Pronunciation of Avesta:

Note:

HTML does not currently allow for the accurate representation of all Avesta graphemes. In particular, the shwa, and different forms of "n", "sh", and "t" are not distinguished. In these cases the following guide is only approximate.

VOWELS

a, e, i, o, u

as in German, or:

a

as father

e

as bed

i

as it

o

as molest

u

as book

â, ê, î, ô, û

same as above except lengthened

aê

as bite

ao

as out

e

as but

ê

same except lengthened

å

as saw

ã

as French enfant, a nasalized 'a' e.g. shyaothananãm

ere

much like 'pretty' (when pronounced 'peretty') e.g. peresat

CONSONANTS

c

as church

h'

as h, possibly stronger

ñ

as n

ng

as sing

ngh

ng-h

sh

as show, e.g. zarathushtra

th

as thing, e.g. zarathushtra

dh

as that (voiced th)

v

as Dutch water (a bilabial semivowel similar to Engl. v but not a fricative)

x

as German ach or Scotch loch (often transcribed kh), e.g. xshathra

hv

x (as above) with v immediately following e.g. hvarena

kh

voiced x (often transcribed gh)

zh

as azure (or French je)

All others are pronounced as in English.