Elamite wasn't the main language. It was a court and administrative language due to its established history in the region in comparison to the relatively new Persian, which only arrived in Iran a couple centuries earlier and had very little established prestige due to that fact.Well, I think it's a bit more complicated than that. It's not that likely that Arya would have been the term used to designate the empire, since the main language used in the Achaemenid empire during Cyrus' reign was Elamite. Most probably they would have referred to themselves as members of "The Kingdom", and not specifically as Persians either, unless they were from that particular area of the Empire (around Persis itself).
It's really the same with the German example, where Deutschland is actually a 19th century concept... Before that, you had the Prussian Empire, and earlier the Holy Roman Empire and the Alemanni tribes. German is indeed an exonym, but it does predate most of that.
No, I know that's not what you all are here for, but... it's kinda hard to enjoy the smut when the historical mix up is screaming in your brain.
They would consider themselves Persian or Median etc. depending on their tribal/ethnic affiliation, with being Iranian(or Aryan) being a common unifying identity for all the tribes. Deutschland is not a 19th century concept either, only the modern country is. The people have always had a shared identity(which is why we have King of the Germans as a title of the Holy Roman Emperor). Prussia also wasn't an Empire, and the Alemanni were only a small tribe among many.
Aramaic was a court and administtative language, not the language of the ruling Iranians. Iran is a a shortening of Iranshahr or Eranshahr or Aryanshahr whatever dialect you wanna use. It means Realm/Empire of the Aryans. Iran and Aryan mean the exact same thing. We know Aryan was considered to be a shared identity, this is quite literally carved in stone with Darius mentioning being an Aryan and of Aryan lineage while at the same time mentioning being Persian. On the tomb of Artaxerxes we also see a clear divide between nations considered Iranic and those who are not.Nope. You got it wrong, friend. There was no such word as Iran during that period. Not in the Aramaic, or any translation thereof. The word, actually words, that applied were Eran and Aryan; depending upon dialect. Check the post by Canto Forte, and you will find a knowledgeable person on the subject with a good suggestion about applying it to the story. Both of the correct words evolved to later become something else. Eran was changed to Iran and became the name of the country in the 1930's. Aryan became the subject of numerous early 20th century writers and evolved into the concept of the master or Aryan race which, in turn, became the a core principle of the Nazi movement.
Always good to get the facts right.
So we know for a fact that these people considered themselves to have a shared heritage and to all be Iranian. We also know for a fact that the country was officially called Iran by the time of the Parthians. Considering the Iranians called their homeland the Aryan Expanse in the Avesta, and over a millenia later called their new homeland the realm of the Aryans, we can deduce that in all likelihood they also used some variation of that terminology during Achaemenid times as well. After all, we know they considered themselves Iranian or Aryan or Eranian whatever you want to call it, and the vast majority of nations in the world name their countries after their identity.
I really don't understand why people who know nothing about the topic feel the need to weigh in..
Always good to get the facts right.