Aryan Origins | Migration Theory and Etymological History

Aryan is a designation originally meaning “civilized”, “noble”, or “free” without reference to any ethnicity. It was first applied as a self-identifying term by a migratory group of people from Central Asia later known as Indo-Iranians (who settled on the Iranian Plateau) and, later, applied to Indo-Aryans (who traveled south to settle northern India). The word had no widespread ethnic connotation prior to the 19th century CE other than its usage by the Persians (known as ’Iranians’ from ’Aryans’) to distinguish themselves from their Muslim Arab conquerors in the 7th century CE, and even then (it could be argued) it was not so much an ethnic distinction as one of class and personhood. Prior to the conquest, Persia had been “the land of the Aryans” and, afterwards, a term was coined for non-Aryans. ’Aryan’ became associated with ethnicity and, especially, with light-skinned (Caucasian) superiority, only after Western European scholars began translating, and often misinterp