Guide to Pronunciation of Avestan - Appendix

Original Magic: The Rituals and Initiations of the Persian Magi - Stephen E. Flowers Ph.D. 2017

Guide to Pronunciation of Avestan
Appendix

Vowels are pronounced as in Modern German. The letter “x” stands for the “ch” sound found in German “Bach” or Scottish “loch.” The scientific or academic transcription of Avestan texts into the Roman alphabet is a sometimes controversial topic. Avestan has more than fifty distinct sounds, which are difficult to represent with the twenty-six letters of the standard Roman alphabet. In general, we resort to diacritical marks and letter combinations as well as the implementation of letters otherwise unused, such as “x” for the guttural “ch” sound. By way of example the scientific transliteration of the name of the yazata of Victory appears as Vərəθraűna, whereas we usually represent it more simply as Verethraghna. In manthras it will appear as verethragna.




a



as in German or English “father”




â



as in German




ã



nasal as in French en in enfant




å



as “aw” in “saw”




b



as in English




c



as “ch” in “church”




d



as in English




dh



as “th” in “that” (also transcribed δ)




e



as in English “bed”




ê



as the “a” in English “made”




f



as in English




g



as in English “get”




g



voiced ű (not in English)




h



as in English




i



as in English “pit”




î



as “ee” in “feed”




j



as in English




k



as in English




l



(not found in Avestan)




m



as in English




n



as in English




ng



as in English “song” (also transcribed ŋ)




ñ



“n” before a hard consonant




o



as “o” in English “rope”




ô



as “o” in “Minnesota”




p



as in English




r



as in English




s



as in English




sh



as in English “show” (also transcribed š)




t



as in English




th



as “th” in English “thing” (also transcribed θ)




u



as in English “put”




û



as “oo” in English “boon”




v



made with the lips, not teeth and lips




x



as “ch” in Scottish “loch” or German Bach




y



as in English




ý



initial “y”




z



as in English




ž



as in “azure”






as “i” in English “bite”




ao



as “ou” in English “out”

Other vowel combinations are pronounced as combinations of the pure vowel sounds.