Dr. Milad Abedi, BSc MA

Mitarbeiter im Projekt "The Pahlavi Papyri of the Austrian National Library", finanziert durch die PORKAR PRIVATSTIFTUNG (Wien) sowie das UCI Jordan Center for Persian Studies and Culture (Irvine)

Institut für Alte Geschichte und Altorientalistik
Universität Innsbruck – Ágnes-Heller-Haus
Innrain 52a
6020 Innsbruck, Austria

Zimmernummer 05E030 (5. Stock)


Tel.: +43 512 507-41028

E-Mail: Milad.Abedi[at]uibk.ac.at

About | I am a linguist specializing in the Old and Middle Iranian language periods (ca. 1000 BCE–900 CE), with particular expertise in language contact and cultural history across Central and West Asia. My research examines the transmission and adaptation of terminology related to flora, fauna, trade goods, and scientific concepts across linguistic contexts including Elamite, Indo-Iranian, Tocharian, Turkic, Chinese, Semitic, and Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex (BMAC). Through analysis of inscriptions, administrative documents, and religious texts—particularly those composed in ancient Iranian languages and the Book Pahlavi script—I trace lexical exchanges to illuminate ancient regional networks. Additionally, my scholarly activities include critical editions and analyses of ancient Iranian texts, notably the Pahlavi papyri documenting the Sasanian presence in 7th-century Egypt.


Profile on academia.edu 

ORCID: 0009-0005-0807-6055

 

Education

  • PhD in Linguistics (Magna cum laude), University of Zurich, 2025
  • Visiting PhD Candidate, University of Vienna, 2024​
  • PhD Candidate in Linguistics, INALCO, Paris, 2021–2024​
  • MA in Ancient Languages and Cultures of Iran (with distinction), Allameh Tabataba’i University (ATU), Tehran, 2019​
  • BSc in Microbiology, Azad University, 2015
     

Employments

  • Postdoctoral Researcher, The Pahlavi Papyri of the Austrian National Library – The Most Important Archival Remnant of the Sasanian Empire, University of Innsbruck, Department of Ancient History and Ancient Near Eastern Studies, 2025–present​
  • Doctoral Researcher, SNSF Project: Sino-Indo-Iranica Rediviva – Early Eurasian Migratory Terms in Chinese and Their Cultural Implications, University of Zurich, Department of Sinology, 2020–2024
  • (https://www.aoi.uzh.ch/de/sinologie/forschung/rediviva.html) 
     

Visiting Positions

  • Visiting Scholar, SOAS University of London, Jan–Feb 2025
  • Research Stay, CNRS, UMR 8041, Le Centre de Recherche sur le Monde Iranien (CeRMI), Paris, Aug–Dec 2023
  • Visiting Scholar, Department of Iranian Studies, Freie Universität Berlin, June–July 2019
     

Memberships

Awards

  • 2024 – UZH Doc.Mobility Fellowship for 12-month research stay at the Universities of Vienna and SOAS University of London
  • 2023 – Travel grant, SERI (State Secretariat for Education, Research, and Innovation) for cotutelle de thèse partnership with Paris
  • 2016 – Travel grant, Allameh Tabataba’i University, for the 11th Leiden Summer School in Languages and Linguistics
  • 2015 – Two-year MA scholarship, Ministry of Science, Iran (via national university entrance exam)
     

Teaching

  • Spring 2022 – Zoroastrian Middle Persian (Pahlavi) I: A Course on Language, Script, and Pre-Islamic Iran, University of Zurich
  • Fall 2021 – Middle Iranian (co-taught with Prof. Widmer), University of Zurich
     

Research Interests

  • Pahlavi Papyri​
  • Old and Middle Iranian linguistics​
  • Language contacts in ancient Iran​
  • Loanwords and Lexicography
     

Selected Conference Papers & Invited Talks

  • 2025​​
    • “Beyond Borders: The Cultural Repositioning of Pahlavi Scribal Traditions”, First Bahari Workshop for Early Career Scholars Professionals of Writing in Late Antiquity, Wolfson college, University of Oxford, UK, June 13th.
  • 2024
    • “The excellent creature of Ancient Iran: Malapropism and Euphemism in the Avestan language”, NEXT OF KIN: An International Symposium on Indo‐Iranian Comparative and Historical Linguistics, Philology and Religious Studies, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, Austria, October 11th.
    • “A pressing matter – the linguistic origin of Iranian felt terms”, Language and Culture in the Borderlands of the Eastern Silk Road. International Conference & Early Career Researcher Workshop, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, Austria, September 5th.
    • “Regions in the East, People from the East – On the Evidence for China and Chinese in Ancient Iranian Literature”, European Association for Chinese Studies 25th Biennial Conference (EACS 2024), Tallinn University, Estonia, August 28th.
  • 2023
    • “Why do I have to pay for the king’s camel? – a critical overview of ancient Iranian terms for camels”, in First Swiss Workshop on Sociolinguistics, Language Contacts and Historical. Linguistics in the Ancient World, University of Zurich, February 10th.
  • 2022
    • “Iranian terms for footwear and their naming motivation”, Silk Road Conference, National Tsing Hua University, Hinchu, Taiwan, December 1st.
    • “Following the donkey’s trail: A linguistic and archaeological study on the introduction of domestic donkeys to China”, (joint presentation with Wolfgang Behr, Samira Müller, and Patrick Wertmann), in Before the Golden Peaches: Fresh Perspectives on Early Eurasian Exchanges, University of Zurich, Switzerland, June 1st.
    • “Donkey-eared or Rabbit-eared, that’s the question – Trans-Himalayan zoonyms as seen in relation with their neighbouring languages”, (joint presentation with Samira Müller), 55th International Conference on Sino-Tibetan Languages and Linguistics (ICSTLL-55), Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan, September 15th.
    • “Workshop of Old Persian epigraphy and inscribing Old Persian on clay”, in Zurich Center for Ancient Studies open day, University of Zurich, November 25th.
    • “A new perspective on a supposed sound change between Middle and New Persian”, The 34th Deutsche Orientalistentag, Free University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany, September 14th.
    • “The Emergence of Arabic Scientific Terminology at the Eastern Contact Zone: Calque and Loanword in Early ʿAbbāsid Time (750–861CE)” (Joint presentation with Johannes Thomann), the third conference of Doha historical dictionary of the Arabic language, Doha Institute of higher education, Doha, Qatar, May 10th.
  • 2021
    • “Migrating lexical terms and Sino-Iranian lexical contacts”, in Hellenistic Central Asia Research Network, online, June 9th.
  • 2019
    • “Secondary kinship terms: an investigation from Indo-European to New Iranian languages and dialects” (joint presentation with Mohsen Mahmoudi), Fourth International Conference of Languages and Dialects of Iran, Tehran, Iran, March 5th.
  • 2018
    • “Later phase of language contact between Old Persian and Achaemenid Elamite”, International Colloquium on Loanwords and Substrata in Indo-European languages, University of Limoges, Limoges, France, June 7th.
  • 2017
    • “Introduction to the Old Persian language and its epigraphy”, Seventh Iranian Summer School for Linguistics, Bu-Ali Sina University, Hamedan, Iran, September 7th.
  • 2016
    • “The history of Avestan studies”, Centre for translation, Allameh Tabataba'i University, Tehran, Iran, December 19th.
  • 2015
    • “Three Pahlavi diacritics and their significance in research and instruction”, The international conference of linguistics Heritage, Tehran, Iran, October 20th.
       

Academic Organisations

  • 2023
    • “First Swiss Workshop on Sociolinguistics, Language Contacts and Historical Linguistics in the Ancient World”, co-organised by Prof. Paul Widmer, Dr. Marwan Kilani, Milad Abedi, Samira Müller.
  • 2022
    • “Before the Golden Peaches: Fresh Perspectives on Early Eurasian Exchanges”, (Ring lecture series), co-organised by Prof. Wolfgang Behr, Samira Müller, Dr. Patrick Wertmann, Milad Abedi.
  • 2018
    • “10th International Conference of Iranian linguistics”, organising committee, 25–26 September, Allameh Tabataba'i University (ATU), Tehran.
       

Selected Publications

  • 2024​
    • “The Emergence of Arabic Scientific Terminology at the Eastern Contact Zone: Calque and Loanword in Early ʿAbbāsid Time (750–800 CE)”, Asiatische Studien – Études Asiatiques, 78(4): 705–717​.
    • “Following the Donkey’s Trail (Part II): A Linguistic and Archaeological Study on the Introduction of Domestic Donkeys to China” (with Samira Müller, Wolfgang Behr, Patrick Wertmann), Journal of Eurasian Linguistics, 6(2): 294–358​.
    • “Following the Donkey’s Trail (Part I): A Linguistic and Archaeological Study on the Introduction of Domestic Donkeys to China” (with Samira Müller, Wolfgang Behr, Patrick Wertmann), Journal of Eurasian Linguistics, 6(1): 104–144​.
  • 2021​
    • “Secondary Kinship Terms: A Lexical Analysis from Indo-European to New Iranian” (with Mohsen Mahmoodi), in Jafari-Dehaghi, Mahmoud, Iranian Studies Series, vol. 5: 419–458, Encyclopedia of the Great Islam, Tehran​.
    • “The Survey of Two Metonymic Phrases of Achaemenid Elamite” (with Sina Abbaslou), Journal of Ancient Culture and Languages, 2(2): 45–54​.
    • “On the Later Phase of Elamite-Iranian Language Contact”, in Garnier, Romain, Innsbrucker Beiträge zur Sprachwissenschaft, vol. 164, 1–25, University of Innsbruck​.
       

Selected Outreach Activities

  • Blog Article
  • Newspaper Citation
    • 2022  “The Diachronic Dictionary of the Arabic Language.” Al-Arabi Newspaper, May 11. London, UK.
      Cited in: Abedi & Thomann (2022)
       
  • Radio
    • 2022  “Nâme-ye Xosrovân.” Biweekly live radio lessons on the Šâhnâma, the emergence of the Persian language, and Iranian studies. Radio Lora, Zurich, Switzerland (April–August).
       
  • TV
    • 2016  “Iran’s Past and Present Art of Epigraphy.” Press TV, Iran, January 10.
    • 2017  “On the Linguistic Student Association of Allameh Tabataba'i University Awards.” Iran News Channel, November 18.
       
  • Newspaper Notes
    • 2017  “To the Memory of Prof. Helmut Humbach”, in Iran Newspaper, Tehran, No. 6470, 15 April.
                 “To the Memory of Prof. Robert S.P. Beekes”, in Iran Newspaper, Tehran, No. 6603, 25 September.
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