𐰉𐰺𐰽

Old Turkic

Inherited from Common Turkic *bars (“a large feline”) itself of unknown origins.

The general consensus considers it a borrowing from an Iranian language,^[1] compare Sogdian 𐼾𐼴𐽀𐼹𐼰𐼻𐼸 (pwrδʾnk),^[2] Persian (palang) and Sanskrit पृदाकु (pṛdāku, “viper; tiger, panther”).^[3]
Nishanyan instead suggests a borrowing from a Tocharian language,^[4] compare Tocharian A and B pärs- (“to sprinkle, splash”).^[5] See also Old Uyghur 𐾀𐽰𐽿𐾅 (taš), a late borrowing from the same Tocharian root.

Cognate with Turkish pars (“leopard, panther”). Compare also Middle Mongol ᠪᠠᠷᠰ (bars), a Turkic borrowing.^[6]

𐰉𐰺𐰽 (bars)

a type of large feline; panther, leopard, tiger
- 9th century CE, Irk Bitig, Omen 10
  𐰾𐰤𐰏𐰤:𐰉𐰺𐰽:𐰢𐰤
  esnegen:bars:men
  I am a yawning panther.
Bars Bek, the first khagan and the founder of the Yenisei Kyrgyz Khaganate
- 8th century CE, Kültegin Inscription, E20
  𐰉𐰺𐰽:𐰋𐰏:𐰼𐱅𐰃
  bars:beg:erti
  ...it was Bars Bek.
a male given name

^ Clauson, Gerard (1972) “bars”, in An Etymological Dictionary of pre-thirteenth-century Turkish, Oxford: Clarendon Press, page 368
^ Gharib, B. (1995) “pwrδʾnk”, in Sogdian dictionary: Sogdian–Persian–English, Tehran: Farhangan Publications, page 330
^ Arthur Anthony Macdonell (1893) “pṛdāku”, in A practical Sanskrit dictionary with transliteration, accentuation, and etymological analysis throughout, London: Oxford University Press, page 169
^ Nişanyan, Sevan (2002–) “pars”, in Nişanyan Sözlük
^ Adams, Douglas Q. (2013) A Dictionary of Tocharian B: Revised and Greatly Enlarged (Leiden Studies in Indo-European; 10), Amsterdam, New York: Rodopi, →ISBN, page 401
^ Sanžejev, G. D., Orlovskaja, M. N., Ševernina, Z. V. (2015) Etimologičeskij slovarʹ mongolʹskix jazykov: v 3 t. [Etymological dictionary of Mongolic languages: in 3 vols.] (in Russian), volume I, Moscow: Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, page 79