To compensate for these omissions, Lassen added a sign (
) which with 44 (𐎦), in addition to the thirty-three signs in Niebuhr’s list, made up the thirty-five letters which constitute his alphabet.[518] This sign (
) is always found in conjunction with 31 (𐎴) n. Grotefend pointed out long ago that the two signs 𐎴 ·
replace the word for ‘king’ and, whatever might be their pronunciation, there was no doubt as to their signification.[519] It was at first supposed that the last letter was an alternative sign for 27 (𐎹); but this had to be abandoned, and Lassen now gives it the value of rp, and he reads the combined letters ‘narap.’ He was led to this result because Westergaard thought that the word corresponding to it in the second column had the sound of ‘narap.’[520] The two signs are now treated as together forming a monogram for ‘king,’ and in transliteration they are represented by khs to indicate an abbreviated form of the royal title. He adds also the two new signs that occur in the Inscription of Artaxerxes. The one (𐏍) first appeared in the copy published by Grotefend in 1837; the other (𐏏) is dimly discernible in Rich (Pl. 23, line 10), and is no doubt more clearly delineated by Westergaard. The first had evidently the sound of dah, for it precedes the j in the well-known word ‘dahjunam’; the other clearly denotes the complex sound ‘bumi’ in the word ‘bumi-ja.’[521]
The long line of scholars from Münter to Jacquet, whose labours we have now passed in review, had at length succeeded in deciphering the cuneiform alphabet of the first species of writing found at Persepolis, and, with the exception of two, they had attached correct values to each of the thirty-five letters. When, therefore, Lassen wrote his second Memoir, the task he had to perform was concerned much less with the alphabet than with the numerous strange words formed by it, which it was now necessary to assign a meaning to and connect together by grammatical rules. It is clear there was only one method to pursue, and that was to compare them with the words and forms of other languages with which the Old Persian was likely to be connected. It was natural in the first instance to turn to Zend, the sacred language of the country in which the inscriptions were found; and the most superficial comparison, which was all that was then possible, was sufficient to prove that the two languages were closely allied. The early scholars were, however, greatly impeded by the extremely imperfect knowledge of Zend that as yet prevailed; and even if the cuneiform alphabet had been completely deciphered by Grotefend, it may be doubted whether the means were then available to grapple successfully with the difficulties of translation.[522] At that time Zend was known only by the work of Duperron, which, however remarkable for the time at which it appeared, was quite inadequate for the purpose. Indeed some scholars, even long afterwards, had doubts as to the genuineness of the language itself. Since then, however, the edition of the Yaçna published by Burnouf in 1833 placed the study upon an entirely different footing; and the progress made by Bopp and many others in Sanscrit was also of material service. It thus happened that concurrently with the improvement of the cuneiform alphabet the chief obstacles to the translation of the language were removed. When Burnouf and Lassen wrote their Memoirs in 1836, little progress had been made in that direction beyond the identification of the names of the Achaemenian kings, and of a few simple words. The attempt to go beyond rested chiefly upon conjecture and frequently resulted in absurdities of which the constellation of Moro is the typical instance.[523]
Progress was at first considerably retarded by a misapprehension of the relation between the Old Persian of the inscriptions and the language of the Zend-Avesta. Grotefend for a long time thought the two were absolutely identical, an opinion which, however, he subsequently modified.[524] Both Burnouf and Lassen, especially the latter, were at first inclined to suppose too close a resemblance between them. We have already pointed out some of the errors that resulted, especially with regard to the long and short vowels and the diphthongs. But this error was speedily corrected, and Lassen afterwards showed that the relation they bore to each other was that of descent from a common parent; and although Old Persian is historically more modern, it continued to retain some of the primitive forms which Zend had changed. While he recognised that they were two distinct dialects, he admitted that they closely resembled each other, and hence the great assistance he derived from the Zend in the interpretation of the inscriptions.[525] After Zend, he found that Sanscrit afforded him the greatest help. Indeed he was surprised to observe how often it agreed with the Old Persian, and it was particularly useful with respect to the grammatical forms.[526]