1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Piśāca Languages

PIŚĀCA LANGUAGES, the name which has been given to a family of languages spoken immediately to the south of the Hindu Kush, and north of the frontier of British India. The family includes the group of Kāfir languages spoken in Kafiristān, Khowar, spoken in the Chitral country, and the group of Shīnā languages, which includes the Shīnā of Gilgit, Kōhistānī, spoken in the Kohistans of the Indus and Swat rivers, and Kashmiri. Of all these Kashmiri is the only one which has received any literary cultivation, and of which the number of speakers is known. The Piśāca languages are Aryan by origin, but are neither Iranian nor Indo-Aryan. (See Indo-Aryan Languages and Kashmiri.)  (G. A. Gr.)