Another reason why Qajar Iran is my favorite—beautiful documents like these.
This document is two-page Jewish marriage contract (ketubah) in Arabic and Hebrew. The first page, in Arabic, is indistinguishable from Muslim marriage contracts from Qajar Iran. It starts with “bismillah irrahman irrahim” (In the name of God, Most Merciful, Most Kind). The next line praises God for allowing the marriage—literally thanking God for “halal-ifying” the marriage. The second page is in Hebrew, which I suspect expresses the same beautiful sentiments.
1902, Iran.
(source)
Persian Lesson of the Day: Love.
عشق eshgh, popularly used for describing “love” in Persian, actually refers to an obsessive, all-consuming love.
The original root ع ش ق in Arabic refers to vines (عشقة) that climb up a tree and kill it by covering the trunk from all sides.
There other words for love in Persian, including دوستى doosti, which doubles up as “friendship” as well.
Coffee was first introduced by Sufis, who relied on the potent drink to stay up at night for their intense dhikr sessions. It either originated in Yemen or Ethiopia, and although the origins of it are unclear, the caffeinated beverage quickly spread through the Middle East and beyond.
Even the word coffee comes from the Arabic qahwa. Before the popularization of coffee, qahwa was often used to refer to wine, as the root means “lessening one’s desire for something.” Wine was thought to lessen one’s desire for food. Likewise, coffee lessens one’s desire for sleep. And hence, the name stuck.
The rest, as you all know, is history.
—
Coffee and Coffeehouses: The Origins of a Social Beverage in the Medieval Near East by Ralph Hattox.
‘Yes,’ he replied wisely, ‘yourself.’”
Moïnfar calculates that the Šāh-nāma contains 706 words of Arabic origin, occurring a total of 8,938 times. The 100 words occurring most frequently account for 60 percent of all occurrences.
The most recognizable lines from the Shahnameh:
بسى رنج بردم در اين سال سى
عجم زنده كردم بدين فارسى
(I struggled greatly during these thirty years, I gave life to the Ajam with this Persian)
Ajam is an Arabic word.
Q
messyarkitekt asked:
The reason why persian sounds so beautiful specially to someone like me who is an Iranian himself, is that Ferdowsi wrote his "shahname" without using a single word of Arabic! and without his influence my language would sound horrible and full of arabic words! If you study the history of Persia, the ancient persian language sounded very different to what it does now, a few similar words but different, it kind of sounded like greek! If you're not Persian don't get yourself mixed up in this...
A
I am so amused.
By claiming that Ferdowsi wrote the Shahnameh without using a single word of Arabic, you’ve quickly proven to me that 1) you’ve never read the Shahnameh, or 2) you are so used to some Arabic words that you don’t recognize their origin.
I literally wrote the simplest post ever yesterday stating that Ferdowsi used Arabic in the Shahnameh. There are about 700 different Arabic words in it. Somehow this myth got started that there’s no Arabic in the Shahnameh. That’s simply not true.
What’s cool about the Shahnameh, though, is that it’s written in the masnavi form, a Persian pattern of poetry.
Also, just to make this clear, I do study Iranian history. And I’ve studied some Middle Persian too.
Q
messyarkitekt asked:
i was searching for tags about iran and came across you view on the persian language! i have studied all my life, specially persian poetry and i must say that arabic did ruin persian! we can talk about it all day and ill come with evidence.
A
You know that the poetry you read and love takes its form and patterns (qasideh, ghazal, and ruba’iy) from Arabic, right? It’s a combination of Pahlavi and Arabic that has made modern Persian so beautiful and conducive to writing poetry.
Poetry wouldn’t have been such a large part of Persian literature had it not been for the influence of Arabic poetic tradition and the vivid imagery of the Qur’an.
It’s true, though, that the best grammarians of Arabic were Persian. In fact, Arabic was preserved, codified, and systematized by Persians (you’re welcome!).
Dear Persian Language Purists,
Please take a couple classes on the Pahlavi language and script before you come to me with sweeping claims that Arabic ruined Persian.
Sani-al-Mulk’s illustrations for “One thousand and One nights” – (c. 1853).
Mirza Abol-Hassan Khan Ghaffari Kashani, also known as ‘Abol-Hassan the Second’ and ‘Sani-al-Mulk’, is considered the first teacher of European style of painting in Iran.
Sani-al-Mulk’s style was drastically different than earlier Iranian styles of painting. The way people were depicted (look at their eyes!), the colors, etc.
