Aryans

The Aryans, Sanskrit Ārya, were a group who invaded India from the north around 1500 BC as recorded in the Rigveda, the earliest Indian literary work. In modern usage, the word most commonly refers to Nordic people, especially those with blond hair and blue-eyes. This usage is somewhat removed from the historical and linguistic meaning of the term. It reflects the influence of Nazi ideology.

The Aryans are thought to have spoken a language of the Indo-European family. This language was ancestral to Sanskrit and therefore to modern Indian languages. Due to the association with Nazi ideology, the word Aryan has slipped into disfavor. Specialists now refer to the overall language family as "Indo-European." The Indo-European languages spoken in Iran and India are the "Indo-Aryan family."

In Sanskrit, Ārya means noble. The Sanskrit word is derived from Ariya, a native name for Iran.^[1]

The term Aryan has also been used by Adolf Hitler and numerous other racialists to refer to what they believe to be the superior race of white, Nordic Europeans. The originator of the Aryan master race theory was French author Joseph Arthur de Gobineau.