نامه

See also: نامە and نامہ

Persian

Etymology

From Middle Persian [Book Pahlavi needed] (MGLTA) / [Book Pahlavi needed] (nʾmk' /⁠nāmag⁠/, “book, letter, any written text”), equivalent to nām (“name”) (itself from Proto-Iranian *Hnā́ma (“name”))^[1] + -ak (derivative suffix), originally a "name-list" or catalogue of products made for economic or bureaucratic purposes, this being the most common use of writing in early Iranian languages.^[2] By surface analysis, (nâm, “name”) +‎ (-e), but rarely analyzed or understood as such. Compare Old Armenian նամակ (namak, “letter, writing”), an Iranian borrowing.

Pronunciation

(Classical Persian) IPA^(key): [nɑː.ˈma]

(Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [nɑː.mǽ]
- (Kabuli) IPA^(key): [nɑː.mǽ]
- (Hazaragi) IPA^(key): [nɔː.mǽ]

(Iran, formal) IPA^(key): [nɒː.mé]

(Tajik, formal) IPA^(key): [nɔ.mǽ]

Readings
Classical reading^?	nāma
Dari reading^?	nāma
Iranian reading^?	nâme
Tajik reading^?	noma

Audio (Iran): (file)

Noun


Iranian Persian	نامه
Dari	نامه
Tajik	нома

نامه • (nâme) (plural نامه‌ها (nâme-hâ))

letter (written or printed communication)
(archaic, or in compounds) book; anything written
Synonym: کتاب (ketâb)

― ruznâme ― daily newspaper (literally, “day-book”)

― filmnâme ― screenplay (literally, “film-book”)

Derived terms

اعتبارنامه (e'tebâr-nâme, “letter of credit”)
اعتراض‌نامه (e'terâz-nâme, “letter of protest”)
امان‌نامه (emân-nâme)
تقدیرنامه (taqdir-nâme, “letter of commendation”)
رزم‌نامه (razm-nâme, Mughal translation of the Mahabharata, literally “book of war”)
روزنامه (ruznâme, “newspaper”)
زندگی‌نامه (zendegi-nâme, “biography”, literally “book of life”)
سالنامه (sâlnâme)
سفرنامه (safarnâme, “travelogue”)
شاهنامه (šâhnâme, “the Shahnameh”, literally “book of kings”)
شجره‌نامه (šajare-nâme, “genealogy”)
طلاق‌نامه (talâq-nâme, “decree of divorce”)
فیلمنامه (filmnâme, “screenplay”)
لغت‌نامه (loğat-nâme, “dictionary”)
ماهنامه (mâhnâme)
معرفی‌نامه (moa'rrefi-nâme, “letter of recommendation”)
نامه‌بر (nâme-bar, “letter carrier”)
نامه‌رسان (nâme-resân, “letter carrier”)
نامه‌نویس (nâme-nevis)
هبه‌نامه (hebe-nâme, “deed of gift”)
هفته‌نامه (hafte-nâme)
وصیت‌نامه (vasiyat-nâme, “will”)
وکالتنامه (vekâlat-nâme, “power of attorney; proxy”)
پایان‌نامه (pâyân-nâme)
گاهنامه (gâhnâme)
گواهی‌نامه (gavâhi-nâme, “credential”)
گیرنده‌نامه (gīrande-nâme, “addressee”)

Descendants

→ Azerbaijani: namə / نامه
→ Bengali: -নামা (-nama)
→ Gujarati: નામું (nāmũ), નામા (nāmā)
→ Hindustani:
Hindi: नामा (nāmā)

Urdu: نامہ (nāma)
→ Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: نامە (name)

Northern Kurdish: name
→ Ottoman Turkish: نامه (nâme)
- Turkish: name
- → Crimean Tatar: name
→ Punjabi:
Gurmukhi script: ਨਾਮਾ (nāmā)

Shahmukhi script: نامہ (nāma)
→ Uzbek: noma

References

^ Edelʹman, D. I. (2015) Etimologičeskij slovarʹ iranskix jazykov [Etymological Dictionary of Iranian Languages] (in Russian), volume 5, Moscow: Vostochnaya Literatura, page 539
^ Lurje, Pavel B. (2022) “Considerations on the Etymology of Persian nāmeh”, in The Reward of the Righteous: Festschrift in Honour of Almut Hintze, pages 297—306