This term is derived from the Sanskrit word arya (“noble”), which was used to designate a group of individuals who thought the Vedas were holy in the oldest Hindu sacred book, the Vedas.
- This term was originally used to distinguish “our group” from “other people,” whom the Veda refers to as Dasyus (“slaves”).
- The slaves are described as having flat faces and curly hair in these documents.
- Throughout history, Hindu authors have often referred to themselves as "Arya," but it is essential to emphasize that this does not have to be interpreted as a racial classification.
- The term may simply mean "noble."
Who were these Aryans, and where did they come from?
The discovery of structural connections between Sanskrit and classical European languages in nineteenth-century European philological study led to the hypothesis that all of these languages sprang from a single ancestor.
- These researchers believed that individuals speaking this parent language originated in Central Asia, probably around the Caspian Sea, based on additional study.
- Some traveled west to Europe, some southwest to Turkey, and yet others south to Iran and ultimately India.
- Comparisons between the Avesta and the Veda, Iranian and Indian religious scriptures, led to the conclusion that these Indian pilgrims came from Iran.
- These writings reveal extensive grammatical similarities, indicating that the speakers of the languages were related.
- As a result, the whole hypothesis is based entirely on observable similarities across languages and how they evolved.
“Aryan” was a linguistic term employed by nineteenth-century philologists to describe individuals who spoke particular languages, with no assumptions about the speakers' racial identity.
Despite this, the term soon came to have a racial meaning in European discourse, which had disastrous repercussions.
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