IRANIAN LANGUAGES. 748 IREDELL. and the Old l'er>inn ouiicifonn inscriptions, through the I'ahlavi, down tu -Modi-rn Persian literalure. Kioni the standpoint of speech the Iranian tonfaies are most closely allied to the Indic lanj^iajrcs, and tojiether they make up the Jndo-lraiiian j;roup (<l-v.). Three great jieriods in their develoi)nient nuiy he recognized — l>ld Iranian, .Middle Iranian, and New or Mod- ern Iranian. t 1 » The lirst of these, the Uld Iranian ])erio<l, include^ the Aiisla (q.v.) and the euneitorni in-criptions, and antedates the Christian Era hy filly six centuries, although it probably txlendcd into the fourth century A.l>. There is practically a barren j)eriod of live cen- turies during the Parthian sway, from the third century b.c. to the early part of the third cen- tury A.D., during which time there are no real literary monuments, although possibly some later Avestan texts may have lieeii composed, and cer- tain inscriptions and devices in coins may be cited as hcli)ing to eke out our knowledge of the Old Iranian period till the rise of the Sassanian monarchy (a.d. 22(>|. I2) The iliddle Iranian period dates from the latter event, and extends to about the ninth or tenth century of our era. It is represented by the language and literature known as Pahlavi (q.v.), including lluzvaresh, Pazand, and Parsi. (3) The Xew or Modern Iranian ]ieriod begins practically in the tenth century a.d., with the rise of the Mod- ern Persian language and literature (q.v. I under Kirdausi Iq.v. ) and his immediate predecessors. Within this period, besides the Xew Persian, there come the various modern Iranian lan- guages and tongues. Afghan. Baluchi. Kurdish, Ossetish, the dialects of the Pamir and Caspian districts, and the dialects of Central Iran. All the Iranian languages have certain phonetic charac- teristics which mark them and distinguish them from the kindred group of Indic tongues. Most conspicuous among these are: (1) The change of Indo-ficrmanic .s into Iranian /i ; e.g. Skt. samd, •same,' 'like,' 'all' = .-^v. Ikiiiki. OPers. hama, Phi. humak. Paz. Ikiiik'i. NPcrs. hamah. Bal. hniiui(k). Kurd hamii : ('2) the presence of the voiced sibilants z, i. e.g. Skt. junii. 'knee' = Av. zanii. Phi. ^o)iii7i-, NPers. ?(5n«, Afgh. ^anriiln, Bal. :an. Kurd, zi'in : Skt. (xi/iii, 'arm' = Av. ha:u. Phi. hazih. hii:uk. XPers. hazu : Skt. mrilikd (Vedie mrlikii). 'mercy' = Av. mariz- dik'i: (3) the use of spirants instead of aspi- rates, as well as a general tendency to spi- rantization (^7i, ff, gh. y. etc.); (4) there are numerous minor phonetic, morphological, and svntacliial features which can be discussed only in a technical treatment of the individual lan- guages concerned. The details regarding the various Iranian literatures, Avesta, Old Persian, Pahlavi, etc., will be found in the separate nrtirles devoted to those subjects. The modem Iranian languages are written in the Arabic script, the ancient Persian inscriptions in wedge- shaped letters borrowed from the Babylonian characters, while the Pahlavi and Avesta are in H script based on the Semitic writing and read from right to left. Consult : Linguistic monographs in Oeiger and Kuhn. dnindri.ia ihr iraitischcn Philolofiie (Strassburg. 180.1-1002) ; Gray, Indo-Jranian Phonolofiii (Xew York, 1002). IKAPTJATO. e'n'i-riu-U'tA. A district town in the Mexican State of Guanajuato, situated on the Mexican Central Railroad. 33 miles from Guanajuato, the capital of the State (.Map; Mexico, H 7). Its climate is so ecpiable that strawberries arc marketed the year round, it has a number of old convents and churches. Population, in IS!l.5, I8,j;i3, IRAWADI, ir'a-wii'di. A river of Farther India. Sei- lliliAWADDY. IRAYA, e-rii'yft. A Malay-Xegrito (teople in l-ab«la Province, Luzon; also called Malingajs. Siv I'lm.irpiNE IsLA.NUS. IRBIT, *r-b«'. The capital of a district in the Kussian Ciovernment of Perm, situated at the conlluence of the Irbit with the Xitza (.Mai): Bussia, K 3). It is famous chielly for its an- nual fair, instituted in 1043 and scc(md only to that of XizhniXovgorod. It lasts the whole month of Februiry, and is visited by about iO.OOO people. The chief articles of commerce are manufactures fr<mi Ku~sia, textiles and tea from the East, animal ])roducts from Siberia. The annual value of goods brought to the fair exceeds $20,000,000, Irbit has steam communi- cation with some ports on the rivers Tobol, Irtvsh, and Obi, Irbit was founded by the Tatar- in lt!33. Population, in 1897, 20,004. IREDELL, ir'dfd, .Ta.mks (1750-00). An American jurist, born in I.cwc--, England. He was the son of a wealthy and inllucntial British merchant largely engaged in the .merican trade, who secured for him a ]«]sition in the customs service of Xorth Carolina. He entered as a deiiuty collector in 17t;7, finally liccoming in 1774 collector of royal customs for the entire colony. Meanwhile lie had studied law, and had been aiUnitted to the bar. In the pre-UcvoIu- tionary controversies between England and the colonists he openly showed his sympathy with the cause of his adopted country, resigned the coUectorship, and entered enthusiastically into the work of organizing the Revolutionary Gov- ernment. The necessity for a reorganization of the law courts appealed to him particularly, anil to this work he devoted his best efforts. In Pecember, 1777. he was chosen a judge of the Xorth Carolina Sipreme Court, and in 1787 was conunissioned by the Legislature to revise and codify the statutes of the State, which resulted in the important publication known as Iredell's Jiciision of Ihr filrilules of Xorth Curolina (1701). He was an ardent Federalist, but with his political associates could not overcome the opposition which prevented Xorth Carolina from accepting the Constitution until several months after Washington's inauguration. In February, 1700, he was named by President Washington as associate justice of the United States Supreme Court, in which capacity he served until his death. Consult McRhee,^/>ife and Corrciii>oiideiice of James Iredell (1857). IREDELL, .Tames (1788-18.53). An Ameri- can jurist and legislator, son of Justice James Iredell of the United States Supreme Court. He was bom at Edenton. Chowan Co.. X. C; graduated at Princeton in 1800. studied law, and was admitted to the bar in Xorth Carolina. In the War of 1812 he raised and commanded a company of Xorth Carolina volunteers. Tlis political career began in 1810, with his election to the State T>egislature. To this body he waa repeatedly reelected, was Speaker of the Lower
