An Attempt To Date
the Ancient Aryans
G.D.O'Bradovich III
July 28, 2015
The Oxford English Dictionary was consulted.
Etymology:
< Sanskrit ārya, in the later language ‘noble, of good family,’ but apparently in earlier use a national name ‘comprising the worshippers of the gods of the Brahmans’ (Max Müller);
compare Avestan airya ‘venerable,’ also a national name, and Old Persian (Achaemenian) ariya national name (applied to himself by Darius Hystaspes); whence probably Greek Ἀρεία , Ἀρία , Latin Arīa , Aria , and Ariāna , the eastern part of ancient Persia, and Pehlevi and modern Persian Irân ‘Persia.’ As a translation of Latin Ariānus ‘of Aria or Ariana,’
Arian has long been in English use: Aryan is of recent introduction in Comparative Philology, and is also by many written Arian , on the ground that āria was the original word, as shown by the Vedic language, ārya being only the later Sanskrit form; the spelling Aryan has the advantage of distinguishing the word < Arian n.2 and adj.2 in Church Hist.
1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World I. 131 The region of the Arianes, all scorched and senged with the parching heate of the Sunne.
1794 W. Jones tr. Inst. Hindu Law x. §45 All those tribes of men, who sprang from the mouth, the arm, the thigh, and the foot of Brahmá, but who became outcasts by having neglected their duties, are called Dasyus, or plunderers, whether they speak the language of theMlechch'has or that of Aryas.
a. Applied by some to the great division or family of languages, which includes Sanskrit, Zend, Persian, Greek, Latin, Celtic, Teutonic, and Slavonic, with their modern representatives; also called Indo-European, Indo-Germanic, and sometimes Japhetic; by others restricted to the Asiatic portion of these. absol., the original Aryan or Arian language.
The restricted use rests on the ground that only the ancient Indian and Iranian members of the family are known on historical evidence to have called themselves Aria, Arya or Ariya; the wider application rests partly on the inference that the name probably belonged in pre-historic times to the whole family, while this still constituted an ethnic and linguistic unity; and partly on the ground that even if it did not, it is now the most convenient and least misleading name for the primitive type of speech from which all the languages above-mentioned have sprung, inasmuch as Indo-Germanic is too narrow, and Indo-European too wide, for the facts, while Japhetic introduces speculations of which science has no cognizance.
A frequent use of the word, in which all agree, is to distinguish the Aryan from the non-Aryan languages of India, the former being ‘Aryan’ whether the term is used in the restricted or the wider sense.
1839 Penny Cycl. XIII. 309/1 The Medo-Persic, or Arian branch; at the head of which stands the Zend.
1847 Prichard Rep. Brit. Assoc. 241 The Indo-European, sometimes termed Indo-German, and, by late writers, Arian or Iranian languages.
1878 R. N. Cust Sketch Mod. Lang. E. Indies 49 That all the other Aryan Vernaculars are variants of Hindi, caused by the influence of non-Aryan communities.
1882 Sweet in Trans. Philol. Soc. 109 Parent Arian had already developed a perfectly definite word-order.
1882 Sweet in Trans. Philol. Soc. 111 The original Arian (not ‘Aryan’) forms.
b. spec. Of or pertaining to the ancient Aryan people.
The idea current in the 19th cent. of an Aryan race corresponding to a definite Aryan language was taken up by nationalistic historical and romantic writers. It was given especial currency by de Gobineau, who linked it with the theory of the essential inferiority of certain races. The term ‘Aryan race’ was later revived and used for purposes of political propaganda in Nazi Germany (see A. 2).
[1855 M. A. de Gobineau Ess. sur l'inégalité des Races Humaines IV. 350 La race germanique était pourvue de toute l'énergie de la variété ariane. Il le fallait pour qu'elle pût remplir le rôle auquel elle était appelée.]
1851 D. Wilson Archaeol. & Prehist. Ann. Scotl. (1863) II. iv. i. 182 The Celts of Britain are apparently the oldest among the Aryan races.
1858 W. D. Whitney Oriental & Ling. Stud. II. 5 The Aryan tribes—for that is the name they gave themselves.
1872 E. A. Freeman Gen. Sketch European Hist. i. §2 History in the highest and truest sense is the history of the Aryan natives of Europe.
1911 J. Lees tr. H. S. Chamberlain's Foundations 19th Cent. I. iv. 266 Anthropologists, ethnographers and even historians, theologians, philologists and legal authorities find the idea ‘Aryan’ more and more indispensable... Though it were proved that there never was an Aryan race in the past, yet we desire that in the future there may be one.
1916 M. Grant Passing of Great Race (1917) v. 62 The name ‘Aryan race’ must also be frankly discarded as a term of racial significance.
1939 J. S. Huxley ‘Race’ in Europe 24 Biologically it is almost as illegitimate to speak of a ‘Jewish race’ as of an ‘Aryan race’.
2. Under the Nazi régime (1933–45) applied to the inhabitants of Germany of non-Jewish extraction.
1932 L. Golding Let. to Hitler 25 What you and many of your followers imagine is the Arian manner.
1933 W. Norman Brown (title) The Swastika, a Study of the Nazi Claims of its Aryan Origin.
1934 Ann. Reg. 1933 ii. 170 Germany…During April the so-called Aryan Decrees were introduced.
1940 War Illustr. 5 Jan. 574/1 The Founder of the Christian faith, he [sc. Rosenberg] asserts, was of ‘Aryan’ not Jewish descent.
1943 Ann. Reg. 1942 183 The town..was cleared of its ‘Aryan’ population and made a centre, or rather a concentration camp, for all Jews.
B. n.
1. A member of the Aryan family; one belonging to, or descended from, the ancient people who spoke the parent Aryan language.
1851 Edinb. Rev. 328 Times when neither Greece nor India were peopled by Arians.
1861 F. Max Müller Lect. Sci. Lang. (1873) I. vi. 273 The state of civilisation attained by the Aryans before they left their common home.
1870 R. W. Emerson Society & Solitude vii. 137 The days are ever divine as to the first Aryans.
1878 R. N. Cust Sketch Mod. Lang. E. Indies 13 The Aryans advanced down the basins of the Indus and the Ganges.
1882 H. Sweet Trans. Philol. Soc. 114 The primitive Arians.
2. spec. under the Nazi régime (cf. sense A. 2).
1933 tr. Hitler's Mein Kampf in Times 25 July 15/6 The exact opposite of the Aryan is the Jew.
1933 Education 1 Sept. 170/2 The basic idea of the new law is that non-Aryans, that is to say mainly Jews, shall be admitted to Universities and to the higher and middle schools only in accordance with their ratio of the total population of Germany.
1940 War Illustr. 16 Feb. 107 Pitiable in the extreme is the plight of the Jews in Poland under Nazi rule... On their backs they must wear a triangle of yellow cloth to show that their faith is abominable to the Nazi, and they must walk in the gutter, for the pavement is for Aryans only.
The citations in chronological order.
1601 The region of the Arianes, all scorched and senged...
1794 ...eMlechch'has or that of Aryas.
1839 The Medo-Persic, or Arian branch; at the head of which stands the Zend.
1847 The Indo-European,... Arian or Iranian languages.
1851 (1863) ...t among the Aryan races.
1851 Times when neither Greece nor India were peopled by Arians.
1855 La race germanique était ...de la variété ariane. ....]
1858 The Aryan tribes—for that is the name ...
1861 (1873) The state of civilisation attained by the Aryans ...
1870 The days are ever divine as to the first Aryans.
1872 ...the history of the Aryan natives of Europe.
1878 The Aryans advanced down the basins of the Indus ...
1878 That all the other Aryan Vernaculars are variants of ...
1882 The primitive Arians.
1882 Parent Arian had already developed a perfectly definite word-order.
1882 The original Arian (not ‘Aryan’) forms.
1911 ... the idea ‘Aryan’ ...was an Aryan ...
1916 (1917) The name ‘Aryan race’ must also be frankly discarded...
1932 What you and many of your followers imagine is the Arian manner.
1933 The basic idea of the new law is that non-Aryans, ...
1933 The exact opposite of the Aryan is the Jew.
1933 The Swastika, a Study of the Nazi Claims of its Aryan Origin.
1934 Germany…During April the so-called Aryan Decrees were introduced.
1939 ... of a ‘Jewish race’ as of an ‘Aryan race’.
1940 ... for the pavement is for Aryans only.
1940 The Founder of the Christian faith,... was of ‘Aryan’ not Jewish descent.
1943 The town..was cleared of its ‘Aryan’ population and made a centre, ...
Etymology:
< Sanskrit ārya, in the later language ‘noble, of good family,’ but apparently in earlier use a national name ‘comprising the worshippers of the gods of the Brahmans’ (Max Müller);
compare Avestan airya ‘venerable,’ also a national name, and Old Persian (Achaemenian) ariya national name (applied to himself by Darius Hystaspes); whence probably Greek Ἀρεία , Ἀρία , Latin Arīa , Aria , and Ariāna , the eastern part of ancient Persia, and Pehlevi and modern Persian Irân ‘Persia.’ As a translation of Latin Ariānus ‘of Aria or Ariana,’
Arian has long been in English use: Aryan is of recent introduction in Comparative Philology, and is also by many written Arian , on the ground that āria was the original word, as shown by the Vedic language, ārya being only the later Sanskrit form; the spelling Aryan has the advantage of distinguishing the word < Arian n.2 and adj.2 in Church Hist.
1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World I. 131 The region of the Arianes, all scorched and senged with the parching heate of the Sunne.
1794 W. Jones tr. Inst. Hindu Law x. §45 All those tribes of men, who sprang from the mouth, the arm, the thigh, and the foot of Brahmá, but who became outcasts by having neglected their duties, are called Dasyus, or plunderers, whether they speak the language of theMlechch'has or that of Aryas.
a. Applied by some to the great division or family of languages, which includes Sanskrit, Zend, Persian, Greek, Latin, Celtic, Teutonic, and Slavonic, with their modern representatives; also called Indo-European, Indo-Germanic, and sometimes Japhetic; by others restricted to the Asiatic portion of these. absol., the original Aryan or Arian language.
The restricted use rests on the ground that only the ancient Indian and Iranian members of the family are known on historical evidence to have called themselves Aria, Arya or Ariya; the wider application rests partly on the inference that the name probably belonged in pre-historic times to the whole family, while this still constituted an ethnic and linguistic unity; and partly on the ground that even if it did not, it is now the most convenient and least misleading name for the primitive type of speech from which all the languages above-mentioned have sprung, inasmuch as Indo-Germanic is too narrow, and Indo-European too wide, for the facts, while Japhetic introduces speculations of which science has no cognizance.
A frequent use of the word, in which all agree, is to distinguish the Aryan from the non-Aryan languages of India, the former being ‘Aryan’ whether the term is used in the restricted or the wider sense.
1839 Penny Cycl. XIII. 309/1 The Medo-Persic, or Arian branch; at the head of which stands the Zend.
1847 Prichard Rep. Brit. Assoc. 241 The Indo-European, sometimes termed Indo-German, and, by late writers, Arian or Iranian languages.
1878 R. N. Cust Sketch Mod. Lang. E. Indies 49 That all the other Aryan Vernaculars are variants of Hindi, caused by the influence of non-Aryan communities.
1882 Sweet in Trans. Philol. Soc. 109 Parent Arian had already developed a perfectly definite word-order.
1882 Sweet in Trans. Philol. Soc. 111 The original Arian (not ‘Aryan’) forms.
b. spec. Of or pertaining to the ancient Aryan people.
The idea current in the 19th cent. of an Aryan race corresponding to a definite Aryan language was taken up by nationalistic historical and romantic writers. It was given especial currency by de Gobineau, who linked it with the theory of the essential inferiority of certain races. The term ‘Aryan race’ was later revived and used for purposes of political propaganda in Nazi Germany (see A. 2).
[1855 M. A. de Gobineau Ess. sur l'inégalité des Races Humaines IV. 350 La race germanique était pourvue de toute l'énergie de la variété ariane. Il le fallait pour qu'elle pût remplir le rôle auquel elle était appelée.]
1851 D. Wilson Archaeol. & Prehist. Ann. Scotl. (1863) II. iv. i. 182 The Celts of Britain are apparently the oldest among the Aryan races.
1858 W. D. Whitney Oriental & Ling. Stud. II. 5 The Aryan tribes—for that is the name they gave themselves.
1872 E. A. Freeman Gen. Sketch European Hist. i. §2 History in the highest and truest sense is the history of the Aryan natives of Europe.
1911 J. Lees tr. H. S. Chamberlain's Foundations 19th Cent. I. iv. 266 Anthropologists, ethnographers and even historians, theologians, philologists and legal authorities find the idea ‘Aryan’ more and more indispensable... Though it were proved that there never was an Aryan race in the past, yet we desire that in the future there may be one.
1916 M. Grant Passing of Great Race (1917) v. 62 The name ‘Aryan race’ must also be frankly discarded as a term of racial significance.
1939 J. S. Huxley ‘Race’ in Europe 24 Biologically it is almost as illegitimate to speak of a ‘Jewish race’ as of an ‘Aryan race’.
2. Under the Nazi régime (1933–45) applied to the inhabitants of Germany of non-Jewish extraction.
1932 L. Golding Let. to Hitler 25 What you and many of your followers imagine is the Arian manner.
1933 W. Norman Brown (title) The Swastika, a Study of the Nazi Claims of its Aryan Origin.
1934 Ann. Reg. 1933 ii. 170 Germany…During April the so-called Aryan Decrees were introduced.
1940 War Illustr. 5 Jan. 574/1 The Founder of the Christian faith, he [sc. Rosenberg] asserts, was of ‘Aryan’ not Jewish descent.
1943 Ann. Reg. 1942 183 The town..was cleared of its ‘Aryan’ population and made a centre, or rather a concentration camp, for all Jews.
B. n.
1. A member of the Aryan family; one belonging to, or descended from, the ancient people who spoke the parent Aryan language.
1851 Edinb. Rev. 328 Times when neither Greece nor India were peopled by Arians.
1861 F. Max Müller Lect. Sci. Lang. (1873) I. vi. 273 The state of civilisation attained by the Aryans before they left their common home.
1870 R. W. Emerson Society & Solitude vii. 137 The days are ever divine as to the first Aryans.
1878 R. N. Cust Sketch Mod. Lang. E. Indies 13 The Aryans advanced down the basins of the Indus and the Ganges.
1882 H. Sweet Trans. Philol. Soc. 114 The primitive Arians.
2. spec. under the Nazi régime (cf. sense A. 2).
1933 tr. Hitler's Mein Kampf in Times 25 July 15/6 The exact opposite of the Aryan is the Jew.
1933 Education 1 Sept. 170/2 The basic idea of the new law is that non-Aryans, that is to say mainly Jews, shall be admitted to Universities and to the higher and middle schools only in accordance with their ratio of the total population of Germany.
1940 War Illustr. 16 Feb. 107 Pitiable in the extreme is the plight of the Jews in Poland under Nazi rule... On their backs they must wear a triangle of yellow cloth to show that their faith is abominable to the Nazi, and they must walk in the gutter, for the pavement is for Aryans only.
The citations in chronological order.
1601 The region of the Arianes, all scorched and senged...
1794 ...eMlechch'has or that of Aryas.
1839 The Medo-Persic, or Arian branch; at the head of which stands the Zend.
1847 The Indo-European,... Arian or Iranian languages.
1851 (1863) ...t among the Aryan races.
1851 Times when neither Greece nor India were peopled by Arians.
1855 La race germanique était ...de la variété ariane. ....]
1858 The Aryan tribes—for that is the name ...
1861 (1873) The state of civilisation attained by the Aryans ...
1870 The days are ever divine as to the first Aryans.
1872 ...the history of the Aryan natives of Europe.
1878 The Aryans advanced down the basins of the Indus ...
1878 That all the other Aryan Vernaculars are variants of ...
1882 The primitive Arians.
1882 Parent Arian had already developed a perfectly definite word-order.
1882 The original Arian (not ‘Aryan’) forms.
1911 ... the idea ‘Aryan’ ...was an Aryan ...
1916 (1917) The name ‘Aryan race’ must also be frankly discarded...
1932 What you and many of your followers imagine is the Arian manner.
1933 The basic idea of the new law is that non-Aryans, ...
1933 The exact opposite of the Aryan is the Jew.
1933 The Swastika, a Study of the Nazi Claims of its Aryan Origin.
1934 Germany…During April the so-called Aryan Decrees were introduced.
1939 ... of a ‘Jewish race’ as of an ‘Aryan race’.
1940 ... for the pavement is for Aryans only.
1940 The Founder of the Christian faith,... was of ‘Aryan’ not Jewish descent.
1943 The town..was cleared of its ‘Aryan’ population and made a centre, ...