Aryan (disambiguation)

Aryan is a term expressing various ethno-linguistic and/or racial concepts: The word Aryan is derived from the Sanskrit word "Arya" which literally means "noble".

Aryan or Arya may refer to:

• • Arya (*ārya-), Old Indic and Old Iranian word from which 'Aryan' (:=Indo-Iranian) derives
  • Indo-Iranian, "pertaining to (speakers of) Indo-Iranian languages"
    • the prehistorical Proto-Indo-Iranians
    • Indo-Iranian peoples, people speaking the Indo-Iranian languages
      • Indo-Aryan languages, a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages, itself a branch of the Indo-European language family
      • Indo-Aryan peoples, people speaking the Indo-Aryan languages
      • Iranian languages, a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages, itself a branch of the Indo-European language family
      • Iranian peoples, people speaking the Iranian languages
  • May be used to refer to the original Proto-Indo-Europeans in works published in the 19th century and early 20th century
  • Indo-European (dated), "pertaining to the original speakers of Indo-European languages (the Proto-Indo-Europeans) and their present day descendents"
  • Aryan race (dated), a concept deriving from the linguistic one, also defined as "pertaining to the original speakers of Indo-European languages (Proto-Indo-Europeans) and their present day descendents"
  • A gentile of native Indo-European descent
  • used for the Nordic race (dated) (i.e., the Germanic peoples), a racialist concept developed by Ariosophy and later adopted by the Nazis as part of their master race ideology
  • used in reference to the those defined as the white race in Neo-Nazism, i.e., those peoples belonging to the Western or European branch of the Indo-European peoples (and generally excluding those peoples belonging to the Eastern or Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European peoples), in white supremacism in the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, southern South America, and South Africa
    • examples of this usage:
      • Aryan Nations, a white nationalist neo-Nazi organization founded in the 1970s by Richard Girnt Butler as an arm of the Christian Identity group known as the Church of Jesus Christ-Christian
      • Aryan Brotherhood, a white prison gang and organized crime syndicate in the United States with about 15,000 members in and out of prison
      • Aryan Guard, an Alberta-based neo-Nazi group with members primarily located in the city of Calgary
      • White Aryan Resistance, a neo-Nazi white supremacist organization founded and led by former Ku Klux Klan leader Tom Metzger. It is based in Warsaw, Indiana and incorporated as a business
      • Aryan League (an Iranian organization), an Iranian Neo-Nazi political party
  • In Classical civilization, pertaining to those from a small region in eastern Parthia called Aria that was at that time believed to have been the original home of the Persian people, or those from the larger area that Aria was regarded as a part of, Ariana, which included nearly the whole eastern half of the Parthian Empire (and before that, nearly the whole eastern halves of the Seleucid Empire, the Macedonian Empire and the Achaemenid Empire) (spelled with an "i" or "ei" instead of a "y")
  • May be used to refer to the inhabitants of the Sassanian Empire, the name of which in Middle Persian, Eran Shahr, means land of the Aryans
  • Aryan aliens, a synonym for Nordic aliens, aliens purportedly from Venus, The Pleiades and other extraterrestrial locales, and portrayed by UFO enthusiasts as being wise and benevolent
  • a concept of "nobility" or "piety" in Hinduism and Buddhism, see Arya
    • Arya Samaj, a reform movement in Hinduism founded in 1875
    • Arya (magazine), a collection of spiritual and nationalistic writings published by Sri Aurobindo from 1914 to 1921
  • as an Indian and Persian given name, see Aria (name)
    • Aryan Khan (Afghan actor), Afghan martial artist, model, dancer, singer and actor
    • Aryan Vaid (born 1974), Indian male model
    • Arya Ambekar
• Arya F.C., an Iranian football club.
• Arya (urban-type settlement), (Арья), an urban-type settlement in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Russia

Popular culture

• Aryan (2006 film)
• Aryan (1988 film)
• Arya (2004 film), a Telugu Tollywood film starring Allu Arjun
• Arya (2007 film), a 2007 Tamil film starring R. Madhavan and Bhavana.
• Arya 2 (2009), a 2009 Telugu film (Dubbed into malayalam as the same title) directed by Sukumar, and is a follow-up to the actor's and the director's previous successful film, Arya
• Arya (actor) (born 1980), south Indian actor
• The Aryan, 1915 film
• Arya Stark, a character in George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire book series, and the HBO Game of Thrones series
• Arya Dröttningu, a character from the Inheritance cycle

See also

• Aryan language (disambiguation)
• Aryan religion (disambiguation)
• Aryanization, in Nazism, which literally means "to make Aryan", was principally used to refer to the expulsion of the so-called "non-Aryans" from Nazi Germany, Austria, and the territories it controlled

Near-homographic terms, not to be confused:

• Arian (disambiguation), with several meanings, including a former (16th-18th century) spelling of 'Aryan'
• Aria (disambiguation)
• Ari (name) (Aryeh), an Aramaic given name used in a blessing in the Bible
• Ariane (rocket family), a series of space vehicles
• Ariya Ария, the Russian for aria, name of a band, see Ariya
• Arrian (86–2nd-century), Greek historian