RFC 4645bis: making 'pes' and 'prs' extlangs

Randy Presuhn randy_presuhn at mindspring.com
Fri Dec 5 19:09:28 CET 2008


Hi -

> From: "Doug Ewell" <doug at ewellic.org>
> To: <ietf-languages at iana.org>
> Sent: Friday, December 05, 2008 6:39 AM
> Subject: Re: RFC 4645bis: making 'pes' and 'prs' extlangs
...
> "Farsi" is the local name for this language, or group of languages, 
> while the word "Persian" is generally preferred and more commonly used 
> in the West.  However, there is some controversy over this, especially 
> involving recent immigrants and writers still living in Iran.  While 
> "Persian" is the preferred name, it would probably be excessive to say 
> that the name "Farsi" is absolutely wrong.  (I personally take no stand 
> on this.)
...

I had only heard the term "Farsi" in conjunction with the language.
This list is the first place where I've heard the modern language
called "Persian".  The word "Persian" in my experience was used
(1) to refer to an ancient civilization / language or (2) as an
designation of ethnicity/nationality by Iranian immigrants to
the US who wished to disassociate themselves from that country's
regime when relations between the two countries were particularly
bad.  (2) was uncomfortable for some because it was thought, by
association with (1), to exclude members of various other ethnic groups
(e.g. Kurds, Armenians) who had also immigrated to the US from
Iran, who also just happened to speak Farsi.  But that's just
my experience in with a handful of Iranian-American friends and
colleagues over the years, and I won't claim that it's
representative.

Randy



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