Middle Northwestern Iranian language, attested parallel to Middle Persian in Manichaean texts. There is also a very restricted corpus of older inscriptions from Iran. Early Parthian (or related languages) were the main source for Middle Iranian loanwords in Armenian. In the IE-CoR data, phonologisation follows Durkin-Meisterernst 2004, except for <c>,<ž> and <j>, where IE-CoR applies the findings of Korn 2010 (Bulletin of SOAS, 73/3, 415–436), i.e. <c>=<z> = /č/, <j> = /ž/ [ʒ ~ dʒ].
Note on geographical location
Set on modern-day Nisa, Turkmenistan, an archaeological site of a fortress associated with Arsaces I (r. 247–217 BCE), the first king of Parthia and the founder of the Arsacid dynasty.
