Aryan

Aryan (/ˈɛəriən/), or Arya (borrowed from Sanskrit ārya),^[1] is a term originating from the ethno-cultural self-designation of the Indo-Iranians, specifically the Iranians and the Indo-Aryans.^[2]^[3] It stood in contrast to nearby outsiders, whom they designated as non-Aryan (*an-āryā).^[4] 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.^[5] 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: اَئیریَنَ وَئِجَهْ، airiiana vaējah, lit. 'Expanse of the Arya'), which was their mythical homeland.^[6]^[7] The word stem also forms the etymological source of place names like Alania (*Aryāna) and Iran (*Aryānām).^[8]

Although the stem *arya may originate from the Proto-Indo-European language,^[9] 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.^[10]^[11]^[12]

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, Gobineau's theory proved to be particularly popular among European racial supremacists and ultimately laid the foundation for Nazi racial theories, which also co-opted the concept of scientific racism.^[13]

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 Poles, and Russians).^[14]^[15] Jews, who were regarded as the arch enemy of the "Aryan race" in a "racial struggle for existence",^[16] were especially targeted by the Nazi Party, culminating in the Holocaust.^[14] 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.^[17]

^ Oxford English Dictionary Online 2024, s.v. Aryan (adj. & n.); Arya (n.).
^ Cite error: The named reference :3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Witzel 2001, p. 2: "At the outset, it has to be underlined that the term Ārya (whence, Aryan) is the self-designation of the ancient Iranians and of those Indian groups speaking Vedic Sanskrit and other Old Indo-Aryan (OIA) languages and dialects. Both peoples called themselves and their language ārya or arya: [...]"
^ Cite error: The named reference :4 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Witzel 2001, pp. 4, 24.
^ Cite error: The named reference :5 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Cite error: The named reference Gnoli was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Cite error: The named reference Mallory was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Cite error: The named reference :2 was 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.
^ Weikart 2009, p. 85.
^ Cite error: The named reference :6 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[OED-1] Oxford English Dictionary Online 2024, s.v. Aryan (adj. & n.); Arya (n.).

[:3-2] Cite error: The named reference :3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[3] Witzel 2001, p. 2: "At the outset, it has to be underlined that the term Ārya (whence, Aryan) is the self-designation of the ancient Iranians and of those Indian groups speaking Vedic Sanskrit and other Old Indo-Aryan (OIA) languages and dialects. Both peoples called themselves and their language ārya or arya: [...]"

[:4-4] Cite error: The named reference :4 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[FOOTNOTEWitzel20014,_24-5] Witzel 2001, pp. 4, 24.

[:5-6] Cite error: The named reference :5 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[Gnoli-7] Cite error: The named reference Gnoli was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[Mallory-8] Cite error: The named reference Mallory was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[:2-9] Cite error: The named reference :2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[FOOTNOTEBryant200160–63-10] Bryant 2001, pp. 60–63.

[:0-11] 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.)"

[:1-12] 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."

[FOOTNOTEAnthony20079–11-13] Anthony 2007, pp. 9–11.

[:7-14] 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.

[15] 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.

[FOOTNOTEWeikart200985-16] Weikart 2009, p. 85.

[:6-17] Cite error: The named reference :6 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

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