Turanian

Turanian, a philological term apt to be misleading and now going out of use. Originally the word Turan, meaning 'not Iran,' was used by the Sassanian kings of Persia for those parts of their empire outside of Iran (q.v.), and the Persians still know Turkestan under this name. Hence in philology 'Turanian' came to be used for the non-Aryan languages (see ARYAN RACE) of those regions—languages of the Ural-Altaic or Finno-Tartar group (see ASIA, Vol. I. p. 493). But the term was extended sometimes so as to include the Dravidian tongues of India, also of the agglutinative type (see PHILOLOGY, Vol. VIII. p. 126); thus erroneously suggesting affinity between non-Aryan and non-Semitic groups of languages which are probably quite unconnected (see URAL ALTAIC).