gwnd

Middle Persian

Etymology 1

Akin to Manichean Parthian gwnd (gund, “army, troop; group, gathering”).

Horn following Nöldeke (orally) connects with Sanskrit वृन्द (vṛndá-, “heap, multitude, host, flock, swarm, number, quantity, aggregation”), but this is doubtful by the usual sound correspondences.

Possibly also the same as the word below for a testicle; the meaning “ball” or “lump” could have developed like the French, English corps, which Johnny Cheung and Adriano V. Rossi find most plausible.

Since it is only found in Persian and Parthian, probably a Semitic word, as Nöldeke (earlier), Szemerényi and Cheung contend, compare Akkadian 𒄖𒌦𒉡 (/⁠gunnu⁠/, “elite troops, elite or special unit”), the basic meaning of the root ج ن ن (j-n-n) being related pan-Semitically to “covering, protection, shielding; being secluded”, and, looking on ܓܘܕܐ (/⁠guddā⁠/, “troop; company, group of people; wall (homonymously)”), the root ج د د (j-d-d) being related to “seriousness; rough ground; path, streak; a strip, detachment”, akin to Akkadian 𒄖𒁺𒁺 (/⁠gudūdu⁠/, “military detachment, battle troop”) and Hebrew גְּדוּד (gedūd, “band, troop; battalion”).

Noun

gwnd • (gund)

army, troop
group, gathering

Descendants

Persian: غند (ğond), غنده (ğonde)
> Tajik: ғун (ġun) (inherited)
→ Arabic: جُنْد (jund)
→ Aramaic:
- Classical Syriac: ܓܘܢܕܐ (gundā), ܓܘܕܐ (guddā)
- Classical Mandaic: [script needed] (guddā)
→ Old Armenian: գունդ (gund)
- Armenian: գունդ (gund)
- → Georgian: გუნდი (gundi)
→ Udi: gündä

References

“gwd³”, in The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon Project, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, 1986–
“gwd⁴”, in The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon Project, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, 1986–
Ačaṙean, Hračʻeay (1971) “գունդ”, in Hayerēn armatakan baṙaran [Armenian Etymological Dictionary] (in Armenian), 2nd edition, a reprint of the original 1926–1935 seven-volume edition, volume I, Yerevan: University Press, page 595
Cheung, Johnny (2017) On the (Middle) Iranian borrowings in Qurʾānic (and pre-Islamic) Arabic‎^[1], Leiden: Leiden University, pages 6–7
Fraenkel, Siegmund (1886) Die aramäischen Fremdwörter im Arabischen (in German), Leiden: E. J. Brill, pages 238–239
Horn, Paul (1893) Grundriss der neupersischen Etymologie (in German), Strasbourg: K.J. Trübner, § 805, page 179
Hübschmann, Heinrich (1897) Armenische Grammatik. 1. Theil: Armenische Etymologie (in German), Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, page 131
Lagarde, Paul de (1866) Gesammelte Abhandlungen (in German), Leipzig: F. A. Brockhaus, page 24
MacKenzie, D. N. (1971) “¹gund”, in A concise Pahlavi dictionary, London, New York, Toronto: Oxford University Press, page 38
Nöldeke, Theodor (1875) Mandäische Grammatik‎^[2] (in German), Halle: Verlag der Buchhandlung des Waisenhauses, page 75
Nyberg, H. S. (1974) A Manual of Pahlavi, Part II: Glossary, Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, page 86b
Růžička, Rudolf (1909) “Konsonantische Dissimilation in den semitischen Sprachen”, in Beiträge zur Assyriologie und semitischen Sprachwissenschaft‎^[3] (in German), volume VI, number 4, Leipzig · Baltimore: J.C. Hinrichs’sche Buchhandlung · The Johns Hopkins Press, page 148

Etymology 2

From Old Persian *gunda-. Compare Avestan 𐬔𐬎𐬧𐬛𐬀 (guṇda, “lump of dough”) and Old Armenian գունդ (gund), Northern Luri (gen), an Iranian borrowing. One might adduce Proto-Turkic *kunduŕ (“beaver”), not impossibly related via the meaning of a castor-sac.

Noun

gwnd • (gund)

testicle

Descendants

Persian: گند (gond)

References

MacKenzie, D. N. (1971) “²gund”, in A concise Pahlavi dictionary, London, New York, Toronto: Oxford University Press, page 38