Academy of Persian Language and Literature
Encyclopedia
Iran
's Academy of Persian Language and Literature (Persian
: , pronounced færhæŋɡestɒːn e zæbɒːn væ ædæb e fɒːrsiː) is a body controlled by the Iranian government presiding over the use of the Persian language
in Iran and other Persian speaking countries. The academy members are academics of Persian literature
and linguistics
from
Iran, 
Tajikistan, 
Afghanistan, and 
Uzbekistan.
and Ali Asghar Hekmat were the main founders of the academy.
Memorable names, notable literary figures and highly celebrated scholars were the members of the academy upon its foundation, such as:
--Some international scholars were also involved, such as:
, Persian heritage, Iranian Studies
and Iranian culture.
Iranian law requires those equivalents to be used in all official communications of government bodies and government-owned companies, and in product names of all private companies.
(a previous first vice president) and Gholam Ali Haddad-Adel
(the present Speaker of Parliament
).
The academy members (permanent and associated) are selected from Masters of Persian literature
and linguistics
from Iran and other Persian speaking countries throughout the world as Tajikistan
, Afghanistan
and Uzbekistan
. Up to 10 permanent chairs (out of 25 permanent chairs) have been devoted to non-Iranian nationals.
1) "Persian" has been used in a variety of publications including cultural, scientific and diplomatic documents for centuries and, therefore, it carries a very significant historical and cultural meaning. Hence, changing "Persian" to "Farsi" would negate this established important precedent.
2) Changing the usage from "Persian" to "Farsi" may give the impression that Farsi is a new language, although this may well be the intention of some users of "Farsi".
3) Changing the usage may also give the impression that Farsi is a dialect used in some parts of Iran rather than the predominant (and official) language of the country.
4) The word "Farsi" has never been used in any research paper or university document in any Western language, and the proposal to begin using it would create doubt and ambiguity about the name of the official language of Iran.
Supporting this announcement, gradually other institutions and literary figures separately took similar actions throughout the world.
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
's Academy of Persian Language and Literature (Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
: , pronounced færhæŋɡestɒːn e zæbɒːn væ ædæb e fɒːrsiː) is a body controlled by the Iranian government presiding over the use of the Persian language
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
in Iran and other Persian speaking countries. The academy members are academics of Persian literature
Persian literature
Persian literature spans two-and-a-half millennia, though much of the pre-Islamic material has been lost. Its sources have been within historical Persia including present-day Iran as well as regions of Central Asia where the Persian language has historically been the national language...
and linguistics
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
from
Iran, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, and Uzbekistan.History
The academy was founded in 1935. Mohammad Ali ForoughiMohammad Ali Foroughi
Mohammad Ali Foroughi Zoka-ol-Molk was a teacher, diplomat, writer, politician and Prime Minister of Iran. He was born to a family from Isfahan and studied at the élite Dar ul-Funun in Tehran. In 1907 he became the dean of the College of Political Sciences.In 1909 Foroughi entered politics as a...
and Ali Asghar Hekmat were the main founders of the academy.
Memorable names, notable literary figures and highly celebrated scholars were the members of the academy upon its foundation, such as:
- Abbas Eqbal Ashtiani
- Abdolazim Gharib
- Ahmad Matin-DaftariAhmad Matin-DaftariAhmad Matin-Daftari, also known as Mo'in al-Dowleh, was a Prime Minister of Iran.Born in Tehran to Mirza Mahmud-khan Ain ul-Mamalek he studied in Tehran's German School, and received his PhD in France....
- Ali Akbar DehkhodaAli Akbar DehkhodaAllameh Ali Akbar Dehkhoda was a prominent Iranian linguist, and author of the most extensive dictionary of the Persian language ever published.-Biography:...
- Ali Akbar Siyasi
- Ali Asghar Hekmat
- Badiozzaman ForouzanfarBadiozzaman ForouzanfarBadi'ozzamān Foruzānfar was a scholar of Persian literature, Iranian linguistics and culture, and an expert on Molana Jalaleddin Balkhi and his works...
- Ebrahim PoordavoodEbrahim PoordavoodEbrāhim Pourdāvoud , was born in Rasht, Iran, to a mother who was the daughter of a clergyman and a father who was a reputable merchant and landlord. He is one of the most formidable scholars of Iran during the 20th century. Pourdavoud translated Avesta into Persian in six volumes...
- Homayun Foruzanfar
- Isa Sadiq
- Mahmoud HessabyMahmoud HessabySayyed Mahmoud Hessaby was a prominent Iranian scientist, researcher and distinguished professor of University of Tehran...
- Mohammad Ali ForoughiMohammad Ali ForoughiMohammad Ali Foroughi Zoka-ol-Molk was a teacher, diplomat, writer, politician and Prime Minister of Iran. He was born to a family from Isfahan and studied at the élite Dar ul-Funun in Tehran. In 1907 he became the dean of the College of Political Sciences.In 1909 Foroughi entered politics as a...
- Mohammad Ali JamalzadehMohammad Ali JamalzadehMohammad-Ali Jamālzādeh Esfahani , was one of the most prominent writers of Iran in the 20th century, best known for his unique style of humour...
- Mohammad Ghazvini
- Mohammad HejaziMohammad Hejazi (author)Mohammad Hejazi was an Iranian novelist, short-story writer, playwright, essayist, translator, a government official and member of the senate....
- Mohammad Taghi BaharMohammad Taghi BaharMohammad-Taqí Bahār , widely known as Malek o-Sho'arā and Malek o-Sho'arā Bahār , is a renowned Iranian poet and scholar, who was also a politician, journalist, historian and Professor of Literature...
- Qasem Ghani
- Rashid YasemiRashid YasemiGholamreza Rashid Yasemi was an Iranian poet, translator and literary figure of Kurdish origin.He finished his primary education in Kermanshah and then moved to Tehran in 1912 where he resided for the rest of his life...
- Said NafisiSaid NafisiSaeed Nafisi was an Iranian scholar, fiction writer and poet. He was a prolific writer in Persian....
- Zabihollah SafaZabihollah SafaZabihollahhh Safa was a scholar and professor Emeritus of Iranian Studies at the University of Tehran....
--Some international scholars were also involved, such as:
- Arthur Christensen from
Denmark - Henry Masset from
Early Modern France - Hussain Haykal from
Egypt - Raf'at Pasha from Egypt
- Professor Jan RypkaJan RypkaJan Rypka was a prominent Czech orientalist, translator, professor of Iranology and Turkology at Charles University, Prague.Jan Rypka was a participant in Ferdowsi Millenary Celebration in Tehran in 1934....
from
Czechoslovakia - Professor Muhammad-jan Shakuri from Tajikistan
Aims and activities
The Academy's main activity has been creating and approving official Persian equivalents for the foreign general or technical terms. It has also created an official orthography of the Persian language, titled Dastur-e Xatt-e Fârsi (Persian Script Orthography). The academy also promotes research on Persian language and literature, other Iranian languagesIranian languages
The Iranian languages form a subfamily of the Indo-Iranian languages which in turn is a subgroup of Indo-European language family. They have been and are spoken by Iranian peoples....
, Persian heritage, Iranian Studies
Iranian Studies
Iranian studies , is an interdisciplinary field dealing with the study of history, literature, art and culture of the Iranian people. It is a part of the wider field of Oriental studies....
and Iranian culture.
Iranian law requires those equivalents to be used in all official communications of government bodies and government-owned companies, and in product names of all private companies.
Membership
Academy's presidents to this day have been Hassan HabibiHassan Habibi
Hassan Ebrahim Habibi is an Iranian politician and scholar, presently the Head of Academy of Persian Language and Literature , and a member of the High Council of Cultural Revolution.Habibi was the 1st First Vice President of Iran from 1989 to 2001, eight years under President Rafsanjani and...
(a previous first vice president) and Gholam Ali Haddad-Adel
Gholam Ali Haddad-Adel
Gholam Ali Haddad-Adel born in 1945 in Tehran, Iran, is an Iranian philosopher, politician and former chairman of the Iranian parliament...
(the present Speaker of Parliament
Majlis of Iran
The National Consultative Assembly of Iran , also called The Iranian Parliament or People's House, is the national legislative body of Iran...
).
The academy members (permanent and associated) are selected from Masters of Persian literature
Persian literature
Persian literature spans two-and-a-half millennia, though much of the pre-Islamic material has been lost. Its sources have been within historical Persia including present-day Iran as well as regions of Central Asia where the Persian language has historically been the national language...
and linguistics
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
from Iran and other Persian speaking countries throughout the world as Tajikistan
Tajikistan
Tajikistan , officially the Republic of Tajikistan , is a mountainous landlocked country in Central Asia. Afghanistan borders it to the south, Uzbekistan to the west, Kyrgyzstan to the north, and China to the east....
, Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
and Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan , officially the Republic of Uzbekistan is a doubly landlocked country in Central Asia and one of the six independent Turkic states. It shares borders with Kazakhstan to the west and to the north, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to the east, and Afghanistan and Turkmenistan to the south....
. Up to 10 permanent chairs (out of 25 permanent chairs) have been devoted to non-Iranian nationals.
Iranian
- Abdol Mohammad Ayati
- Hassan Anvari
- Nasrollah Pourjavadi
- Yadollah Samareh
- Hassan HabibiHassan HabibiHassan Ebrahim Habibi is an Iranian politician and scholar, presently the Head of Academy of Persian Language and Literature , and a member of the High Council of Cultural Revolution.Habibi was the 1st First Vice President of Iran from 1989 to 2001, eight years under President Rafsanjani and...
- Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel
- Bahaoddin Khorramshahi
- Mohammad Dabirmoghaddam
- Ali Roaghi
- Bahman Sarkarati
- Esmaeil Sa'dat
- Ahmad Samiei Gilani
- Ali-Ashraf Sadeghi
- Mahmood Abedi
- Kamran Fani
- Badrolzaman Gharib
- Fatollah Mojtabaei
- Mehdi MohagheghMehdi MohagheghMehdi Mohaghegh, sometimes alternately transliterated Mahdi Muhaqqiq, is an Iranian scholar specializing in Persian literature, Islamic studies and philosophy....
- Houshang Moradi Kermani
- Hassan Masoumi Hamedani
- Mohhamad Ali Movahhed
- Abolhassan NajafiAbolhassan NajafiAbolhassan Najafi, born 1929 in Isfahan, is an Iranian writer and translator.Najafi began his literary activities in 1960s and translated several books. He co-published a successful literary periodical entitled Jong-e Isfahan...
- Salim Neysari
- Mohammad Jafar YahaghiMohammad Jafar YahaghiMohammad Jafar Yahaghi is a celebrated Persian writer, literary critic, editor and translator and distinguished professor of literature at Ferdowsi University of Mashad...
other
- Muhammadjon Shakuri - Tajikistan
- Fazollah Ghodsi - Afghanistan
- Gholam Sarvar Homayoun - Afghanistan
- Mohammad Hossein Yamin - Afghanistan
Deceased Members
- Qeysar AminpourQeysar AminpourKaiser Aminpour was an Iranian poet....
- Ahmad Aram
- Ahmad TafazzoliAhmad TafazzoliDr. Ahmad Tafazzoli was a prominent Persian Iranist and master of ancient Iranian literature and culture. Professor Tafazzoli was a faculty member of Tehran University....
- Javad Hadidi
- Mohammad Khansari
- Mohammad-Taghi Daneshpajouh
- Hamid Farzam
- Mohammad Mohit Tabatabaei
- Mostafa Mogharebi
- Abdolghader Meniasov - Tajikistan
Announcement of the Academy about the English name of Persian language
19 November 2005 - The Academy of the Persian Language and Literature has delivered a pronouncement on the English name of Persian language and rejected any usage of the word "Farsi" instead of Persian(en) / Persa(es) / Persane(fr) / Persisch(de) in the Western languages. The announcement reads:1) "Persian" has been used in a variety of publications including cultural, scientific and diplomatic documents for centuries and, therefore, it carries a very significant historical and cultural meaning. Hence, changing "Persian" to "Farsi" would negate this established important precedent.
2) Changing the usage from "Persian" to "Farsi" may give the impression that Farsi is a new language, although this may well be the intention of some users of "Farsi".
3) Changing the usage may also give the impression that Farsi is a dialect used in some parts of Iran rather than the predominant (and official) language of the country.
4) The word "Farsi" has never been used in any research paper or university document in any Western language, and the proposal to begin using it would create doubt and ambiguity about the name of the official language of Iran.
Supporting this announcement, gradually other institutions and literary figures separately took similar actions throughout the world.