Jump to content
Main menu
Main menu
move to sidebar
hide
Navigation
Main page
Recent changes
Random page
Help about MediaWiki
Special pages
Niidae Wiki
Search
Search
Appearance
Create account
Log in
Personal tools
Create account
Log in
Pages for logged out editors
learn more
Contributions
Talk
Editing
Ahura Mazda
(section)
Page
Discussion
English
Read
Edit
View history
Tools
Tools
move to sidebar
hide
Actions
Read
Edit
View history
General
What links here
Related changes
Page information
Appearance
move to sidebar
hide
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
==Nomenclature== The most likely etymology is from [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]] ''*h₂ḿ̥suros'', from ''*h₂ems-'' ("to engender, beget"), and therefore it is cognate with [[Proto-Germanic language|Proto-Germanic]] ''*ansuz''. Finnish Indologist [[Asko Parpola]] locates a borrowing from [[Proto-Indo-Aryan language|Proto-Indo-Aryan]] ''*asera-'' to the [[Uralic languages]], with the meaning 'lord, prince'.<ref name="asko">{{Cite book |first=Asko |last=Parpola |date=2015 |title=The Roots of Hinduism: The Early Aryans and the Indus Civilization |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |page=114 |isbn=978-0190226923}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |first=Václav |last=Blazek |author-link=Václav Blažek |title=Indo-Iranian elements in Fenno-Ugric mythological lexicon |journal=Indogermanische Forschungen |volume=110 |issue=1 |date=2005 |page=162 |doi=10.1515/9783110185164.162}}</ref> 'Mazda', or rather the Avestan stem-form ''Mazdā-'', [[Nominative case|nominative]] ''Mazdå'', reflects [[Proto-Iranian language|Proto-Iranian]] ''*mazdáH'' (a [[feminine gender|feminine]] noun). It is generally taken to be the proper name of the spirit and, like its [[Vedic Sanskrit|Vedic]] cognate ''medhā́'', means "[[intelligence]]" or "[[wisdom]]". Both the Avestan and the Sanskrit words reflect [[Proto-Indo-Iranian language|Proto-Indo-Iranian]] [[wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-Iranian/mazdʰáH|''*mazdʰáH'']], from [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]] ''{{PIE|*mn̥sdʰh₁éh₂}}'', literally meaning "placing ({{PIE|*dʰeh₁}}) one's mind ({{PIE|*mn̥-s}})", hence "wise".{{sfn|Boyce|1983|p=685}} In [[Old Persian]], during the [[Achaemenid Empire|Achaemenid era]], the name was either depicted using the [[Persian cuneiform|cuneiform]] logograms [[wikt:𐏈|𐏈]] or [[wikt:𐏉|𐏉]] (genitive [[wikt:𐏊|𐏊]]), or spelled out as [[wikt:𐎠𐎢𐎼𐎶𐏀𐎭𐎠|𐎠𐎢𐎼𐎶𐏀𐎭𐎠]] (''a-u-r-m-z-d-a'', ''Auramazdā''). In Parthian, the name was written as [[wikt:𐭀𐭇𐭅𐭓𐭌𐭆𐭃|𐭀𐭇𐭅𐭓𐭌𐭆𐭃]] (''ʾḥwrmzd'', ''Ahurmazd''), while [[wikt:𐭠𐭥𐭧𐭥𐭬𐭦𐭣𐭩|𐭠𐭥𐭧𐭥𐭬𐭦𐭣𐭩]] (''ʾwhrmzdy'', ''Ōhramazdē'') was the [[Middle Persian]] term used during the [[Sassanid era]].{{sfn|Boyce|1983|p=685}} The name may be attested on [[cuneiform]] tablets of [[Assyria]]n [[Ashurbanipal|Assurbanipal]], in the form ''Assara Mazaš'', but that interpretation is very controversial.{{sfn|Boyce|1975|p=14}}{{Update inline|date=July 2024|reason=The source is almost 50 years old.}}
Summary:
Please note that all contributions to Niidae Wiki may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here.
You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see
Encyclopedia:Copyrights
for details).
Do not submit copyrighted work without permission!
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)
Search
Search
Editing
Ahura Mazda
(section)
Add topic