DABĪRE, DABĪRĪ (Mid. Pers. 徱īī “script”; Man. Mid. Pers. Pahlawānīg dibīrī ud izwān “the Parthian script and language”; cf. Boyce, Reader, p. 40; 岹īī and variants in Islamic sources [see below]; for the exceptional development of the suffix Mid. Pers. -ī into classical Pers. -ih, later -e, beside regular -ī, see Ṣādeqī, 1990), a term designating the “seven scripts” supposedly used in the Sasanian period (Mēnōg ī xrad, ed. Anklesaria, 27.23; Dzə岹ŧč, par. 92; Ebn Moqaffaʿ apud Ebn al-Nadīm, ed. Tajaddod, pp. 15-16; Ḥamza Eṣfahānī, p. 64). The names of these scripts are all known from the Islamic sources, but in Middle Persian only one of them, dēn-徱īī, is attested; the rest are wiš/*wis(p)-徱īī, gaštag[-徱īī], *nēm-gaštag[-徱īī], *rāz-徱īī, *nā-ma[g]-徱īī/frawarda[g]-徱īī, and *hām/ram-徱īī (cf. Henning, Mitteliranisch, p. 72 n. 1; Bahār, &;-&Dz;ī I, pp. 77-79).
The Middle Persian term dēn-徱īī (Ѳʿūī, Tanbī, p. 91: dīn dabīrih; Ebn al-Nadīm, ed. Tajaddod, p. 15: dīn dafīrī, Ḥamza Eṣfahānī, p. 64: dīn dafīrih; ʿAskarī, pp. 181-82: dīn dawīrī), literally “religious script” (Markwart, Ē&Dz;, par. 4; idem, Provincial Capitals, par. 4), was the script in which the Avesta was written (Ebn al-Nadīm, tr. Dodge, I, p. 24, where the word ɱ “Avesta” is incorrectly translated “religious devotees”; cf. Ḥamza Eṣfahānī, p. 64; ʿAskarī, pp. 181-82); it is called “Avestan script” by modern scholars. In the Zoroastrian tradition the invention of this script was attributed to Zoroaster himself (Markwart, Ē&Dz;, par. 4; cf. Masʿūdī, Tanbī, pp. 91-92), but it has now been firmly established that it evolved from the Pahlavi script in the Sasanian period (see avesta). According to Masʿūdī (Tanbī, p. 91; Ѵǰū, ed. Pellat, I, p. 270), there were sixty symbols for vowels and consonants, and some of these letters were “repeated,” by which he may have meant to imply that there were similarities between the Avestan script and the various Pahlavi scripts. The same author (Tanbī, p. 91) added that some letters had become obsolete, perhaps a hint of variants or allographs of the Avestan characters. The Avestan script that survives includes fifty-three characters, but variants raise the number to fifty-eight (cf. avestan language i, table 2), close to the figure mentioned by Masʿūdī.
The second type was called in Islamic sources wīš 岹īī (Ebn al-Nadīm, ed. Tajaddod, p. 15), ī-&;岹ī (Ḥamza Eṣfahānī, p. 65), or *kuš(f) dabīrih (for *guš(p) dabīrih, written ksn/kšt; Masʿūdī, Tanbī p. 92), derived from Middle Persian *wisp-徱īī “comprehensive script” (cf. Mid. Pers. wisp “all, every”). The nature of this script is unknown; the descriptions in the Islamic sources are vague and often imaginative. For example, according to Ebn al-Nadīm, it comprised 365 characters, in which works relating to physiognomy, divination, gurgling of water, ringing of the ears, beckoning of the eyes, nodding, wrinkling, and so on were written; he added, however, that it did not exist in his time and that no Persian was acquainted with it. Masʿūdī described it as a script with 160 characters, in which the languages of the other nations (cf. Ḥamza Eṣfahānī, p. 64) and the sounds made by cattle, birds, and the like were rendered. It is improbable that a script with so many characters existed; it may have been a collection of signs used for certain notions.
The script probably known as *gašta(j)-徱īī (Ebn al-Nadīm, ed. Tajaddod, p. 15, Ebn al-Faqī, p. 243: kaštaj; Ḥamza Eṣfahānī, pp. 64-65: 첹&Dz;ٲ-岹ī; Ḥamza Eṣfahānī, apud Yāqūt, DZ II, p. 887 s.v. Rēšahr: jastaq; Ebn Esfandīār, I, p. 72; ḵaṭṭ-e kastaj; Awlīāʾ-Allāh, p. 73: gastaj) had twenty-eight letters. It was used for recording contracts, registers(?), and land transactions. Seal inscriptions and inscriptions on garments, carpets, and coins were also written in these characters. Ḥamza Eṣfahānī translated the name of this script as ḡaⲹ “changed” but did not describe it; Yāqūt cited his report that in Rēšahr (Rēw-Ardašīr), in the district of Arrajān, books on medicine and astronomy were written in this script (cf. *ŧ&;-&Dz;ٲ, below) and that scribes who used it were called 첹&Dz;ٲ-岹ī (Pahl. *&Dz;ٲ-徱ī). Ebn al-Faqī mentioned three rock inscriptions in the gaštag script at Hamadān, each containing twenty lines. Ebn Esfandīār and Awlīāʾ-Allāh also mentioned a yellow copper tablet inscribed in gastaj, which was found in a green earthenware jar at the gate of Gorgān in the time of Māzyār (9th century c.e.). In the light of these various descriptions, it may be concluded that gaštag was used for inscriptions; it was almost certainly the cursive Pahlavi script used in official documents, including ostraca, papyri, seals, coins, and inscriptions of the late Sasanian and post-Sasanian periods, rather than the unconnected lapidary script used in early Sasanian documents. The Islamic authors were more acquainted with the former script, which continued in use during the early Islamic centuries.
*Nēm-gaštag-徱īī (Ebn al-Nadīm, ed. Tajaddod, p. 16: nīm kaštaj; Ḥamza Eṣfahānī, pp. 64-65: nīm 첹&Dz;ٲ-岹ī), literally “half- *gaštag-徱īī,” was probably a variant of the preceding type. According to Ebn al-Nadīm, it also had twenty-eight characters, and books on medicine and philosophy were written in it. Ḥamza Eṣfahānī translated the name as al-ḡaⲹ neṣfohā “half ḡaⲹ script.”
*Rāz-徱īī (Ebn al-Nadīm, ed. Tajaddod, p. 16: rāz s-h-rī; Ḥamza Eṣfahānī, pp. 64-65: rāz dafīrih), literally “script for secrets,” consisted, according to Ebn al-Nadīm, of forty characters representing vowels and consonants. It was the script for secret correspondence among kings. Ḥamza Eṣfahānī, too, defined it as a script used by kings for writing their secrets and for writing translations (tarjama). Ebn al-Nadīm mentioned another script called rāz s-h-rīya (i.e., rāz s-h-rī), consisting of twenty-four characters, in which works on logic and philosophy were written (cf. Ḥamza Eṣfahānī’s statement apud Yāqūt, DZ II, p. 887 s.v. Rēšahr); he also described another secret script for kings, -&Dz; (sic) 岹īī “royal script,” of which no example had been preserved in his time. As Ebn al-Nadīm considered the scripts of the Persians to be seven but gave nine names, -&Dz; 岹īī was probably only another name or a variant of rāz 岹īī and rāz s-h-rī in a corrupt form of the latter.
*Nāmag-徱īī/*frawardag-徱īī (Ebn al-Nadīm, ed. Tajaddod, p. 16: nāma dabīrih; Ḥamza Eṣfahānī, pp. 64-65: ڲɲ岹-岹ī) “script for letters” was used in correspondence i., according to Ḥamza Eṣfahānī. It seems to have been a variant of the cursive script, specimens of which may be seen in letters written on parchment or papyrus.
*Hām-徱īī (Ebn al-Nadīm, ed. Tajaddod, p. 16: hām 岹īī; Ḥamza Eṣfahānī, pp. 64-65: -岹ī), “script of all” (or *ram-徱īī “script of the people”), was a general script for use among all classes of people in the country. It seems to have been identical with the well-known Pahlavi script. Ḥamza Eṣfahānī added that this script had twenty-eight variants, each with a particular name, but he mentioned only seven. The same seven names were also given by Ḵᵛārazmī (p. 117-18; cf. Unvala, pp. 16-17): -岹ī “script used for judicial decisions and cases,” &Dz;--&;岹ī “script used for the accounts of the country” (cf. the inscription of Narseh at Paikuli: Mid. Pers. l. 16 [pad] šahr-āmār dibīr; Parth. l. 14 pa’ šahr-ahmār dibīr “scribe of the accounts of the country”; Humbach and Skjærvø, III/1, pp. 42-43, III/2, p. 45), 첹岹&;-岹ī “script for the accounts of the royal court,” --岹ī “script for the accounts of the treasury“ (cf. Bailey, Zoroastrian Problems, p. 230), ǰ--岹ī “script for the accounts of the royal stables” (cf. Mid. Pers. ɲ, NPers. ḵo “stable”), ٲ&Dz;--岹ī “script for the accounts of the fire temples,” and ܷԲ(-)-岹ī “script for the accounts of pious foundations” (cf. Christensen, Iran Sass., p. 135).
Of the seven scripts discussed above dēn-岹īī is to be identified with the Avestan script and *hām/ram-岹īī with Book Pahlavi. The others were probably only variants of the cursive Pahlavi script, each with a particular name according to its usage.
See also DABĪR i.
Bibliography:
Abū Helāl Ḥasan ʿAskarī, Ketāb al-forūq al-loḡawīya, ed. Ḥ. Qodsī, I, Cairo, 1353/1934.
Awlīāʾ-Allāh Āmolī, Tārīḵ-e Rūyān, ed. M. Sotūda, Tehran, 1348 Š./1969.
Ḥamza Eṣfahānī, al-Tanbī ʿalā ḥodūṯ al-taṣḥīf, ed. M.-Ḥ. Āl Yāsīn, Baghdad, 1387/1967.
H. Humbach and P. O. Skjærvø, The Sassanian Inscription of Paikuli I-III/2, Wiesbaden, 1978-83.
K. M. JamaspAsa, Dzə岹ŧč. A Zoroastrian Liturgy, Sb. der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften 397, Vienna, 1982.
Abū ʿAbd-Allāh Moḥammad Ḵᵛārazmī, Mafātīḥ al-ʿolūm, ed. G. van Vloten, Leiden, 1895.
M.-Ṣ. Kīā, “Gašta-dabīra,” ū岹 5/1, Tehran, 1334 Š./1955, pp. 57.
M.-J. Maškūr, “Ḵaṭṭhā wa zabānhā-ye Īrān-e bāstān,” ḵa 19/3, 1348 Š./1969, pp. 299-305.
ʿA.-A. Ṣādeqī, “Dar bāra-ye ḵoṭūṭ-e Īrānīān-e bāstān,” ḵa 19/10, 1348 Š./1969, pp. 1037-47; 20/2, 1349 Š./1970, pp. 140-42.
Idem, “Taḥawwol-e pasvand-e ḥāṣel-e maṣdar az pahlavī be fārsī,” ܲ-&Dz;ī 7/1, 1369 Š./1990, pp. 81-88.
J. Unvala, “The Translation of an Extract from Mafātīḥ al ʿulūm of al-Khwārazmī,” Journal of the Cama Oriental Institute 11, 1928, pp. 1-30.
(Aḥmad Tafażżolī)
Originally Published: December 15, 1993
Last Updated: November 10, 2011
This article is available in print.
Vol. VI, Fasc. 5, pp. 540-541
