ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Middle Iranian languages

Hey kiddo! Do you know how we have different languages all around the world? Well, a long, long time ago, there was a group of languages spoken in a place called the Iranian plateau. These languages are called Middle Iranian languages.

Middle Iranian languages were spoken between 300 BCE and 1000 CE. That's a really long time ago! Some of the most famous Middle Iranian languages are Parthian, Bactrian, and Middle Persian.

People used to speak these languages in areas we now know as Iran, Afghanistan, and parts of Central Asia. Just like how you and I might speak English or Spanish depending on where we live, people in different parts of the Iranian plateau spoke different Middle Iranian languages.

Nowadays, we don't really use Middle Iranian languages. They changed over time and eventually turned into other languages that people still use today, like Farsi in Iran and Dari in Afghanistan.

But it's important to learn about Middle Iranian languages because they're a big part of history. People used to use them to write important things down, like stories and laws. By learning about Middle Iranian languages, we can learn more about how people lived a long time ago and how their cultures influenced our world today.