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The name of Iran derives immediately from Middle Persian Ērān, Pahlavi ʼyrʼn, first attested in the inscription that accompanies the investiture relief of Ardashir I at Naqsh-e Rustam.[1] In this inscription, the king's Middle Persian appellation is ardašīr šāhān šāh ērān while in the Parthian language inscription that accompanies the Middle Persian one the king is titled ardašīr šāhān šāh aryān (Pahlavi: ... ʼryʼn).

Etymology and usage in the pre-Islamic period

The gentilic ēr- and ary- in ērān/aryān derives from Old Iranian *arya-[1] (Old Persian ariya-, Avestan airiia-, etc.), meaning "Aryan,"[1] in the sense of "of the Iranians."[1][2] This term is attested as an ethnic designator in Achaemenid inscriptions and in Zoroastrianism's Avesta tradition,[3][n 1] and it seems "very likely"[1] that in Ardashir's inscription ērān still retained this meaning, denoting the people rather than the empire.

Notwithstanding this inscriptional use of ērān to refer to the Iranian peoples, the use of ērān to refer to the empire (and the antonymic anērān to refer to the Roman territories) is also attested by the early Sassanid period. Both ērān and anērān appear in 3rd century calendrical text written by Mani. In an inscription of Ardashir's son and immediate successor, Shapur I "apparently includes in Ērān regions such as Armenia and the Caucasus which were not inhabited predominantly by Iranians."[4] In Kartir's inscriptions (written thirty years after Shapur's), the high priest includes the same regions (together with Georgia, Albania, Syria and the Pontus) in his list of provinces of the antonymic Anērān.[4] Ērān also features in the names of the towns founded by Sassanid dynasts, for instance in Ērān-xwarrah-šābuhr "Glory of Ērān (of) Shapur". It also appears in the titles of government officers, such as in Ērān-āmārgar "Accountant-General (of) Ērān" or Ērān-dibirbed "Chief Scribe (of) Ērān".[1]

Shapur's trilingual inscription at Ka'ba-i Zartosht also introduces the term ērānšahr (), "kingdom of the Iranians", that is however not attested in any other texts of this period other than in royal inscriptions (it is however preserved in post-Sassanid-era Zoroastrian texts[n 2]).[1] Because an equivalent of ērānšahr does does not appear in Old Iranian (where it would have been *aryānām xšaθra- or in Old Persian *- xšaça-, "rule, reign, sovereignty"), the concept is presumed[1] to have been a Sassanid-era development. In the Greek portion of Shapur's trilingual inscription the word šahr "kingdom" appears as ethnous "nation". For speakers of Greek, the idea of an Iranian ethnous was not new: In the 1st century BCE, Strabo had noted a relationship between the various Iranian peoples and their languages: "[From] beyond the Indus [...] Ariana is extended so as to include some part of Persia, Media, and the north of Bactria and Sogdiana; for these nations speak nearly the same language." (Geography, 15.2.1-15.2.8[7]).

Usage in the medieval Islamic period

In the Persian literature in 9th-11th centuries, the territorial notions of “Iran,” are reflected in such terms as irānšahr, irānzamin, or Fors, the arabicized form of Pārs/Fārs (Persia).[8]. During Safavids, the territory of Iran regained its political unity, and Safavid kings were assuming the title of "Šāhanšāh-e Irān" (Iran's king of kings). This title, as well as the title of "Šāh-e Irān", was also used later by Nader Shah Afshar and Qajar and Pahlavi kings.

Modern usage

Since the Iranian Revolution of 1979, the official name of the country is "Islamic Republic of Iran." For the pre-1935 use of "Persia" as the western non-indigenous name for the country of Iran, see Iran naming convention.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ In the Avesta the airiia- are members of the ethnic group of the Avesta-reciters themselves, in contradistinction to the anairiia-, the "non-Aryas". The word also appears four times in Old Persian: One is in the Behistun inscription, where ariya- is the name of a language or script (DB 4.89). The other three instances occur in Darius I's inscription at Naqsh-e Rustam (DNa 14-15), in Darius I's inscription at Susa (DSe 13-14), and in the inscription of Xerxes I at Persepolis (XPh 12-13). In these, the two Achaemenid dynasts describe themselves as pārsa pārsahyā puça ariya ariyaciça "a Persian, son of a Persian, an Ariya, of Ariya origin." "The phrase with ciça, “origin, descendance,” assures that it [i.e. ariya] is an ethnic name wider in meaning than pārsa and not a simple adjectival epithet."[3]
  2. ^ Most notably the Šahrestānīhā ī ērānšahr, which is a description of various provincial capitals (šahrestānīhā) of the ērānšahr. Its idea of ērānšahr includes Africa and Arabia.[5][6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h MacKenzie, David Niel (1998). "Ērān, Ērānšahr". Encyclopedia Iranica. Vol. 8. Costa Mesa: Mazda.
  2. ^ Schmitt, Rüdiger (1987). "Aryans". Encyclopedia Iranica. Vol. 2. New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul. pp. 684–687.
  3. ^ a b Bailey, Harold Walter (1987). "Arya". Encyclopedia Iranica. Vol. 2. New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul. p. 681-683. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Text "http://www.iranica.com/newsite/articles/v2f7/v2f7a004.html" ignored (help)
  4. ^ a b Gignoux, Phillipe (1987). "Anērān". Encyclopedia Iranica. Vol. 2. New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul. p. 30-31.
  5. ^ Markwart, J.; Messina, G. (1931). A catalogue of the provincial capitals of Eranshahr: Pahlavi text, version and commentary. Rome: Pontificio istituto biblico.
  6. ^ Daryaee, Touraj (2002). Šahrestānīhā ī Ērānšahr. A Middle Persian Text on Late Antique Geography, Epic, and History. With English and Persian Translations, and Commentary. Mazda Publishers. (Related work)
  7. ^ Hamilton, H. C. & W. Falconer (1903). The Geography of Strabo. Literally translated, with notes. Vol. 3. London: George Bell & Sons. p. 125. (Geography 15.2)
  8. ^ IRANIAN IDENTITY - iii. MEDIEVAL ISLAMIC PERIOD, Encyclopedia Iranica



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