Aryan: Difference between revisions

"'''Aryan'''" ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɛər|i|ən|,_|ˈ|ɛər|j|ən|,_|ˈ|ær|-}})<ref>[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/aryan "Aryan"]. ''[[Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary]].''</ref> is a term meaning "noble" which was used as a self-designation by ancient afghanistan [[Indo-Iranians|Indo-Iranian people]]. The word was used by the [[Indo-Aryan people|Indic people]] of the [[Vedic period]] in India as a ethnic label for themselves, as well as to refer to the noble class and geographic location known as ''[[Āryāvarta]]'' where [[Indo-Aryan people|Indo-Aryan]] culture was based.<ref name="Gopal 1990 70">{{cite book|title=India through the ages|last=Gopal|first=Madan|year= 1990| page= 70|editor=K.S. Gautam|publisher=Publication Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India}}</ref><ref>Michael Cook (2014), ''Ancient Religions, Modern Politics: The Islamic Case in Comparative Perspective'', Princeton University Press, p.68: "Aryavarta [...] is defined by Manu as extending from the Himalayas in the north to the Vindhyas of Central India in the south and from the sea in the west to the sea in the east."</ref> The closely related [[Iranian people]] also used the term as an ethnic label for themselves in the [[Avesta]] scriptures, and the word forms the [[etymological]] source of the country [[Iran]].{{sfn|Mallory|1991|p=125}}<ref name="Oxford English Dictionary">[http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/50012669?single=1&query_type=word&queryword=aryan&first=1&max_to_show=10 Oxford English Dictionary: "Aryan from Sanskrit Arya 'Noble'"]</ref><ref name="Encyclopædia Britannica1">Encyclopædia Britannica: " ...the Sanskrit term arya ("noble" or "distinguished"), the linguistic root of the word (Aryan)..." "It is now used in linguistics only in the sense of the term Indo-Aryan languages, a branch of the larger Indo-European language family" [http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/37468/Aryan]</ref><ref name="Aryans and British India by Thomas R. Trautman">Thomas R. Trautman (2004): "Aryan is from Arya a Sanskrit word"; page xxxii of [https://books.google.com/books?id=dhbwDFfE9J8C&printsec=frontcover&dq=Aryans+and+British+India++Par+Thomas+R.+Trautmann&hl=fr&ei=whZoTMyPIMbfOImwybkF&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCoQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false ''Aryans And British India'']</ref> It was believed in the 19th century that it was also a self-designation used by all [[Proto-Indo-Europeans]], a theory that has now been abandoned.{{sfn|Fortson, IV|2011|p=209}} Scholars point out that, even in ancient times, the idea of being an "Aryan" was religious, cultural and linguistic, not racial.{{sfn|Anthony|2007|p=11}}<ref>{{citation |last=Gnoli |first=Gherardo |chapter=Iranian Identity ii. Pre-Islamic Period |title=Encyclopaedia Iranica, online edition |location=New York |year=1996 |chapter-url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/iranian-identity-ii-pre-islamic-period}}</ref><ref>Reza Zia-Ebrahimi, [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tehranbureau/2010/08/post-2.html Iranian Identity, the 'Aryan Race,' and Jake Gyllenhaal], PBS (Public Broadcasting Service), 6 August 2010.</ref>