Iran (word)

The modern Persian name of Iran (ایران) derives from the 3rd-century Sasanian Middle Persian ērān (Pahlavi spelling: 𐭠𐭩𐭫𐭠𐭭, ʼyrʼn), where it initially meant "of the Aryans," ^[1] and acquired a geographical connotation in the sense of "(lands inhabited by) Aryans."^[1] In both geographic and demonymic senses, ērān is distinguished from its antonymic anērān, meaning "non-Iran(ian)".^[1]^[2]

In the geographic sense, ērān was also distinguished from ērānšahr, the Sasanians' own name for their empire, and which also included territories that were not primarily inhabited by ethnic Iranians.^[1]

The term Iranian appears in ancient texts with diverse variations. This includes Arioi (Herodotus), Arianē (Eratosthenes apud Strabo), áreion (Eudemus of Rhodes apud Damascius), Arianoi (Diodorus Siculus) in Greek and Ari in Armenian; those, in turn, come from the Iranian forms: ariya in Old Persian, airya in Avestan, ariao in Bactrian, ary in Parthian and ēr in Middle Persian.^[3]

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d MacKenzie, David Niel (1998), "Ērān, Ērānšahr", Encyclopedia Iranica, vol. 8, Costa Mesa: Mazda, p. 534.
^ Gignoux, Phillipe (1987), "Anērān", Encyclopedia Iranica, vol. 2, New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul, pp. 30–31.
^ Foundation, Encyclopaedia Iranica. "Welcome to Encyclopaedia Iranica". iranicaonline.org. Retrieved 2023-07-31.

[MacKenzie-1] MacKenzie, David Niel (1998), "Ērān, Ērānšahr", Encyclopedia Iranica, vol. 8, Costa Mesa: Mazda, p. 534.

[Gignoux_Aneran-2] Gignoux, Phillipe (1987), "Anērān", Encyclopedia Iranica, vol. 2, New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul, pp. 30–31.

[3] Foundation, Encyclopaedia Iranica. "Welcome to Encyclopaedia Iranica". iranicaonline.org. Retrieved 2023-07-31.

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