ABSTRACT
The influence of Semitic writing systems Semitic languages have generally provided the basis for the writing systems used for Iranian languages. This circumstance, taken together with the fact that there has been close interaction between Semitic speaking peoples and Iranian speaking peoples since the dawn of Iranian history-at least from the time of the Medians in the first half of the first millennium BC-makes it obvious that Semitic elements must have had a prominent presence in the history of Iranian languages. In this paper I shall just try to sketch the contours of that influence in the light of a specific view of the character of language and language history. In short, this view is based on the assumption that there is a fundamental difference between (1) writing, (2) what is read out from writing (or other mnemonic devices) and (3) freely spoken language. In my view, these phenomena are obviously related, but they cannot be considered as directly correlated parts of one and the same human activity. They are different in kind.
