Oppert recognises the five vowels a, e, i, o and u; and, following De Saulcy, he admits yi, ya and ah in his list, among vowels. Weisbach excludes the o, for he considers there was no difference of sound between it and u; the y he includes among the semi-vowels, with both r and l. Although Oppert found that all the five vowels follow the consonant to form the single syllable, he considered that only a, i and u precede it. Both writers agree to limit the consonantal sounds to about eleven. Oppert was the first to treat the grammar with elaborate care, and when he claimed that his work was ‘une création entièrement nouvelle,’ the statement was probably more strictly accurate than he imagined.
The nouns do not admit of any distinction of gender, and have only the singular and plural number. Oppert distinguishes no fewer than twelve different cases, indicated by suffixes, a profusion limited by Weisbach to eight, viz. nominative, genitive, accusative, dative, ablative, allative, locative and comitative.
Oppert, however, did good service in unravelling the mysteries of the verb, though his passion for systematising and ‘restoration’ has carried him too far; and his verb, declined through all its moods and tenses, presents a very different appearance from the skeleton which, according to Weisbach, is all that can be strictly collected from the texts themselves. For example, we are presented with the six persons of a complete past tense, where Weisbach can only find authority for three; and we get a complete imperfect, although only one termination is really known, viz. that of the first person singular. With no less confidence we find two verbs—a reciprocative (‘je me sus’), and an ‘intensive’ (‘savoir bien’)—of which Weisbach can see no trace; and the same remark may be applied to his desiderative (‘je veux savoir’) and his factitive (‘je fais savoir’).[689]
Both writers agree as to the personal pronouns; but in the possessive Weisbach can only find the third person singular and the first person plural, while Oppert supplies us with the series complete.[690]
Weisbach calls attention to the dialectical differences in the Naksh-i-Rustam inscriptions, and to the evidence of decay visible in the language of Artaxerxes at Susa.
For the reasons already mentioned there is considerable diversity observable in the transliterations made by the two writers, but so far as we have observed they are in substantial agreement with regard to the meaning of the text, as may be seen by a comparison of their rendering of the unilingual inscription.[691] Occasionally, however, Weisbach finds himself unable to follow the more imaginative flights of his predecessor. He will have nothing to do with the ‘restoration’ of the concluding paragraph of the Suez inscription of Darius.[692] He is equally unable to accept the interesting completion of the detached inscription at Behistun, marked L by Norris. Norris reads: ‘I made another tablet in the Arian language, such as did not exist before, and I made a large ... and a large ... and ... and....’ This not very promising attempt is perfected by Oppert as follows: ‘I have made also elsewhere a book in Arian language, that formerly did not exist, and I have made the text of the Divine Law (Avesta) and a commentary of the Divine Law and the prayer and the translation.’ He observes truly that ‘the passage is of first-rate importance,’ and he adds encouragingly: ‘The explanation which I give is sure.’ It is therefore somewhat disconcerting to find that the latest writer cannot get much beyond the crudity of Norris. Weisbach reads: ‘Machte ich Inschriften in anderer Weise (?) (nämlich) auf Arisch, was vormals nicht war, und das grosse ... und das grosse ... und das ... und das ... machte ich.’ Alas for the Divine Law and the commentary and the prayers![693]
We have already said that in 1859 Oppert had abandoned the hypothesis that the language of the second column was introduced by the Scythic hordes who were expelled by Cyaxares. He recognised that it was connected with the ancient Akkadian, and could not, therefore, be a new importation, but an original native dialect. He considered that the Median name itself is Turanian and related to ‘Mada,’ the Akkadian for ‘land.’ He thought it is clear from Herodotus that the six tribes who composed the Median nation were not all of the same origin. The dominant caste were, he still held, of the same Indo-European race as the Persians, but a large part of the population were Turanians, and the language of the second column was that of the agricultural and nomadic tribes of Media, especially those of the north. He accordingly gave it the name of Medo-Scythic to distinguish it from the Aryan Median of the classical writers.
This very tenable hypothesis he, however, abandoned in its turn, and advanced one much more hazardous. He relies upon a fable of Herodotus to show that the Aryans occupied the country from a much earlier period than has been commonly supposed, and did not, therefore, make their first appearance with Dejoces. Both Aryans and Turanians, he now thinks, were long settled together in the same country, and it is impossible to say which of the two were the first comers, though he inclines to give precedence to the Aryans. The various tribes were upon an equality, sometimes the Turanian and sometimes the Aryan gaining the ascendency. He considers the former were known as the Medes, a word essentially Turanian in its origin, while the others retained their proper designation of Aryans. He holds that the Median dynasty of Dejoces was Turanian. He carefully analyses the names of their kings, and he has succeeded in affording a fresh illustration of the peculiar power of philology to prove any thesis whatever, when employed by a skilful manipulator. Not many years before, he laid it down as self-evident that these same names were pure Aryan.[694] Now it becomes no less apparent that they are pure Turanian. The dynasty of Dejoces marks the ascendency of the Turanian Medes, and the language of the second column is that which was spoken by them. He accordingly drops his previous qualification of Scythic, and gives it simply the name of Median. The rise of the Persian power enabled the Aryan Medes to recover the position they had temporarily lost, and hence all the names that occur from the time of Darius clearly belong to that race. Mada became a geographical name which embraced the whole population of the country now under an Aryan aristocracy, and Herodotus was therefore fully justified in speaking of the Medes and Persians as one in speech and descent. The theory of the Turanian origin of the Median dynasty has been almost universally abandoned.[695] The attack upon it was led by the Jesuit scholar Delattre,[696] and the whole controversy has been ably summarised by Weisbach. Recent writers have thought it so necessary to insist upon the Aryan race of the Median kings that they decline to give to the Turanian language of the second column the name of Median. It has accordingly come into fashion to indicate in an unmistakeable manner the source from which it has sprung. Delattre called it ‘Anzanisch,’ from the name of the territory ruled by the Malamir kings. Halévy adopted a suggestion made by Mr. Sayce, and calls it ‘Amardian.’[697] Hommel speaks of it as ‘Susian-Median’ and ‘Susian,’[698] a term which Weisbach has qualified by calling it New Susian. The more probable opinion seems to be that it was the language of Susa at the time of the Persian conquest, and possibly also of some of the subjugated tribes in Media. The name of Susian is therefore more appropriate than one that might confuse the people who spoke it with the Aryan conquerors of their country. Still it is very far from satisfactory. The great importance of the inscriptions recently discovered in the Old Susian language will tend more and more to reserve to them the designation of Susian; and considerable confusion will arise from its extension also to the language of the second column. The latter may possibly be a descendant of the true Susian, but both in the system of writing and in the language the connection is remote.
The relationship of the Median is now placed almost beyond the sphere of controversy. M. Gobineau, who wrote in 1859, maintained indeed that it was connected with Pehlevi, half Semitic and half Aryan: and M. Mohl still earnestly hoped that we might ‘get rid of the Scythic hypothesis and all the complications it involves.’[699] But this desire was not destined to be realised, and its affinity to the Altaic branch of the Turanian family is now admitted. Some doubt is felt as to whether it has left any successor, and which of the modern languages approaches the nearest. Oppert inclines to Turkish:[700] Weisbach is more guarded, and considers that it exhibits marked differences from all the living representatives of its Turanian relatives.[701]
There is little doubt that it and kindred languages were extensively spoken in early times throughout Susiana and the lower valley of the Euphrates down to the Persian Gulf. Its connection with the Old Susian has never been doubted. Lenormant, Oppert, Sayce and Hommel have testified to its more distant relationship with the Akkadian, the primitive language of Babylonia. Weisbach is naturally more sceptical, for in 1890 he had scarcely emancipated himself from the heresy of Halévy, who doubted the existence of Akkadian as an independent language.[702] Sayce and his disciple Hommel added the speech of the Kossaeans to the same group.[703] They were indeed disposed to create a new family of languages which they called Alarodian,[704] and included within it the Elamite, embracing New and Old Susian, Kassite,[705] Hittite[706] and Vannic.[707] They considered that the nearest modern representative of this language is the Georgian and Basque, an opinion which, it will be remembered, had somewhat fascinated both Westergaard and Rawlinson. The propriety of this classification was, however, doubted by Lenormant, and it has never been satisfactorily established.[708]