...The Iranian peoples'local names - Old Iranian: Arya, Middle Iranian: Eran, Modern Iranian languages: Persian: Iraniyan or Irani-ha, Kurdish: Êraniyekan or gelên Êranî, Ossetian: Irynoau Adem, Mazandarani: Iranijş Benevarün or Heranaysi Adəmün, Zazaki: Iryanıco mılletê are an ethnic and linguistic branch of Indo-European peoples, living mainly on the Iranian plateau and beyond in central, southern, and southwestern Asia and southeastern Europe. As a group of people, they are predominantly defined along linguistic lines as speaking the Iranian languages,J. Harmatta in "History of Civilizations of Central Asia", Chapter 14, The Emergence of Indo-Iranians: The Indo-Iranian Languages, ed. by A.H. Dani & V.N. Masson, 1999, p. 357 a major branch of the Indo-European language family. They are spread across the Iranian plateau, stretching from the Hindu Kush to central Anatolia and from Central Asia to the Persian Gulf - a region that is sometimes termed Greater Iran.Frye, Richard Nelson, Greater Iran, ISBN 1-56859-177-2 p.xi: "... Iran means all lands and people where Iranian languages were and are spoken, and where in the past, multi-faceted Iranian cultures existed. ..." Speakers of Iranian languages, however, were once found throughout Eurasia, from the Balkans to western China. "Iranian languages" — Encyclopedia Britannica . Retrieved 4 June 2006. "Scope of Iranian languages" — Encyclopedia Iranica . Retrieved 4 June 2006. As Iranian people are not confined to the borders of the current state of Iran, the term Iranic peoples is sometimes used to avoid confusion with the citizens of Iran. Read full entry

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