آریا

Persian

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Arya (Iran)

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Old Persian 𐎠𐎼𐎡𐎹 (a-r-i-y /⁠Ariyaʰ⁠/) or Avestan 𐬀𐬌𐬭𐬌𐬌𐬀 (aⁱriia), ultimately from Proto-Indo-Iranian *Áryas (see for more information). Doublet of (êr, “Iranian”), which was inherited via Middle Persian 𐭠𐭩𐭫 (ʾyl /⁠ēr⁠/). Compare Urdu آریہ (ārya, “Aryan”).

Attested in the Neo-Persian period when used by Hamza Isfahani in the 10th century AD as a synonym of (êrân, “Iran”). The modern usage of it in reference to the supposed Aryan race dates back to the early 20th century, when Sadeq Rezazadeh Shafaq became the first to use it in place of the earlier (âryân), which was borrowed in the late 19th century from either French aryen or English Aryan by Mirza Aqa Khan Kermani.^[1]

Pronunciation

(Classical Persian) IPA^(key): [ʔɑː.ɾi.jɑː], [ʔɑːɾ.jɑː]

(Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [ʔɑː.ɾi.jɑː], [ʔɑːɾ.jɑː]
- (Kabuli) IPA^(key): [ʔɑː.ɾi.jɑː], [ʔɑːɾ.jɑː]
- (Hazaragi) IPA^(key): [ʔɔː.ɾi.jɔː], [ʔɔːɾ.jɔː]

(Iran, formal) IPA^(key): [ʔɒː.ɹi.jɒː], [ʔɒːɹ.jɒː]

(Tajik, formal) IPA^(key): [ʔɔ.ɾi.jɔ], [ʔɔɾ.jɔ]

Readings
Classical reading^?	āriyā, āryā
Dari reading^?	āriyā, āryā
Iranian reading^?	âriyâ, âryâ
Tajik reading^?	oriyo, oryo

Noun


Iranian Persian	آریا
Dari	آریا
Tajik	ориё

آریا • (âriyâ or âryâ) (plural آریاها (âriyâ-hâ) or آریایان (âriyâyân))

Aryan
Synonym: آریان (âryân)

Related terms

آریایی (âriyâyi, “Aryan”)
آریانا (âriyânâ, “Ariana”)
ایران‌ویج (êrânvêj, “Realm of Aryans, Airyanem Vaejah”)
ایرمان (êrmân, “friend, fellow tribesman”)
یل (yal, “hero, great warrior”)

Proper noun

آریا • (âriyâ or âryâ)

a male given name, Arya

References

^ Zia-Ebrahimi R. (2011) “Self-Orientalization and Dislocation: The Uses and Abuses of the “Aryan” Discourse in Iran”, in Iranian Studies‎^[1], volume 44, number 4, →DOI, pages 445-472:
In the entire corpus of Iranian literature there is no trace of the today ubiquitous Aryan race (nezhàd-e àriyàyi), until the twentieth century. There are ancient occurrences of ariya in the Achaemenid and Sasanian periods, there is the Greek (and later Latin) arioi, and Hamza al-Isfahani used ariya as an alternative to Iran in the tenth century AD. But as we will see ariya had a more restrictive nature and was never attached to anything even remotely resembling “race.” (...) It was Mirza Aqa Khan Kermani, a radical nationalist author, who in several undated books probably all written in the 1890s came up with the first mention of the term Aryan in modern Iranian writing. (...) When it comes to his pioneering references to the Aryan race, it is interesting to note that Kermani wrote àriyàn, which is a transliteration into Persian of Aryan in English or aryen in French, as Iranian authors had then not yet merged the European neologism with the Avestic and Old Persian term ariya. Sadeq Rezazadeh Shafaq (1897–1971) (...) was the first Iranian author to translate the European term Aryan into àriyà (adj. àriyàyi), rather than transliterate it as àriyàn like Kermani. (...) When Kermani, Rezazadeh-Shafaq and Pirniya introduced the term Aryan (àriyàn, later àriyàyi), the original meaning of ariya as Iranian was lost. It is safe to assert that in modern Iran, àriyàyi is not invoked as meaning Iran or Iranian or to denote a community of language and culture, but exclusively as evidence of Iranians’ alleged racial bond with Europeans.

[1] Zia-Ebrahimi R. (2011) “Self-Orientalization and Dislocation: The Uses and Abuses of the “Aryan” Discourse in Iran”, in Iranian Studies‎^[1], volume 44, number 4, →DOI, pages 445-472:
In the entire corpus of Iranian literature there is no trace of the today ubiquitous Aryan race (nezhàd-e àriyàyi), until the twentieth century. There are ancient occurrences of ariya in the Achaemenid and Sasanian periods, there is the Greek (and later Latin) arioi, and Hamza al-Isfahani used ariya as an alternative to Iran in the tenth century AD. But as we will see ariya had a more restrictive nature and was never attached to anything even remotely resembling “race.” (...) It was Mirza Aqa Khan Kermani, a radical nationalist author, who in several undated books probably all written in the 1890s came up with the first mention of the term Aryan in modern Iranian writing. (...) When it comes to his pioneering references to the Aryan race, it is interesting to note that Kermani wrote àriyàn, which is a transliteration into Persian of Aryan in English or aryen in French, as Iranian authors had then not yet merged the European neologism with the Avestic and Old Persian term ariya. Sadeq Rezazadeh Shafaq (1897–1971) (...) was the first Iranian author to translate the European term Aryan into àriyà (adj. àriyàyi), rather than transliterate it as àriyàn like Kermani. (...) When Kermani, Rezazadeh-Shafaq and Pirniya introduced the term Aryan (àriyàn, later àriyàyi), the original meaning of ariya as Iranian was lost. It is safe to assert that in modern Iran, àriyàyi is not invoked as meaning Iran or Iranian or to denote a community of language and culture, but exclusively as evidence of Iranians’ alleged racial bond with Europeans.

[1]