By: Dr.Naseer Dashti
The presence of the Baloch in Balāśagān is the period of history to which the original development of the Balochi language can be assigned. Balāściki or Balāścuki was the language of the Balāścik people living in Balāśagān. Balochi is the modified term for Balāścuki. Most probably, this transformation occurred while the Balāścik in Kerman and Sistan became the Baloch and their language was known as the Balochi during their expulsion or migration from Balāśagān.
Languages can change in dramatic ways via the incorporation of linguistic elements from other languages. There are, however, loan-words in Balochi from other Indo-European languages. But these inflections are not fundamental and could not have changed their basic character. Balochi is closely linked with Sanskrit. Most of the pure Balochi words were generally used in Sanskrit with almost the same meanings. However, while tracing the language kinship instead of comparing mere words the best criteria should be comparing words and phrases which have deep cultural or religious touch or which may indicate that such relations existed between the two languages. Balochi appears to be more archaic than Persian. It has admirably resisted the phonetic changes throughout centuries which is amply evident from the pure Balochi words preserved mainly in Balochi heroic poems and ballads. Balochi is, however, far from being homogeneous. But with all its dialectical heterogeneity it has a separate character of its own nevertheless closely linked with Sanskrit and the old Persian. It resembles many other Iranian languages in showing a nearer relationship to ancient Avesta than to the old Persian, the Court language of the Achaemenids, from which modern Persian is distinctly descended.
The intimate ties between the language of the Avesta, especially in its earliest form recorded in the Gathas, and the language of the Vedic hymns, furnish ample evidence that ancient Iranian dialects were widely spoken among the peoples living in Gedrosia, southern slopes of Hindu Kush, northern parts of Bactria and Aria. Their ties seem to date from the beginning of the first millennium B.C and verify the close contact of the Aryans with the speakers of the Avesta. The most probable zone of this contact is the area adjacent to the basin of the Helmand River.
Balochi is among the Iranian branch of Indo-Iranian languages. As mentioned in the earlier sections of this chapter, it has been established beyond doubt that it is a member of the north-western group of Iranian languages, having many similarities with Zazaki Kurdish, Gilaki, Mazandarani, and Talyshi, Ossetic, etc, It has also been categorized as being a language in-between north and southwestern Iranian languages bearing significant affinities to both Middle Persian and Parthian.
Tedesco (1921) and Windfuhr (1975) in their works while corroborating various connections between Persian, Kurdish, and Balochi, established the close relationship between these languages. However, it has also been identified that Balochi has a marked individuality of its own and differs from these languages in important respects. Balochi’s affinity with Persian and Kurdish is understandable because of the close links between the two people for centuries. Persian has been the official language of powerful empires. It was but natural that Balochi should have been influenced by that language. It can also be observed that Balochi originated neither from Parthian nor Middle Persian. It might, however, share some features with both languages as well as of Median speech.
Although Balochi has no written record in the earlier era, it became the most obvious symbol of the Baloch national identity in the coming centuries. The poetry which can be traced from the fifteenth century A.D. is found in a highly developed form. It leaves little doubt that such a developed shape in literature must have been the result of centuries of development, but little traces of its development are available, and therefore, least could be deduced without authentic evidence.
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