Persian Loanwords EALL
Persian Loanwords EALL
Persian Loanwords EALL
Administration was not, however, [he only e.g. ma;üs 'magicinn' < Middle Penian magu
held in which the Arab language derived its pat 'the chief of [he Magi, i.e. main priesr of
terminology {rom Penian. Because their natural [he Zoroastrian clergy' < Old Persian magul
environment differed from mher, much richer Awestian m01/1; zindiq (pI. zanddiqa) 'dualiSt,
culrural areas, [he Arabs had 10 borrow names Manichaean' < Middle Persian umdik 'her
for plants nOl familiar [Q them from mher lan erie, Maniehaean'; 'ddar;asn< Persian duu;asn
guages. Many of these were raken {rom Persian, < Middle Persian ddtir 'fire' + iasn 'celebra
as in the {ollowing examples: banafsaj< Middle rion, festiva!'; ma"ra;d" 'festivity, celebrarion'
Persian wanafSag 'violet'; ydsmin< Middle Per < Penian mihrgdn < Middle Persian mihr 'rhe
siao ydsama" 'jasmine'; "arjis< Middle Persian Aryan god Mithra' < Avestan mi9rö, Mirhra's
nargis 'narcissus'; s,isan (or sawsan) 'lily' < birthday and [he day in which he fought and
Middle Persian sosart; warda 'rose' < Old Per defeatw [he dragon Dahak.
sian varX'>a 'rose, f1ower'. NOI only were many In the field of material culture, the Arabs
ßowers unknown [Q the pre-Islamie Arabs, but were acquail1led with SQme Persian achieve
also some kinds of fruits. Their names were menlS, which explains why Ihey adopled the
,aken from Penian as weil as the names of terms from ehe Persian language. This may be
vegetables, herbs, spiees, and various kinds seen by expressions in [he field of architecture
of outs, as in rhe following examples: turunj denoring types of buildings nOl typical of the
'a kind of dlrus' < Persian torang; zard öiJ'ij Arabs, such as 'iwan 'palace, columned hall,
'apricot' < Persi:m zardöfii < Middle Persian gallery'; balk,ina 'balcony' < Persian bölkofl
zordöliig: bädimjö" (or bMinjtin or bä{J,ljön) < bdld + xöne < Middle Persian bola 'top,
'rggplant' < Persian bademjäfl; Sähdälla; 'hemp upstairs' < Old Persian bardista < Avestan
setd' < Middle Persian Sähdtinag: stihsbaram barzista + Middle Persian xdnag 'house'; dih
(or Sähsbarham or söhsfarhamJ 'basil royal' < Ih. 'corridor, columned hall' < Middle Persian
Middle Persian sdhesprahm; isfami; (or isfdlldj dahliz 'porlico'.
or s
i balllJ;J 'spinach' < Persian aspalläx: uf faran There were differences in Arab and Iranlan
'saffron'< Persian zarparän 'with gold leaves'; clothing, as may be seen in certain expressions
bista; (or bastaq or f/lstukl 'pistachio'< Penian Ihat the Arabs borrowed from Ihe Persian lan
peste< Middle Persian pistag. guage, e.g. sirbaf or, more frequently, sirwtil
The Arabs also borrowed expressions for (pI. sardwil) 'uousers, pants' < Middle Persian
herbs from Ihe Persian language, which the Ira salwdr; babtij (or babtis or btib,is) 'shoc'< Per
nians themselves had learned from other peo sian !,ap'iS < Middle Persian pad 'foot' + plis
pies through, for example, trade with Central '[0 wear'.
Asia and Jndia, e.g. Arabic ddra,sini 'dnnamon' The Arabs were familiar wilh some Persian
< Penian dtirÜn. The natural environment of musical instruments, e.g. lallbtir< Middle Per
the Arabian Peninsula was also less diverse sian tamb,ir 'zither, IUfe'; saflj , harp' < Penian
eompared to other areas of the Middle fast, ämg< Middle Persian Cang; tumbak 'drum' <
and it is nOI surprising Ihal Ihe various names Middle Persi3n tllll/bag.
of animals not known to the Arabs in their The natural sciences also drew from Persian
ancestral country were taken {rom Persian, e.g. expressions that found their way il1lo Arabic.
barasllik or ralher farasllik 'swallow'< Persian This may be seen in astronomy, e.g. 'asfal,r <
parasl,i< Middle Penian I,uristog: ,ayllli; 'small Middle Persian spihr 'sphere, sky, firmament;
gray partridge' < Middle Persian tihOg. fate'; kaywa" < Middle Persian kevafl 'Saturn'
The adaptation of words in the realm of or bahrtim< Middle Persian valJrdm 'name for
culture generally resul,s frOlll the fact that [hey the god of war'.
:Ire ,aken from another language by people On Ihe other hand, in Ihe fjeld of religion,
who do not have in their culture any equivalent the Arabic language lelt irs traces in Persian as
for the phenomena denoted by Ihese words. numerous terms and expressions were adapted
This proves especially true for the adaptation by it (-. !)ersian), e.g. q/lrbafl 'S3crifice', hard",
of the names for Iranian festivals, which wen: 'prohibilC�d', halal 'allowed, permitted',ha;; 'pil
not widely observed by Arabs and for which grimage'.It should be nored, howevcr, thaI some
they had no name of their own. Some expres times Persian words were also used [0 express
sions were connCCled wilh Old Iranian religion, cerrain Islamie ritual practices or concep[s,
PERSIAN lOANWORDS
" ,
such 35 the Persian lIomäz instead of the Ara Middle Persian gohr 'substance, essence,
bic �a/ar 'praycr', cr Pers;an nite instead of nature, jewel', which changed in Arabic
Arabic �/Um 'fast', Thc influence of the Arabic CO ;awhar and even developed the lexi
language on Pers;an was certainly remarkable, cal plural form ;a,uähir. In this case, the
:lod even roday there exists a very great admi form gohar means 'origin', iohar 'ink',
ration for ir in Iran. In popular consciousness, and ;awäher 'jeweI'. Ir could also be
most people are convinced .hat more than 80 replaced by Arabie q, as in s,iq 'marker'
percent of the Pers;an language consists of < Middle Persian sog.
Ambic components. Many words, howcvcr, are e. A special case is the Persian 11. which
erroneously regarded as Arabic, :lod ir seems changed in Arabic tO the semivowel w,
more appropri:Hc TO speak of Arabicized words as may be scen in wazir 'minister' < Per·
than originally Arabic 00('$. Classical Ara sian valir< Middle Persian vicir. 80lh
bic encyc10pedias such as the LisO" 01·'Arab, sounds are realized by the sam� charac
Tlij al·'ar/is, cr Mlt!li! al.ml/bi! contain many tcr in script.
expressiotls classified as färisiyyo. This is the 11. Some Persian consonants, although they
case for words borrowed from Middle Persian ha\'e equivalems in the Arabic sound sys
which later, undet the influencc of the Arabie lem. wefe also occasionally replaced by
language, were adapted by Modern Persian in others, as may be scen in the following list:
their Arabicized form, e.g. fihrist< Middle Per a. The P�rsian plosive b was somelimes
sian pat-rast 'register', 'amrlid< Middle Persian replaced either by the Arabic fricative f.
IIrmoo 'pear'. as in Arabic 'i(rh 'frieze'< Persian ob"l,
Persial1 words transferred tO Arabie had 10 be or by the Arabk semivowel w, as in Ara
adapted to the Arabic sound system. This proc bic darwalld 'lock'< Persian dorband<
ess occurred in thc following ways: Middle Persian dar-bOlid.
b. The Persian plosive I sometimcs changed
I. Although Arabie has a mueh rieher sound ro the Arabic emphatic plosive t, as In
system than Persian, some Persian sounds do Arabic !JUl; (or faUl) 'new, fresh'< Per
not exist in Arabic. Since the Persian conso sian täu.
nams p, i, i, and g have no equivalems in c. The Persian fricarive x may change in
Arabic, they were replaced by certain Arabic Arabic in thrce different wayS: ir may be
ones: replaced (I) by the affricate;, as in Ara
3. The Persian plosive p was repl:lced either bic 'is(äna; 'spinach'< Persian äspanQX;
by the Arabic fricative (, as in firdaws (1.) by the plosivc k, as in Arabic kma 'a
'paradise' < Persian pardis < Middle title for the Persian kings'< Persian xos,
Persian pardis and pafft< Avestan pairi· row< Middle Persian Jm-sraw 'famous,
dacza, or by the Arabic plosive b, as in of good reputc'; (3) by the fricalive g, as
bab,is, bab,;;, bab,iS 'slipper'< Persian in the Arabic bJdga)'s, bädga)'s 'name of
päp'iS< Middle Persian pad 'foot' + p,is a distri" in Xor:is:in'< Persian badxiz
'to wear'< Avestan päd. lit 'windy'.
b. Pershm i was replaced eirher by Arabic d. Thc Persian plosive d may change imo
s, e.g. sad"r 'veil' < Persian lädor, or the Arabie emphalic plosive/, e.g. btiJiyya
by the empharic Arabic sibilant �, e.g. 'jug, bowl'< Persian badi)'a.
fakk 'court file'< Persian ick; anothet c. The Persian vibram r may change imo
example is �awl;an 'polo game'< Persiall the Arabic lateral I. as 111 Arabic salband
cogän< Middle Persian lopgall. 'headgcar'< Persian sarballd.
c. The Penian sibilant i was replaced eirher f. The Persian sibilam <: may change m
by the Arabie a{(rieate;, e.g. bai 'tribute' Arabic (I) imo the aUrieate;. as in 'obnt
< Middle Persian bai< Old Persian baii. 'milking' < Pcrsian abri:, (1.) imo tht
or by the Arabic sibilant z, e.g. qau emphatic plosive q, as in Arabic ';briq
'crude silk'< Persian kai< Middle Per 'watering can' < Persian abrh., ()) into
sian kill., the fricarive {l, e.g. oar)'äb 'gold'< Per
d. Persi:m g was repbced by Arabic i. sian Ulr-e Itab 'pure gold', (..) into tht
seen in the example of Persian gohar< cmphatic sibilant �, as in ra�� 'lead,
PERSIAN LOANWORDS '"
v. There are different vCr5ions of some Per- Tafazzoli, Ahmad and Jalch Amouugar. 1999.
513n wards in Arabic, whieh differ by the Tarix-e adubl)'ut-e Irall pis Ol Es/um ITht"" hislOry
of Iranian ltlcralurc before Islam I. Tehran: Soxan.
lIse of either a lang or a short vowel, C.g.
s,isall 3nd siisän < Persiall siisoll < Middle ASYA ASßAClU (lkrlinl
Persian SÖSOII 'Iily'.
VI. Metathesis: some word forms weft" devel
oped by the transposition of twO pho
nemes, as in iall�ir. whieh is derived from
Personal Pronoun (Ar.bic
Persian zall;ir ',hain',
VII. Same forms (ame infO lIse by confusion of
Dialects)
diacritics, C.g. Persian xoskpoll '3 generie
The pronominal system of Arabic dialecrs has
term for some kinds of swecrs, whieh
one characteristic in common with other varie·
are filled wirh nutS, t.g. almonds', whieh
ries of the Arabic language and other Semiric
exis!s in Arabic as xoikbdll as weil as
languages: it consists of a series of independent
xoikmill.
pronouns alld a scries of suffixed pronouns,
VIII. Some versions came inro use by different
whose form may vary from region 10 region
oral realiz:Hions, 3$ in Persian go/gall'
for various reaSOIlS, among which are rhe influ
dom 'knapweed', whieh in Arabic became
ellct' of the substrarum (e.g. (he Aramaic sub
realized 3$ joljondom, iorjalldom, :tnd
Stratum in the Syrian-Lebanesc areai see Diem
jar;a"dltm.
1971) and its own internal evolution, or even
ix. For some P�rsian words, a broken plu
a mixrure of borh (see Behnste<h 199I). These
ral was formcd, e.g. Arabic 'asötig and
prOlloun scries pby different syntactic roles
'asatida from Persian ostdd 'master'.
thaI may aiso vary depending on geographical
x. Some Arabic verbs are derived from Per
facrors.
sian nouns, e.g. tallllla
l ;a 'ro crown', from
Middle Persian ld; 'crown'.
I. INDEPENDENT PERS ONAL
PRONOUNS
BIBLIOCRAI'HICAL REFERENCE5
DClailed rderences in:
Asbaghi, Asya. 1987. Die semlmtisclle Elltwlck The various paradigms may be grouped into
IUllg arl/bischer Wörter im Persischell. Stullgart:
rhree C:Hcgories, according 10 rypes of dialccls:
F. Steiner.
--. t988. Persische ullllwörter im Arablschell. Bedouin dialects, withoul geographical distinc
Wiesbaden: O. Harrassowltz. rion, and scdentary dialects, both Easlern and
Western.
Funher information in:
The forms of rhe independent persollal pro
Bahar, Malek d-lo'ara. 1984 ...Ja.... nmardi�. AY;II'/
/OI'a/lll/ardl, cd. Henry Corbin and Ehsan Naraql, nouns for each of the three categories are given
109-11.0. Teh ran. in Table I.
Tablc I. Independent personal pronouns in three types of dialects: Bedouin ( Roscnhousc 1984:17-18),
Cairo Uomier alld Khouzam 1977:)6), and Moroccan koine (C.,uber '99):1, 159)