Loan Words - Farsi

Loan Words - Farsi Well, we already have talked about loan words a little bit. I really recommend that you listen to our first podcast on Loan Words to catch up. Today, we want to continue that and talk about a few more. Loan Words exist because two cultures come into contact. English is so rich in its vocabulary partly because of the fact that it’s very open to new cultures and doesn’t have its guards up against new words entering the language. In the last podcast on Loan Words we took a look at a few words from French in English. Anyone with some basic knowledge of Western History knows that the country of origin of these two languages have had a lot to do with each other throughout history. Sometimes the cultural exchange is less direct among countries like the Middle East and Europe. However, the confines of geographical distance are far from enough to keep various cultures disconnected. Indo-European languages come from the same places of origins. Indo-European languages are those spoken mostly in Europe together with those of the northern Indian subcontinent and the Iranian Plateau. This is why a lot of words share the same roots in these languages. Take a look at these words for example. Daughter is tochter in German, and dokhtar in Farsi. Father in English, Vader in German, padre in Spanish, and pedar in Farsi. There are many many other examples of these but here, we are more concerned with those words that are used in English that have either directly or indirectly been borrowed from Farsi. Alright enough with Explaining. I’d better stop that and get to the more fun stuff. Have you ever heard about the Amazons? Well, not the jungles, but women warriors in Greek myths and legends. They were a society of women and weren’t very welcoming to men. The word Amazons may have come from Persian, ha-mazan, or ham-razman. As you know, razman can signify war and martyrdom. The next word is the word assassin. A professional stealth killer who carries out murder of a prominent person. The word comes from hasisi, al-Hashishiyyun in Arabic which originally comes from Farsi meaning hashish-eaters. See, assassins were a cult group led by Hasan Sabah who were Ismaili Muslims back in the middle-ages, quite skillful and precise. To defame them, their opposing enemies came up with the story of eating hashish by saying that it was the mind-altering drug that gave them their super-skills. However, their assassinations were the results of careful plotting and strategizing. If you wanna read more about this interesting sect, you can check out the link shared in the transcript ( ) Bazaar is another word from Persian. This word didn’t go to English on its own though. Turkish was a vessel to introduce this word to the world to denote a market in a middle eastern country. Another word that can capture your attention is candy. which originally comes from qandi adjective for qand which means crystallized sugar. It’s funny because candy, now, in Farsi, is abnabat, and has nothing to do with qand anymore. Speaking of Candy, please also remember that sugar is from a Persian root, and is still the same in Persian, شکر. The next word is Caravan which found its way into English vocabulary from Italian Caravana, from Persian kāravān. A company of travelers on a long journey through the desert or hostile regions. Now people traveling in a Caravan needed to stay somewhere, right? Definitely, after their tiring journey they went to caravanserai. the serai at the end is Persian for palace or bed. The next word is Chess. The word Chess is said to have been an originally Farsi word. When a chess player wins a game, they deliver a checkmate. checkmate is originally a Farsi word meaning that the king is dead, or rather شاه مات. The word Chess is also the same coming from German Shach, which means kings. The word, rook, which is a chess piece, comes from roc, and in persian Rukh. Roc or رخ is a Persian enormous eagle-like bird. This legendary bird is said to have looked like Simurgh and Phoenix. The next word is Jackal. Jackals are wild long-legged omnivorous or hame chiz khar. In Farsi we call them شغال. It’s not difficult to find the closeness in pronunciation between the two words. The next word is like a 100% Farsi. Julep. Can you guess what it is? You keep it in your kitchen, put it in sharbat limo, and it gives it a heavenly taste. That’s right, Julep is golab. Julep comes from persian Gol + ab. I have to add that lemon comes originally from limoo in Persian. The words magus and its plural form magi are Arabic words for the originally Farsi word, magoosh, which refer to ancient Persian Zoroastrian or zartoshti priests. They were renowned for metaphysical practices. The word magic in English has gone through a lot to become what it is today, but it is certain that this word has its roots in Persian. You can read more about Magi at , whose link you can find here in the Transcript. Paradise is another word not to miss. Paradise is a word that comes from French Paradis. To trace it further back we get to the Avestan word, pairidaēza which literally means walled-around. Paradise in Modern Farsi is Pardis, Fardis, or Ferdos. The list can go on and on. Who knows if more studies are carried out, we may see that the number of words borrowed from Persian are far more than we can imagine. Thanks for listening. Talk to you soon.

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Loan Words - Farsi is an episode from Lingo Phoenix's Podcasts.

This episode is 00:05:51 long.

This episode was published on Aug 11, 2021.

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