pahlavi

n. Iranian language used from the 3rd to 10th centuries (Indo-European language); alphabet used to write Pahlavi

n. Iranian royal family

Pahlavi or Pahlevi denotes a particular and exclusively written form of various Middle Iranian languages. The essential characteristics of Pahlavi arethe use of an Aramaic-derived script (i.e. Pahlavi script)the high incidence of Aramaic words used as logograms or ideograms (called hozwārishn, "archaisms"). Pahlavi compositions have been found for the dialects/ethnolects of Parthia, Parsa, Sogdiana, Scythia and Khotan. Independent of the variant for which the Pahlavi system was used, the written form of that language only qualifies as Pahlavi when it has the characteristics noted above.
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n. Pahlavi, Iranian language used from the 3rd to 10th centuries (Indo-European language); alphabet used to write Pahlavi

n. Pahlavi, Iranian royal family

Pahlavi (Persian) [from Old Persian parthawa Parthian] Also Pehlevi. The language into which the Zoroastrian archaic sacred books were translated. It was due to this that the Pahlavi literature was preserved, for, other than these religious books, very few works are extant, principally the Minoi-Khiradh and the Bundahish. It is also called Middle Persian, in contradistinction to New Persian and Old Persian, the language of the ancient Persians during the time of Darius the Great which already shows distinct changes from that in which the Avesta was written. Pahlavi was the language of the northeastern people of Iran (Parthians) who ruled over the country soon after the downfall of Ach Achaemenids until 224 AD under the name of Arsacids. For about nine centuries this remained the language of the whole empire. Pahlavi belongs to the Iranian class of the southern division of Aryan languages.

Noun
1. Shah of Iran who was deposed in 1979 by Islamic fundamentalists (1919-1980)
(synonym) Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, Shah Palavi, Pahlevi, Mohammed Reza Pahlevi
(hypernym) Shah, Shah of Iran
2. the Iranian language of the Zoroastrian literature of the 3rd to 10th centuries
(hypernym) Iranian, Iranian language
3. the script (derived from the Aramaic alphabet) used to write the Pahlavi language
(hypernym) script