Sadeq Kia (; 15 May 1920 – 1 March 2002) was an Iranian man of letters, distinguished professor of

Iranian languages The Iranian languages or Iranic languages are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European language family that are spoken natively by the Iranian peoples, predominantly in the Iranian Plateau. The Iranian languages are grouped ...

and the director of the second Academy of Persian Language and Literature.

Biography

Kia was born in

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

, Iran, on 15 May 1920. Upon earning a doctorate in

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

from the

University of Tehran The University of Tehran (Tehran University or UT, fa, دانشگاه تهران) is the most prominent university located in Tehran, Iran. Based on its historical, socio-cultural, and political pedigree, as well as its research and teaching pro ...

in 1944, he was appointed associate professor and began teaching the Pahlavi language and literature. Kia presided over the second Language Academy from the year of its inception in 1970 until 1978. Following the Revolution of 1979 he was dismissed from all his positions and immigrated to the United States. Kia died in Missoula, Montana on 1 March 2002. In accordance with his will, his body was cremated and the ashes were released in the

Caspian Sea The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, often described as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia; east of the Caucasus, west of the broad steppe of Central Asia ...

Works

Kia published dozens of monographs and articles on various subjects, including literature,

lexicology Lexicology is the branch of linguistics that analyzes the lexicon of a specific language. A word is the smallest meaningful unit of a language that can stand on its own, and is made up of small components called morphemes and even smaller element ...

dialectology Dialectology (from Greek , ''dialektos'', "talk, dialect"; and , ''-logia'') is the scientific study of linguistic dialect, a sub-field of sociolinguistics. It studies variations in language based primarily on geographic distribution and their assoc ...

, folklore, and history. His expertise in

Middle Persian Middle Persian or Pahlavi, also known by its endonym Pārsīk or Pārsīg () in its later form, is a Western Middle Iranian language which became the literary language of the Sasanian Empire. For some time after the Sasanian collapse, Middle Per ...

led to the publication of several texts. His major scholarly contribution was in the field of lexicology. He collected and edited the Mazandarani language fragments from various historical sources and proposed tentative translations. Kia compiled a glossary for the Gorgani dialect used in the

Hurufi Hurufism ( ar, حُرُوفِيَّة ''ḥurūfiyyah'', Persian: حُروفیان ''hōrufiyān'') was a Sufi movement based on the mysticism of letters (''ḥurūf''), which originated in Astrabad and spread to areas of western Iran (Persia) ...

scriptures. Kia's contribution to the history of the Hurufi and

Nuqtavi The Nuqtavi ( fa, نقطویان Nuqṭawiyyah) movement was founded by Mahmūd Pasīkhānī ( fa, محمود پسیخانی) when he proclaimed himself the Mahdi in 1397. The group is an offshoot of the Ḥurūfī movement, from which Pasīkh� ...

denominations as well as the Caspian calendar are rated as essential. A selection of Kia's articles is accessible in the portal of the

Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies An institute is an organisational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes can ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kia, Sadeq Academic staff of the University of Tehran 1920 births 2002 deaths Iranian emigrants to the United States University of Tehran alumni People from Nur, Iran