𐎱𐎼𐎭𐎹𐎭𐎠𐎶

Old Persian

Etymology

From Proto-Iranian *paridayjah.

The spelling appears to reflect underlying spoken "Late Old Persian" form /pardēd/ (shown more directly by the Elamite rendering), which already shows the development towards Middle Persian, mechanically transferred back into an incorrect ahistorical Old Persian spelling (a kind of hypercorrection essentially analogous to "hyper-Sanskritization" of Middle Indic forms), as opposed to the expected Old Persian spelling *paridaida (i. e., the scribe did not know the Old Persian of Darius I's time anymore, and essentially spelled the spoken form as p-r-d-y-d-a-m corresponding to pseudo-Old-Persian paradayadām, which would also result in /pardēd/ according to the sound developments leading from Old Persian to spoken "Late Old Persian", so it was simply a wrong guess).

Noun

𐎱𐎼𐎭𐎹𐎭𐎠𐎶 (p-r-d-y-d-a-m /paradayadām/)

1. paradise
2. pleasant retreat

Descendants

• → Achaemenid Elamite: 𒁇𒋼𒌨 (bar-te-taš /⁠Bartetaš⁠/) (< Late OP /pardēdəm/)

References

• Brandenstein, Wilhelm, Mayrhofer, Manfred (1964) Handbuch des Altpersischen (in German), Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, pages 8, 137

Further reading

• Paradise garden on Wikipedia.Wikipedia