Gathic

Gathic refers to the language of the Gathas, the oldest core of the Avestan collection of scriptures. The term is used to describe Gathic Avestan, an archaic dialect of the Avestan language, part of the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian family. The Gathas consist of 17 hymns attributed to the prophet Zoroaster and form the central text of Zoroastrian worship and theology.

Scholars date the Gathic hymns to the late second to early first millennium BCE, though precise dating remains uncertain. Gathic Avestan is typically described as the oldest preserved stage of Avestan, older in its core features than the later “Younger” Avestan material. The language shows conservative phonology and morphology and preserves some forms not found in later texts.

Content and linguistic features: The Gathic hymns present Zoroastrian cosmogony and ethical monotheism, with an emphasis on Ahura Mazda and the cosmic order (asha). Linguistically, Gathic Avestan retains older inflectional patterns and a lexicon that preserves archaic roots. The Gathic dialect is distinguished from the later Avestan used in the remaining liturgy, which has undergone changes in phonology and syntax.

Significance: The term Gathic is used in scholarly literature to designate this specific dialect and its corpus. Studying Gathic Avestan is essential for understanding the origins of Zoroastrian doctrine and for comparative studies in Indo-Iranian linguistics. It also informs the textual history of the Avesta and the transmission of Zoroastrian liturgy.