مینو

Persian

Alternative forms

• منو (menu)

Etymology

From Middle Persian 𐫖𐫏𐫗𐫇𐫃 (mynwg /⁠mēnōg⁠/, “the spiritual world, the intangible world”), borrowed from Avestan 𐬨𐬀𐬌𐬥𐬌𐬌𐬎 (maⁱniiu, “spirit”). Doublet of مینا (minâ), from the Middle Persian’s Arabic descendant.

In Zoroastrianism

In Zoroastrianism, mēnōg is the antonym of gētīg (“the physical world, the tangible world”), modern گیتی (giti, “world”). The spiritual realm of mēnōg has existed eternally, but the good god Ohrmazd created the physical world of gētīg, where humans currently live, as an arena to permanently defeat the evil god Ahriman. The opposition between these two terms did not survive into Islam, although see early quotations such as the one given below.

The Arabic loan suggests that already in Middle Persian, the word could mean "emerald" or "glass" as intangible and ethereal substances, although this is not directly attested.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Persian) IPA^(key): [miː.ˈnoː], [miː.ˈnuː]

 

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [miː.nóː]

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [miː.nóː]
  • (Kabuli) IPA^(key): [miː.nóː]
  • (Hazaragi) IPA^(key): [mʊː.nʊ́ː]

• (Iran, formal) IPA^(key): [miː.núː]

• (Tajik, formal) IPA^(key): [mi.nú], [me.nú]

Readings
Classical reading?	mīnō, mīnū
Dari reading?	mīnō
Iranian reading?	minu
Tajik reading?	minu, menu

Noun

مینو • (minu)

1. paradise, heaven
   • c. 1011, Abu'l-Qāsim Firdawsī, “The Reign of Gushtāsp”, in شاهنامه [Book of Kings]‎^[1]:

     فرستاد هرسو به کشور پیام
     که چون سرو کشمر به گیتی کدام
     ز مینو فرستاد زی من خدای
     مرا گفت زینجا به مینو گرای

     firistād har sō ba kišwar payām
     ki čūn sarw-i kašmar ba gētī kudām
     zi mīnō firistād zī man xudāy
     ma-rā guft z-īnjā ba mīnō girāy

     He sent a message to the countries of all directions:
     "Where is anything like the cypress of Kashmar in the world [gētī]?
     The Lord sent it to me from paradise [mīnō],
     He told me to ascend to paradise [mīnō] thereby."

     (Classical Persian romanization)

2. (obsolete) emerald
3. (obsolete) glass

Descendants

• → Urdu: مینو (mīnū)

References

• Ağa-Oğlu, Mehmet (1946) “The Origin of the Term Mīnā and its Meanings”, in Journal of Near Eastern Studies, volume 5, number 4, →DOI, pages 241–256
• Vullers, Johann August (1856–1864) “مینو”, in Lexicon Persico-Latinum etymologicum cum linguis maxime cognatis Sanscrita et Zendica et Pehlevica comparatum, e lexicis persice scriptis Borhâni Qâtiu, Haft Qulzum et Bahâri agam et persico-turcico Farhangi-Shuûrî confectum, adhibitis etiam Castelli, Meninski, Richardson et aliorum operibus et auctoritate scriptorum Persicorum adauctum‎^[2] (in Latin), volume II, Gießen: J. Ricker, page 1259

Urdu

Etymology

Borrowed from Classical Persian مینو (mīnō, mīnū, “emerald; paradise”).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Urdu) IPA^(key): /miː.nuː/

Noun

مِینُو • (mīnū) m (Hindi spelling मीनू)

1. emerald
2. paradise, heaven

Derived terms

• مِینُو سَواد (mīnū-savād, “heaven-like”)

References

• “مینو”, in اُردُو لُغَت (urdū luġat) (in Urdu), Ministry of Education: Government of Pakistan, 2017.
• Qureshi, Bashir Ahmad (1971) “مینو”, in Kitabistan's 20th Century Standard Dictionary‎, Lahore: Kitabistan Pub. Co.
• Platts, John T. (1884) “مینو”, in A dictionary of Urdu, classical Hindi, and English, London: W. H. Allen & Co.
• “مینو”, in ریخْتَہ لُغَت (rexta luġat) - Rekhta Dictionary [Urdu dictionary with meanings in Hindi & English], Noida, India: Rekhta Foundation, 2024.