The Relationship of Persian to Semitic languages Before Islam

Persian language has had relationship to Semitics before and after Islam in exchanging words and expressions. After Islam, Persian language has been related to Arabic and this relation has continued until the present day. Before Islam, this relation existed in some Semitic languages and flourished in Mesopotamia such as Chaldean, Assyrian, Bobylon, Syriac, Aramaic. From Achaemenian period, there are some remaining inscriptions on stones, but these inscriptions are without any signs of the Semitics. The reason for this may be that the language of these inscriptions had been formal and royal and the writers intended to use pure Persian language. In the manuscripts and inscriptions which have been left of Parthian and Sassanid periods, there are about one thousand words that are considered to be Aramaic or Syriac and called Hozvaresh. This term has been, for the first time, mentioned by Ibn al-Nadim in his compilation Al-Fihrist. In dialogues and every day speeches, we are sure that many or some Semitic words were used, about their characteristics and qualities, however, we do not know anything authentically. In the present Persian language, there are some words that somehow resemble Arabic words, but they are not Arabic, such as " afsoos" meaning; alas, near Arabic "asaf" and "ostovar" meaning; "solid" near Arabic "rasi" and also "faravan”, meaning, plenty, near Arabic "mawfur" or "mutawaffir" . In this article, I have tried to prove that such kind of words in modern Persian language have Semitic roots and somehow entered Persian during the periods preceeding Islam.