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Language development changes in speed with the linguistic landscape. Persian saw its fastest changing in the 8th century during the Ummayad conquest, when Arabi

Language development changes in speed with the linguistic landscape. Persian saw its fastest changing in the 8th century during the Ummayad conquest, when Arabic became the dominant language of the ruling class. Similarly, English saw its fastest changing in the 12th century during the Norman conquest, when French became the dominant language of the ruling class. In both cases, most of the core vocabulary and grammar survived, but with enough influence and new words that it is hard for speakers after the change to understand writings before the change. My understanding from Persian friends is that Rumi is about as understandable to modern Persian speakers as his contemporary, Chaucer, is to modern English speakers. Whan that Aprille with his shours soothe The droughte of March hath perced to the roote And bathed evry vein in switch liquour Of which vertu engendyred is the flour...

pohaku 8y ago
Yes, but on the other hand, original lyrics by Hafez, Rumi, and others are commonly used, unchanged, as lyrics for contemporary Persian songs, even for full-on rock songs, dance music, love songs, etc. I haven't heard any songs in the Hot 100 using lyrics by Chaucer lately.
- walrus01 8y ago
  As a cultural reference, poetry is such a big deal that the largest and most popular tv station in Kabul (Tolo TV), operating in the Dari dialect of Farsi, regularly hosts what could basically be described as poetry slams during prime time tv hours. They have a fairly active youtube channel if anyone wants to take a look.
- dalbasal 8y ago
  In part, this is probably because old Persian poetry/song traditions were more modern, compared to english poetry from the same period. They had a strong, very old literary tradition. The English didn't, until a bit later. Chaucer was part of building it. The musical/poetic sensibilities of old/middle English are way too different to ours. The Bible (especially in Hebrew) can also easily be plagiarized, and you'll find lots of lines/poems that work "as is" in a pop song. Eg, rivers of babylon, boney m.
faramarz 8y ago
Ferdowsi's Shahnameh epic played a vital role in keeping the the Persian language alive throughout the Arabic conquest.
garethrees 8y ago
The difficulty of Chaucer for modern English speakers is exaggerated because of the unfamiliar spelling. The reason that modern editions don't modernise the spelling is that if you do this it becomes hard to figure out the rhythm. For example, in the Ellesmere manuscript [1], line 9 is "And smale foweles maken melodye", but if you modernise this to "And small fowls make melody" then you only have seven syllables and it is hard to figure out how this was ever scanned as iambic pentameter. Modern editions end up compromising between spelling and scansion, making the language more difficult-looking than it really is. [1] https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/ellesmere-manuscript https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/ellesmere-manuscript
eternalban 8y ago
Not exactly correct. I have the 'Divan'e Shams'e Tabriz' open in front of me and even though I left Iran at 14 years of age I can read it. The content matter is not super accessible but that was true from the very day it was uttered.

pohaku 8y ago

Yes, but on the other hand, original lyrics by Hafez, Rumi, and others are commonly used, unchanged, as lyrics for contemporary Persian songs, even for full-on rock songs, dance music, love songs, etc. I haven't heard any songs in the Hot 100 using lyrics by Chaucer lately.

walrus01 8y ago
As a cultural reference, poetry is such a big deal that the largest and most popular tv station in Kabul (Tolo TV), operating in the Dari dialect of Farsi, regularly hosts what could basically be described as poetry slams during prime time tv hours. They have a fairly active youtube channel if anyone wants to take a look.
dalbasal 8y ago
In part, this is probably because old Persian poetry/song traditions were more modern, compared to english poetry from the same period. They had a strong, very old literary tradition. The English didn't, until a bit later. Chaucer was part of building it. The musical/poetic sensibilities of old/middle English are way too different to ours. The Bible (especially in Hebrew) can also easily be plagiarized, and you'll find lots of lines/poems that work "as is" in a pop song. Eg, rivers of babylon, boney m.

faramarz 8y ago

Ferdowsi's Shahnameh epic played a vital role in keeping the the Persian language alive throughout the Arabic conquest.

garethrees 8y ago

The difficulty of Chaucer for modern English speakers is exaggerated because of the unfamiliar spelling. The reason that modern editions don't modernise the spelling is that if you do this it becomes hard to figure out the rhythm. For example, in the Ellesmere manuscript [1], line 9 is "And smale foweles maken melodye", but if you modernise this to "And small fowls make melody" then you only have seven syllables and it is hard to figure out how this was ever scanned as iambic pentameter. Modern editions end up compromising between spelling and scansion, making the language more difficult-looking than it really is. [1] https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/ellesmere-manuscript https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/ellesmere-manuscript

eternalban 8y ago

Not exactly correct. I have the 'Divan'e Shams'e Tabriz' open in front of me and even though I left Iran at 14 years of age I can read it. The content matter is not super accessible but that was true from the very day it was uttered.