, as well as the Story and Proverbs of Ahiqar. The Levant section includes a selection of texts from the Dead Sea Scrolls, such as Tales from the Persian Court. These compositions cover a broad array of themes, from insights into the human condition to unique portraits of kings, heroes, and deities. The book also addresses matters of history, language, genres, poetics, and scribalism, and it offers a comprehensive collection of primary sources for use in ancient Near Eastern studies courses as well as biblical studies.

  • The Pearlsong

    The Pearlsong

    Bremer-McCollum, Adam. 2025. The Pearlsong (Texts & Translations of Transcendence and Transformation). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    The Pearlsong is an ancient poem that recounts the story of a Parthian prince sent by his parents on a mission to Egypt to retrieve a pearl from the clutches of a giant serpent. Along the way, the prince falls asleep and forgets his identity and mission. A letter from his parents awakens him, gives him a spell to put the serpent to sleep so he can retrieve the pearl, and then guides him home. The poem was originally composed in Syriac, translated into Greek, and later paraphrased in Greek again in a homily. These three texts are all published here with a parallel English translation on facing pages, accompanied by an introduction, commentary, and Syriac and Greek glossaries.

    Summary

    The book is available open-access.