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Aryan (/ˈɛəriən/), or Arya in Proto-Indo-Iranian,[1] is a term originating from the ethno-cultural self-designation of the Indo-Iranians. It stood in contrast to nearby outsiders, whom they designated as non-Aryan (*an-āryā).[2][3] In ancient India, the term was used by the Indo-Aryan peoples of the Vedic period, both as an endonym and in reference to a region called "Aryavarta" (Sanskrit: आर्यावर्त, lit. 'Land of the Aryans'), where their culture emerged.[4] Similarly, according to the Avesta, the Iranian peoples used the term to designate themselves as an ethnic group and to refer to a region called "Airyanem Vaejah" (Avestan: 𐬀𐬫𐬭𐬌𐬌𐬀𐬥𐬆𐬨 𐬬𐬀𐬉𐬘𐬀𐬵, lit. 'Expanse of the Arya'), which was their mythical homeland.[5][6] The word stem also forms the etymological source of place names like Alania (*Aryāna-) and Iran (*Aryānām).[7]
Although the stem *arya may originate from the Proto-Indo-European language,[8] it seems to have been used exclusively by the Indo-Iranian peoples, as there is no evidence of it having served as an ethnonym for the Proto-Indo-Europeans. In any case, many modern scholars point out that the ethos of the ancient Aryan identity, as it is described in the Avesta and the Rigveda, was religious, cultural, and linguistic, and was not tied to the concept of race.[9][10][11]
In the 1850s, the French diplomat and writer Arthur de Gobineau brought forth the idea of the Aryan race, essentially claiming that the Proto-Indo-Europeans were superior specimens of humans and that their descendants comprised either a distinct racial group or a distinct sub-group of the hypothetical Caucasian race. Through the work of his later followers, such as the British-German philosopher Houston Stewart Chamberlain, this specific theory by Gobineau proved to be particularly popular among the European far-right and ultimately laid the foundation for Nazi racial theories, which also co-opted the concept of scientific racism.[12] In Nazi Germany, and also in German-occupied Europe during World War II, any citizen who was classified as an Aryan would be honoured as a member of the "master race" of humanity. Conversely, non-Aryans were legally discriminated against, including Jews, Roma, and Slavs (mostly Slovaks, Czechs, Poles, and Russians).[13][14] Jews, who were seen as part of the hypothetical Semitic race,[15] were especially targeted by the Nazi Party, culminating in the Holocaust.[13] The Roma, who are of Indo-Aryan origin, were also targeted, culminating in the Porajmos. The genocides and other large-scale atrocities that have been committed by Aryanists have led academic figures to generally avoid using "Aryan" as a stand-alone ethno-linguistic term, particularly in the Western world, where "Indo-Iranian" is the preferred alternative, although the term "Indo-Aryan" is still used to denote the Indic branch.[16]
- ^ "Aryan". Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary.
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:4was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Witzel 2001, pp. 4, 24.
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:2was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Bryant 2001, pp. 60–63.
- ^ Witzel 2001, p. 24: "Arya/ārya does not mean a particular people or even a particular 'racial' group but all those who had joined the tribes speaking Vedic Sanskrit and adhering to their cultural norms (such as ritual, poetry, etc.)"
- ^ Anthony 2007, p. 408: "The Rigveda and Avesta agreed that the essence of their shared parental Indo-Iranian identity was linguistic and ritual, not racial. If a person sacrificed to the right gods in the right way using the correct forms of the traditional hymns and poems, that person was an Aryan."
- ^ Anthony 2007, pp. 9–11.
- ^ a b Gordon, Sarah Ann (1984). Hitler, Germans, and the "Jewish Question". Mazal Holocaust Collection. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. p. 96. ISBN 0-691-05412-6. OCLC 9946459.
- ^ Longerich, Peter (2010). Holocaust : the Nazi persecution and murder of the Jews. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 83, 241. ISBN 978-0-19-280436-5. OCLC 610166248.
- ^ "Aryan | Arian, adj. and n." Oxford English Dictionary. 2020.
Under the Nazi régime (1933–45) applied to the inhabitants of Germany of non-Jewish extraction. cf. 1933 tr. Hitler's Mein Kampf in Times 25 July 15/6: 'The exact opposite of the Aryan is the Jew.' 1933 Education 1 Sept. 170/2: 'The basic idea of the new law is that non-Aryans, that is to say mainly Jews...'
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