Aryan: Difference between revisions

Browse history interactively ← Previous edit Next edit →Content deleted Content addedVisual WikitextInline

Revision as of 06:34, 20 February 2008 editRebel XTi (talk \| contribs)97 edits →Indo-Aryan ← Previous edit		Revision as of 09:21, 20 February 2008 edit undoFullstop (talk \| contribs)Extended confirmed users, Rollbackers9,272 edits Revert 2 edits by Rebel XTi to last revision by Mats Halldin. Indef block evasion of Goldenhawk 0 & edit warringNext edit →
Line 46:		Line 46:
	There is evidence of speakers of Indo-Aryan in ] around ] in the form of loanwords in the ] dialect of Hurrian, the speakers of which, it is speculated, may have once had an Indo-Aryan ruling class. At around the same time, the Indo-Aryans associated with the ], which dates back to the same period. They are sometimes called Vedic Aryans because it is believed that they brought ] to the ] after the Aryans migrated into that region (this theory is countered by the ]). In ], the term ], meaning "''abode of the Aryans''", was used to refer to the northern Indian subcontinent.		There is evidence of speakers of Indo-Aryan in ] around ] in the form of loanwords in the ] dialect of Hurrian, the speakers of which, it is speculated, may have once had an Indo-Aryan ruling class. At around the same time, the Indo-Aryans associated with the ], which dates back to the same period. They are sometimes called Vedic Aryans because it is believed that they brought ] to the ] after the Aryans migrated into that region (this theory is countered by the ]). In ], the term ], meaning "''abode of the Aryans''", was used to refer to the northern Indian subcontinent.

	Contemporary speakers of Indo-Aryan languages are spread over most of the northern Indian subcontinent. Indo-Aryan speakers exist outside the Indian subcontinent including ], the language of the ], often known as "Gypsies". In addition to Romani, ] is spoken in ], ] in ], and ] throughout the Middle East.		Contemporary speakers of Indo-Aryan languages are spread over most of the northern Indian subcontinent. Indo-Aryan speakers exist outside the Indian subcontinent including ], the language of the ], often known as "Gypsies". In addition to Romani, ] is spoken in ], ] in ], and ] throughout the Middle East.

	Although the Nazis claims that the Gypsies were not Aryan the Gypsy Lore Society (est. 1888 England) claimed that the Gypsies were the most ancient Aryans and even sought to protect themselves through not mixing with non-Gypsies.<ref> P. 17 ''Germany and Its Gypsies: A Post-Auschwitz Ordeal'' By Gilad Margalit </ref>

	===Iranian===		===Iranian===
Line 72:		Line 70:
	Because of ] arguments about connections between peoples and cultural values, "Aryan" peoples were often considered to be distinct from ] peoples. By the end of the nineteenth century "Aryan" was used as a ] for ], and this popular usage persists even after some academic authors have condemned a such usage because of its negative connotations derived from the ]-era. In linguistics, it is still used in the context of the sub-branch of ] referred to as ], all though that usage has also been condemned and proposed to be replaced by the term ].		Because of ] arguments about connections between peoples and cultural values, "Aryan" peoples were often considered to be distinct from ] peoples. By the end of the nineteenth century "Aryan" was used as a ] for ], and this popular usage persists even after some academic authors have condemned a such usage because of its negative connotations derived from the ]-era. In linguistics, it is still used in the context of the sub-branch of ] referred to as ], all though that usage has also been condemned and proposed to be replaced by the term ].

		⚫	The '''Aryan race''' was a term used in the early 20th century by European racial theorists who believed strongly in the division of humanity into biologically distinct races with differing characteristics. Such writers believed that the Proto-Indo-Europeans constituted a specific race that had expanded across parts of Europe, ] and small parts of northern India. This usage tends to merge the Sanskrit meaning of "noble" or "elevated" with the idea of distinctive behavioral and ancestral ethnicity marked by language distribution.
	Thind argued that the Asian Indians were the real Aryans.<ref> P. 397 ''Critical White Studies: Looking Behind the Mirror'' By Richard Delgado, Jean Stefancic </ref> Scholar Viktor Rydberg claims that before the arrival of the Aryans to the Greek and Italian peninsulas, they were inhabited by White people (saying therefore that Aryans are not White.)<ref> P. 4 ''Teutonic Mythology'' By Viktor Rydberg </ref> Scholar Nihon Gakujutsu Kaigi writes, "''We do not know anything about the Aryan race. All that we know from India is that the Aryans were not a white people at all.''"<ref> P. 86 ''Proceedings'' by International Association for the History of Religions.; Nihon Gakujutsu Kaigi. </ref> In the early 20th century, there was a group of "Brown Aryans" dedicated to fighting for an independent India.<ref> P. 139 ''Changing Face of the Law: A Global Perspective'' By Riddhi Dasgupta </ref> Scholar Bernardo J. Correa says that the Aryans are a Brown people.<ref> ''Deep Soul: The Deepest Roots are the Roots of the Soul'' By Bernardo Jaramillo Correa </ref> Advocating that the original Aryans were Brown, scholar Hormusjee S. Spencer writes, "''Once European racial mythology and racial science became important and acquired significance, the central Asian, olive-skinned, dark-haired Aryans were transformed into Nordic blonds.''"<ref> P. 176 ''The making of anthropology : the semiotics of self and other in the Western tradition'' Jacob Pandian, Susan Parman </ref> Some scholars have believed that, "''primitive Aryans were a short and dark people...''"<ref> P. 227 ''The origin of the Aryans'' by Isaac Taylor </ref> Scholar Giuseppe Sergi of the "Mediterranean Brown Race" wrote, "''the true primitive Aryans were not long, but round-headed, not fair but dark...''"<ref> P. 446 ''Man, Past and Present'' by Augustus Henry Keane </ref> Sergi was against such views.<ref> P. 35 ''The Modern Review'' By Ramananda Chatterjee </ref> Helena P. Blavatsky writing of ancient Egypt says, "''that it was a colony of the dark-skinned Aryans...''"<ref> P. 435 ''Isis Unveiled: A Master Key to the Mysteries of Ancient and Modern Science and Technology'' by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky</ref> Other scholars are also of the opinion that the original Aryans were not white-skinned.<ref> P. 234 ''The Political Miscellany: Essays in Memory of Professor Ramesh Chandra Ghosh'' by Ramesh Chandra Ghosh, Amal Kumar Mukhopadhyay </ref> T. S. Denison advocates that the primitive Aryans are (or were) reddish people. He quotes Mr. Widney writing, "''The primitive Aryans were of light color, reddish or brown rather than black.''"<ref> P. 21 ''Primitive Aryans of American: Origin of the Aztecs and Kindred Tribes'' by T. S. Denison </ref> John F. Arundell, E. Ryley and Henry Formby write, "''The Aryan race, the same as our own, are olive-colored.''"<ref> P. 155 ''The scientific value of tradition a correspondence between Lord Arundell of Wardour and Mr. E. Ryley : with a letter from the Rev. H. Formby on the Christian science of tradition'' by John Francis Arundell Arundell of Wardour, Baron; E Ryley; Henry Formby </ref> Some have maintained that the brachycephalic dark Celts were the original Aryans.<ref> P. 11 ''The Rigvedic Culture of the Pre-historic Indus'' by Sankarananda </ref> Other French scholars wrote that they were medium to dark-complexioned (or swarthy<ref> P. 780 ''Report'' By British Association for the Advancement of Science </ref>) Celts.<ref> P. 36 ''Proceedings'' by Middle States Council for the Social Studies.; Association of History Teachers of the Middle States and Maryland.; Middle States Association of History Teachers.; Middle States Association of History and Social Science Teachers </ref>

⚫	The '''Aryan race''' was a term used in the early 20th century by European racial theorists who believed strongly in the division of humanity into biologically distinct races with differing characteristics. Such writers believed that the Proto-Indo-Europeans constituted a specific race that had expanded across parts of Europe, ] and small parts of northern India. This usage tends to merge the Sanskrit meaning of "noble" or "elevated" with the idea of distinctive behavioral and ancestral ethnicity marked by language distribution. ~~Gobineau claimed that the true Aryans were the Aryans of India, Iranians, Hellenes and the Sarmates (ancestral Germans.)<ref> P. 39 ''The Racial Basis of Civilization'' By Frank H. Hankins </ref>~~

	From the late 19th century, a number of writers had argued that the Proto-Indo-Europeans had originated in Europe. Their opinion was received critically at first, but was widely accepted by the end of the nineteenth century. By 1905 ] in his ''Die Indogermanen'' (Hirt consistently used ''Indogermanen'', not ''Arier'', to refer to the Indo-Europeans) claimed that the scales had tilted in favour of the hypothesis, in particular claiming the plains of northern Germany as the '']'' (p. 197) and connecting the "blond type" (p. 192) with the core population of the early, "pure" Indo-Europeans. This argument developed in tandem with ], the theory that the "Nordic race" of fair-haired north Europeans were innately superior to other peoples. The identification of the Proto-Indo-Europeans with the north German ] culture bolstered this position. This was first proposed by ] in 1902, and gained in currency over the following two decades, until ] who in his 1926 ''The Aryans: a study of Indo-European origins'' concluded that "the Nordics' superiority in physique fitted them to be the vehicles of a superior language" (a belief which he later regretted having expressed).		From the late 19th century, a number of writers had argued that the Proto-Indo-Europeans had originated in Europe. Their opinion was received critically at first, but was widely accepted by the end of the nineteenth century. By 1905 ] in his ''Die Indogermanen'' (Hirt consistently used ''Indogermanen'', not ''Arier'', to refer to the Indo-Europeans) claimed that the scales had tilted in favour of the hypothesis, in particular claiming the plains of northern Germany as the '']'' (p. 197) and connecting the "blond type" (p. 192) with the core population of the early, "pure" Indo-Europeans. This argument developed in tandem with ], the theory that the "Nordic race" of fair-haired north Europeans were innately superior to other peoples. The identification of the Proto-Indo-Europeans with the north German ] culture bolstered this position. This was first proposed by ] in 1902, and gained in currency over the following two decades, until ] who in his 1926 ''The Aryans: a study of Indo-European origins'' concluded that "the Nordics' superiority in physique fitted them to be the vehicles of a superior language" (a belief which he later regretted having expressed).

	The idea became a matter of national pride in learned circles of Germany, and was taken up by the Nazis. According to ]'s ideology the "Aryan-Nordic" (''arisch-nordisch'') or "Nordic-Atlantean" (''nordisch-atlantisch'') race was thus a ], at the top of a racial hierarchy, pitted against a "]-]" (''jüdisch-semitisch'') race, deemed to be a racial threat to Germany's homogeneous Aryan civilization, thus rationalizing Nazi ]. Nazism portrayed their interpretation of an "Aryan race" as the only race capable of, or with an interest in, creating and maintaining culture and civilizations, while other races are merely capable of conversion, or destruction of culture. These arguments derived from late nineteenth century racial hierarchies. Some Nazis were also influenced by ]'s '']'' (]) where she postulates "Aryans" as the fifth of her "]s", dating them to about a million years ago, tracing them to ], an idea also repeated by Rosenberg, and held as doctrine by the ]. Such theories were used to justify the introduction of the so-called ] by the Nazis, depriving "non-Aryans" of citizenship and employment rights, and prohibiting marriage between Aryans and non-Aryans. Though ]'s ] was not originally characterised by explicit anti-Semitism, he too eventually introduced laws pressed upon him by Hitler, prohibiting mixed-race marriages between "Aryans" and Jews. ~~Scholar Norman L. Hill writes, "''This ridiculous Nordic- Aryan theory, launched by French writers, was eagerly~~		The idea became a matter of national pride in learned circles of Germany, and was taken up by the Nazis. According to ]'s ideology the "Aryan-Nordic" (''arisch-nordisch'') or "Nordic-Atlantean" (''nordisch-atlantisch'') race was thus a ], at the top of a racial hierarchy, pitted against a "]-]" (''jüdisch-semitisch'') race, deemed to be a racial threat to Germany's homogeneous Aryan civilization, thus rationalizing Nazi ]. Nazism portrayed their interpretation of an "Aryan race" as the only race capable of, or with an interest in, creating and maintaining culture and civilizations, while other races are merely capable of conversion, or destruction of culture. These arguments derived from late nineteenth century racial hierarchies. Some Nazis were also influenced by ]'s '']'' (]) where she postulates "Aryans" as the fifth of her "]s", dating them to about a million years ago, tracing them to ], an idea also repeated by Rosenberg, and held as doctrine by the ]. Such theories were used to justify the introduction of the so-called ] by the Nazis, depriving "non-Aryans" of citizenship and employment rights, and prohibiting marriage between Aryans and non-Aryans. Though ]'s ] was not originally characterised by explicit anti-Semitism, he too eventually introduced laws pressed upon him by Hitler, prohibiting mixed-race marriages between "Aryans" and Jews.
	developed in Germany and linked with anti-Jewish propaganda.''"<ref> P. 233 ''International Relations: Documents and Readings'' By Norman Llewellyn Hill </ref>

	Because of historical ] use of ''Aryan'', and especially use of ''Aryan race'' in connection with the ] of ], the word is sometimes avoided in the West as being tainted, in the same manner as the ] symbol. Currently, India and Iran are the only countries to use the word ''Aryan'' in a demographic denomination. Aryan is also a common male name in ], ], and ].		Because of historical ] use of ''Aryan'', and especially use of ''Aryan race'' in connection with the ] of ], the word is sometimes avoided in the West as being tainted, in the same manner as the ] symbol. Currently, India and Iran are the only countries to use the word ''Aryan'' in a demographic denomination. Aryan is also a common male name in ], ], and ].
Line 102:		Line 97:
	* Vyacheslav V. Ivanov and Thomas Gamkrelidze, The Early History of Indo-European Languages, Scientific American, vol. 262, N3, 110116, March, 1990		* Vyacheslav V. Ivanov and Thomas Gamkrelidze, The Early History of Indo-European Languages, Scientific American, vol. 262, N3, 110116, March, 1990
	* A. Kammenhuber, "Aryans in the Near East," Haidelberg, 1968		* A. Kammenhuber, "Aryans in the Near East," Haidelberg, 1968
	*] - A reference is made to Aryan in the song, "All of my love" from the 1978 album "In through the out door"
	"the cup is raised, the toast is made yet again. One voice is clear above the din. Proud Aryan one word my will to sustain. For me the cloth once more to spin"

	==Further reading==		==Further reading==

Revision as of 09:21, 20 February 2008

For Hindu, Zoroastrian and other spiritual interpretations, see Arya. For the Bollywood film, see Aryan (film).

Aryan is an English word derived from the Sanskrit "Ārya" meaning "noble" or "honorable". The Avestan cognate of the Sanskrit term is "Airya" and the Old Persian equivalent is "Ariya." It is widely held to have been used as an ethnic self-designation of the Proto-Indo-Iranians. Since, in the 19th century, the Indo-Iranians were the most ancient known speakers of Indo-European languages, the word Aryan was adopted to refer not only to the Indo-Iranian people, but also to Indo-European speakers as a whole.

In Europe, the concept of an Aryan race became influential in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as linguists and ethnologists argued that speakers of these Indo-European languages constitute a distinctive race, descended from an ancient people, who were referred to as the "primitive Aryans", but are now known as Proto-Indo-Europeans.

In linguistics, Aryan is most often used in the context of the sub-branch of Indo-Iranian languages referred to as Indo-Aryan languages.

Etymology

Proto-Indo-European (PIE) *ar-yo-, a yo-adjective to a root *ar "to assemble skillfully", present in Greek harma "chariot", Greek aristos, (as in "aristocracy"), Latin ars "art", etc. Proto-Indo-Iranian *ar-ta- was a related concept of "properly joined" expressing a religious concept of cosmic order.

The adjective *aryo- was suggested as ascending to Proto-Indo-European times as the self-designation of the speakers of the Proto-Indo-European language itself. It was suggested that other words such as Éire, the Irish name of Ireland, and Ehre (German for "honour") were related to it, but these are now widely regarded as untenable, and while *ar-yo- is certainly a well-formed PIE adjective, there is no evidence that it was used as an ethnic self-designation outside the Indo-Iranian branch. In the 1850s Max Müller theorized that the word originated as a denotation of farming populations, since he thought it likely that it was related to the root *arh₃, meaning "to plough". Other 19th century writers, such as Charles Morris, repeated this idea, linking the expansion of PIE speakers to the spread of agriculturalists. Most linguists now consider *arh₃ to be unrelated.

The Proto-Iranian form *Aryāna- appears as Æryānam Väejāh "expanse of the Aryans" in Avestan, in Middle Persian as Ērān, and in Modern Persian as Īrān. Similarly, Northern India was referred to by the tatpurusha Aryavarta "Arya-abode" in ancient times.

Semantics of Sanskrit arya

Main article: Arya

According to Paul Thieme (1938), the Vedic term arya- in its earliest attestations has a meaning of "stranger", but "stranger" in the sense of "potential guest" as opposed to "barbarian" (mleccha, dasa), taking this to indicate that arya was originally the ethnic self-designation of the Indo-Iranians. Arya directly contrasts with Dasa or Dasyu in the Rigveda (e.g. RV 1.51.8, ví jānīhy âryān yé ca dásyavaḥ "Discern thou well Aryas and Dasyus"). This situation is directly comparable to the term Hellene in Ancient Greece. The Middle Indic interjection arē!, rē! "you there!" is derived from the vocative arí! "stranger!".

The Sanskrit lexicon Amarakosha (c. AD 450) defines Arya as mahākula kulīnārya "being of a noble family", sabhya "having gentle or refined behavior and demeanor", sajjana "being well-born and respectable", and sādhava "being virtuous, honourable, or righteous". In Hinduism, the religiously initiated Brahmin, Kshatriya and Vaishyas were arya, a title of honor and respect given to certain people for noble behaviour. This word is used by Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Zoroastrians to mean noble or spiritual., for example, Four Noble Truths (Pali: Cattāri ariyasaccāni, Sanskrit: Catvāri āryasatyāni), and Noble Eightfold Path (Pāli: Ariyo aṭṭhaṅgiko maggo; Sanskrit: Ārya 'ṣṭāṅga mārgaḥ).

Indo-European

File:Indo-European Groups World Distribution.gif

Map showing the distribution of Indo-European languages.

Max Müller and other 19th century linguists theorized that the term *arya was used as the self-description of the Proto-Indo-Europeans, who were often referred to at this time as the "primitive Aryans". By extension, the word came to be used in the West for the Indo-European speaking peoples as a whole. Besides Müller for example H. Chavée in 1867 uses the term in this sense (aryaque), but this never saw frequent use in linguistics, precisely for being reserved for "Indo-Iranian" already. G. I. Ascoli in 1854 used arioeuropeo, viz. a compound "Aryo-European" with the same rationale as "Indo-European", the term now current, which has been in frequent use since the 1830s. Nevertheless, the use of Aryan as a synonym for Indo-European became widespread in non-linguistic and popular usage by the end of the nineteenth century.

Use of "Aryan" for "Indo-European" in academia was obsolete by the 1910s: B. W. Leist in 1888 still titles Alt-Arisches Jus Gentium ("Old Aryan Ius Gentium"). P. v. Bradke in 1890 titles Methode und Ergebnisse der arischen (indogermanischen) Altterthumswissenschaft, still using "Aryan", but inserting an explanatory bracket. Otto Schrader in 1918 in his Reallexikon der indogermanischen Altertumskunde under the entry Arier matter-of-factly discusses the Indo-Iranians, without any reference to a possible wider meaning of the term.

According to Michael Witzel in his paper Autochthonous Aryans? The Evidence from Old Indian and Iranian Texts, "the use of the word Arya or Aryan to designate the speakers of all Indo-European (IE) languages or as the designation of a particular race is an aberration of many writers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries and should be avoided."

Indo-Iranian

Main article: Indo-Iranians

The most probable date for Proto-Indo-Iranian unity is roughly around 2500 BC. In this sense of the word Aryan, the Aryans were an ancient culture preceding both the Vedic and Avestan cultures. Candidates for an archeological identification of this Indo-Iranian culture are the Andronovo and/or Srubnaya Archeological Complexes. India, Anatolia and Central Asia have also been suggested as possible homelands for this culture.

In linguistics, the term Aryan currently may be used to refer to the Indo-Iranian language family. To prevent confusion because of its several meanings, the linguistic term is often avoided today. It has been replaced by the unambiguous terms Proto-Indo-European, Proto-Indo-Iranian, Indo-Iranian, Iranian and Indo-Aryan.

The Proto-Indo-Iranian language evolved into the family of Indo-Iranian languages, of which the oldest-known members are Vedic Sanskrit, Avestan and another Indo-Iranian language, known only from loan-words found in the Mitanni language.

Indo-Aryan

Main articles: Indo-Aryans and Indo-Aryan languages See also: Arya § Hinduism

File:Triseal.jpg

Indus Valley Seals. The first one appears to show a Swastika.

There is evidence of speakers of Indo-Aryan in Mesopotamia around 1500 BC in the form of loanwords in the Mitanni dialect of Hurrian, the speakers of which, it is speculated, may have once had an Indo-Aryan ruling class. At around the same time, the Indo-Aryans associated with the Vedic civilization, which dates back to the same period. They are sometimes called Vedic Aryans because it is believed that they brought Vedas to the Indian subcontinent after the Aryans migrated into that region (this theory is countered by the Out of India Theory). In ancient India, the term Aryavarta, meaning "abode of the Aryans", was used to refer to the northern Indian subcontinent.

Contemporary speakers of Indo-Aryan languages are spread over most of the northern Indian subcontinent. Indo-Aryan speakers exist outside the Indian subcontinent including Romani, the language of the Roma people, often known as "Gypsies". In addition to Romani, Parya is spoken in Tajikistan, Jataki in Ukraine, and Domari throughout the Middle East.

Iranian

Main articles: Iranian peoples and Iranian languages

Since ancient times, Persians have used the term Aryan as a racial designation in an ethnic sense to describe their lineage and their language, and this tradition has continued into the present day amongst modern Iranians . In fact, the name Iran is a cognate of Aryan and means "Land of the Aryans." However, many of these usages are also intelligible if we understand the word Aryan in its sense of "noble" or "Spiritual".

Darius the Great, King of Persia (521–486 BC), in an inscription in Naqsh-e Rustam (near Shiraz in present-day Iran), proclaims: "I am Darius the great King… A Persian, son of a Persian, an Aryan, having Aryan lineage...". He also calls his language the "Aryan language," commonly known today as Old Persian. According to the Encyclopedia Iranica, "the same ethnic concept was held in the later centuries" and was associated with "nobility and lordship." (p. 681)

The word has become a technical term in the theologies of Zoroastrianism, but has always been used by Iranians in the ethnic sense as well. In 1967, Iran's Pahlavi dynasty (overthrown in the 1979 Iranian revolution) added the title Āryāmehr "Light of the Aryans" to those of the monarch, known at the time as the Shahanshah (King of Kings).

The term "Airya-shayana" (abode of the Aryans) has also been used in the Avesta referring to all the lands where the Aryans dwell.

"Iranian Glory" (Airyana Khvarenah) occurs in the Avesta 23 times.

The term also remains a frequent element in modern Persian personal names, including Arya and Aryan (boy's and girl's name), Aryana (a common surname), Iran-Dokht (Aryan daughter, a girl's name),Aryanpour (or Aryanpur, a surname), Aryamane, Ary among many others. The terms "Aryan" and "Iranian" are sometimes used interchangeably, as in the Iranian bank chain, Aryan Bank.

Racial connotations

Main article: Aryan race

Because of ethnolinguistic arguments about connections between peoples and cultural values, "Aryan" peoples were often considered to be distinct from Semitic peoples. By the end of the nineteenth century "Aryan" was used as a synonym for Indo-European, and this popular usage persists even after some academic authors have condemned a such usage because of its negative connotations derived from the Nazi-era. In linguistics, it is still used in the context of the sub-branch of Indo-Iranians referred to as Indo-Aryans, all though that usage has also been condemned and proposed to be replaced by the term Indic languages.

The Aryan race was a term used in the early 20th century by European racial theorists who believed strongly in the division of humanity into biologically distinct races with differing characteristics. Such writers believed that the Proto-Indo-Europeans constituted a specific race that had expanded across parts of Europe, Iran and small parts of northern India. This usage tends to merge the Sanskrit meaning of "noble" or "elevated" with the idea of distinctive behavioral and ancestral ethnicity marked by language distribution.

From the late 19th century, a number of writers had argued that the Proto-Indo-Europeans had originated in Europe. Their opinion was received critically at first, but was widely accepted by the end of the nineteenth century. By 1905 Hermann Hirt in his Die Indogermanen (Hirt consistently used Indogermanen, not Arier, to refer to the Indo-Europeans) claimed that the scales had tilted in favour of the hypothesis, in particular claiming the plains of northern Germany as the Urheimat (p. 197) and connecting the "blond type" (p. 192) with the core population of the early, "pure" Indo-Europeans. This argument developed in tandem with Nordicism, the theory that the "Nordic race" of fair-haired north Europeans were innately superior to other peoples. The identification of the Proto-Indo-Europeans with the north German Corded Ware culture bolstered this position. This was first proposed by Gustaf Kossinna in 1902, and gained in currency over the following two decades, until V. Gordon Childe who in his 1926 The Aryans: a study of Indo-European origins concluded that "the Nordics' superiority in physique fitted them to be the vehicles of a superior language" (a belief which he later regretted having expressed).

The idea became a matter of national pride in learned circles of Germany, and was taken up by the Nazis. According to Alfred Rosenberg's ideology the "Aryan-Nordic" (arisch-nordisch) or "Nordic-Atlantean" (nordisch-atlantisch) race was thus a master race, at the top of a racial hierarchy, pitted against a "Jewish-Semitic" (jüdisch-semitisch) race, deemed to be a racial threat to Germany's homogeneous Aryan civilization, thus rationalizing Nazi anti-Semitism. Nazism portrayed their interpretation of an "Aryan race" as the only race capable of, or with an interest in, creating and maintaining culture and civilizations, while other races are merely capable of conversion, or destruction of culture. These arguments derived from late nineteenth century racial hierarchies. Some Nazis were also influenced by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky's The Secret Doctrine (1888) where she postulates "Aryans" as the fifth of her "Root Races", dating them to about a million years ago, tracing them to Atlantis, an idea also repeated by Rosenberg, and held as doctrine by the Thule Society. Such theories were used to justify the introduction of the so-called "Aryan laws" by the Nazis, depriving "non-Aryans" of citizenship and employment rights, and prohibiting marriage between Aryans and non-Aryans. Though Mussolini's fascism was not originally characterised by explicit anti-Semitism, he too eventually introduced laws pressed upon him by Hitler, prohibiting mixed-race marriages between "Aryans" and Jews.

Because of historical racist use of Aryan, and especially use of Aryan race in connection with the propaganda of Nazism, the word is sometimes avoided in the West as being tainted, in the same manner as the swastika symbol. Currently, India and Iran are the only countries to use the word Aryan in a demographic denomination. Aryan is also a common male name in India, Afghanistan, and Iran.

Notes

<Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/aryan.
for the Sanskrit term, Monier-Williams has: "a respectable or honourable or faithful man, an inhabitant of Âryâvarta; one who is faithful to the religion of his country; name of the race which immigrated from Central Asia into Âryâvarta (opposed to an-arya, dasyu, daasa); in later times name of the first three castes (opposed to shudra); a man highly esteemed; a master; Âryan, favourable to the Âryan people; behaving like an Âryan, worthy of one, honourable, respectable, noble; of a good family; excellent; wise; suitable"
Encyclopaedia Iranica - Aryans
ThinkQuest : Site Unavailable
Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies
Encyclopedia Iranica, p. 681, Arya
The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, 2000
http://www.nvtc.gov/lotw/months/february/indoIranianBranch.html
Persian
Thomas Wilson, curator of the Department of Prehistoric Anthropology, U.S. National Museum, wrote in 1894 that "it is believed by some to have been the oldest Aryan symbol", The Swastika: the earliest known symbol, and its migration, Report of the U. S. National Museum, p.770

References

Paul Thieme, Der Fremdling im Rigveda. Eine Studie über die Bedeutung der Worte ari, arya, aryaman und aarya, Leipzig (1938).
Vyacheslav V. Ivanov and Thomas Gamkrelidze, The Early History of Indo-European Languages, Scientific American, vol. 262, N3, 110116, March, 1990
A. Kammenhuber, "Aryans in the Near East," Haidelberg, 1968

External links

The great Indo-European and ancient Near East scholar Vyacheslav Ivanov. (Vyacheslav Ivanov)
Sindhudesh.com
Occurrence of "Arya" in Hindu scriptures
Etymological study
Aryanism in Tajikistan
Genetic evidence suggests European migrants may have influenced the origins of India's caste system
Aryan as a race or language, By David Frawley, American Institute of vedic Studies.
India through the Ages
Autochthonous Aryans? The Evidence from Old Indian and Iranian Texts, By Michael Witzel, Harvard University.
The Aryan-Dravidian Controversy Article by David Frawley

Categories: