Khuzi language

The Khuzi language (also spelled Huzi or Xūzī, also called Susian) was the language spoken by the ancient inhabitants of the region known historically as Susiana (modern Khuzestan Province in southwestern Iran). The name of this people appears in Old Persian as uvaja and uvja, and in Greek sources as “Uxii” which was subsequently rendered as “Ouxioi”, while Arabic writers recorded it as “Hūzī”. Today the language is referred to as the “Huzi language”, and in some sources as the “Khuzi language”.

The Huzi people were most likely descendants of the ancient Elamite civilization. Huzi remained the common language of the region until the Sasanian period and even for centuries after the Islamic conquest. The name of the province Khuzestan (“Huzistan”) and cities such as Ahvaz and Hoveyzeh reflect the historical presence of this people and their language.

Academic classification

Gilbert Lazard states, based on a report in the medieval book al-Fihrist quoting Ibn al-Muqaffa', that Iranians in the late Sasanian period spoke five languages:

1. Pahlavi – spoken in the region of ancient Media.
2. Dari – spoken in the capital (Ctesiphon/al-Madā'in).
3. Old Persian – language of priests and scholars.
4. Huzi – spoken in Huzistan.
5. Syriac – spoken in the Sawad (Mesopotamia).

According to Lazard, early Islamic historical sources do not provide a complete picture of the languages of Iran. From scattered reports by geographers and historians, it is said that the Huzi language could not even be properly written using the Arabic script.

notes that the language spoken in Khuzestan was Huzi, and: “According to explicit statements of that period, it had no direct relation to Persian or Arabic; even the Arabic script was insufficient for writing it. It is not incorrect to consider this dialect a remnant of the Elamite language.”

According to Minorsky and Soucek, the Huzi people were likely descendants of the Elamites. For several centuries after the Muslim conquest of Khuzestan, the local language remained Huzi. Masālik al-Mamālik states:

Ibn Hawqal also writes that, aside from Arabic and Persian, the people of Khuzestan spoke another language that was neither Syriac nor Hebrew.

History

Between the 8th and 13th centuries AD, various Arabic authors refer to a language called Khūzī or Khūz spoken in Khuzistan, which was unlike any other language known to those writers. It is possible that it was "a late variant of Elamite". The last original report on the Khūz language was written circa 988 by al-Maqdisi, characterizing the Khuzi as bilingual in Arabic and Persian but also speaking an "incomprehensible" language in Ramhormoz. The city had recently become prosperous again after the foundation of a market when it received an influx of foreigners and being a Khuzi was stigmatized at the time. The language probably went extinct in the 11th century. Later authors only mention the language when citing previous work.

According to Ibn al-Muqaffa', writing in the 8th century, Huzi was:

• Richard Frye states that geographers writing in the 10th century CE mention a Huzi language spoken in the Zagros Mountains, interpreted as a continuation of the ancient Elamite tongue.
• “Mahdi Marashi” quotes the author of Ahsan al-TaqāsÄ«m, saying the Huzi mixed a little Persian and Arabic in their speech.
• They said phrases such as: “in ketāb vasle kon” (“repair this book”) and “in kār ghet'e kon” (“finish this job”).
• They used both Arabic and Persian fluently, with certain elongations and emphases in word endings.
• According to Martin Haug, Huzi was likely the second language used in Achaemenid rock inscriptions.

Possible surviving vocabulary

Some words believed to be remnants of the Huzi language, preserved in modern Dezfuli and Shushtari, include:

• tara – can
• natara – cannot
• khasi – mother-in-law
• khaar – sister
• beraar – brother
• piyaa – man
• mera – husband
• afo / afto – sun
• o – water
• pasin – afternoon
• isoon – now
• kolmejoor – search, excavation
• khoftidan – to sleep
• versidan – to rise / stand up
• chaas – lunch
• shak – shaking / trembling

References

Sources

• Spuler, Bertold. History of Iran in the Early Islamic Centuries.
• Khaleghi-Motlagh, Jalal. The History of the Persian Language.
• Frye, Richard Nelson. The History of Ancient Iran.
• Haug, Martin. Essay on the Pahlavi language.
• Lazard, Gilbert. The Cambridge History of Iran, vol. 4.
• Marashi, Mahdi. Persian Studies in North America.