Aryan

Aryan (ˈɛəriən) is, originally, a term used as a self-designation by Indo-Iranian peoples in ancient times, in contrast to "non-Indo-Aryan" or "non-Iranian" peoples. In Ancient India, the term ā́rya- was used by the Indo-Aryan speakers of the Vedic period as a religious label for themselves, as well as the geographic region known as Āryāvarta, where the Indo-Aryan culture emerged. Similarly, ancient Iranian peoples used the term airya- as an ethnic label for themselves in the Avesta scriptures, and the root forms the etymological source of the place names Iran and Alania. Although the root *h₂er(y)ós ("a member of one’s own group", in contrast to an outsider) is most likely of Proto-Indo-European (PIE) origin, the use of Arya as a self-designation is only attested among Indo-Iranian peoples, and it is not known if PIE speakers had a term to designate themselves as a group. In any case, scholars point out that, even in ancient times, the idea of being an "Aryan" was religious, cultural and linguistic, not racial. Drawing on misinterpreted references in the Rigveda by Western scholars in the 19th century, the term "Aryan" was adopted as a racial category through the works of Arthur de Gobineau, whose ideology of race was based on an idea of blond northern European "Aryans" who had migrated across the world and founded all major civilizations, before being diluted through racial mixing with local populations. Through the works of Houston Stewart Chamberlain, Gobineau's ideas later influenced the Nazi racial ideology which saw "Aryan peoples" as innately superior to other putative racial groups. The atrocities committed in the name of this racial ideology have led academics to avoid the term "Aryan", which has been replaced in some cases by "Indo-Iranian".

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