Farsi Afghan / Dari = same thing?!

G

george_850

Member
United Kingdom, English
Hello

I wonder if someone can help, I'm sure this is a very basic question so I apologise, but I am really struggling to find a straight forward answer!

I would like to know: are 'Farsi Afghan' and 'Dari' the same thing? My understanding is that Dari is just another name for the version of Farsi spoken in Afghanistan but I am not sure. If they are different, please could you explain how they differ?

Also how different are Iranian and Afghan Farsi? Could two people speaking these different dialects understand each other?

Thank you so much for your help
George
 
    • george_850 said:
    Hello

    I wonder if someone can help, I'm sure this is a very basic question so I apologise, but I am really struggling to find a straight forward answer!

    I would like to know: are 'Farsi Afghan' and 'Dari' the same thing? My understanding is that Dari is just another name for the version of Farsi spoken in Afghanistan but I am not sure. If they are different, please could you explain how they differ?

    Also how different are Iranian and Afghan Farsi? Could two people speaking these different dialects understand each other?

    Thank you so much for your help
    George
    Click to expand...
    Hi
    Farsi language in Iran is called "Parsi" or "Farsi" and in Afghanistan it is called "Dari". In both countries the language is almost the same and they are just different in terms of dialect and accent and there is a mutual intelligibility (mutual understanding) between Iranians and Afghans. The language is different in both countries the same as English is different in USA and Australia. Australians call it "aussie" and Americans and Britons call it "English".
    Some exqmples of differences:
    In Iran >>>> hezaar >>>> 1000
    In Afghanistan >>>> hazaar >>>> 1000
    In Iran >>>> melli ≥>> national
    In Afghanistan >>>> milli >>>> national
    In Iran >>> diveest >>> 200
    In Afghanistan >>> dosad >>> 200
     
    Last edited:
    "Dari" is the official name of the language. Many people still use "Farsi" in Afghanistan. If Iranians and Afghans speak formal Persian of their country then they will understand each other most of times. But if they speak with local or informal accents the intelligibility is considerably reduced.

    truce said:
    Australians call it "aussie" and Americans and Britons call it "English".
    Click to expand...

    Australians call it English like everyone else.
     
    Medieval writers believed it is related to "court" but I don't know whether they meant it was an abbreviation for دربار or just from در (gate: the gate of palace/court or other formal gates).
     
    Thanks, fdb. So 'dari' does mean 'of the court'. But it's all extremely confusing, isn't it, really? Molaanaa jaan evidently knew what he was talking about when he made up the parable of the elephant in the dark! Just between us, I think the term 'dari' was once a distinguishing mark of the language that the courts used in a large area, extending maybe even to Baghdad. Its origin was probably an area to the northeast of Iran. I say this, because I've always heard learned people say that our modern 'Farsi' (of Iran) is 'Farsi e Dari', which originates in Khorassan and the area just across its (current) borders. I wonder if there was originally a Khorassani language. Is this possible, do you think?
     
    The generally accepted etymology (both in mediaeval sources and in modern scholarly literature) is that “darī” was the language of the Sasanian “court”, in other words: what we now call Sasanian Middle Persian. In Islamic times it then takes on the meaning of courtly or elegant Persian, as opposed to fahlawī in the (New Persian) sense of colloquial dialect.
     
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