Iran

Etymology

From Persian ایران‎ (ʾīrân), from Middle Persian 𐭠𐭩𐭥𐭠𐭭‎ (ʾērān, “of the Aryans”). See ērān for word formation, further etymology and cognates.

The name of the political entity is a 3rd-century development that derives from the indigenous ethno-linguistic name of the Iranian peoples,^[1] i.e. the great variety of Iranian tribes that spoke an Iranian language.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɪˈɹɑːn/, /ɪˈɹæn/^[2]
• (US) IPA^(key): /ɪˈɹɑːn/, /ɪˈɹæn/, /aɪˈɹæn/^[3]

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Proper noun

Iran

1. A country in Western Asia. Official name: Islamic Republic of Iran.
   • 2005, Massoume Price, ed., Iran's Diverse Peoples, ABC-Clio, page xiii:

     "Iran is a vast and ancient country in a strategic location in the Middle East. It borders Russia, Iraq, Turkey, Pakistan, the Gulf of Oman, and the Persian Gulf."

   • ca. 1675, Jean Chardin (Sir John Chardin), Travels in Persia, 1673-1677, fasc. reprint 1988, Dover, page 126:

     "The Persians, in naming their country, make use of one word, which they indifferently pronounce Iroun, and Iran."

2. (literary, technical) regions inhabited by the Iranian peoples.
   • 1990, Hubert Darke, "Cambridge History of Iran" in Encyclopedia Iranica, volume 4, page 724:

     "[The] Cambridge History of Iran [is] a survey of the history and historical geography of the land which is present-day Iran, as well as other territories inhabited by peoples of Iranian descent."

   • 1985, J. M. Cooke, "The Rise of the Achaemenids" in Cambridge Historiy of Iran, volume 2, page 290:

     "[W]e may surmise that there was a strong sense of Iranian unity lending solidarity to the eastern half of the empire. It is only in the generations after Alexander, in Eudemus and in Eratosthenes (ap. Strabo), that we find mention of the concept of a greater nation of Iran (Arianē) stretching from the Zagros to the Indus; but the sense of unity must have been there, for Herodotus tells us that the Medes were formerly called Arioi, and Darius I (followed by Xerxes) in his inscriptions proclaims himself an Iranian (Ariya) by race - he speaks of himself in ascending order as an Achaemenid, a Persian and an Iranian (Naqsh-i Rustam)."

   • 1898, A. V. W. Jackson, Zoroaster: The Prophet of Ancient Iran, Macmillan, page 10:

     "Zoroaster of Iran. — Zoroaster, it is believed, sprang up in the seventh century before the Christian era, somewhere in the land between the Indus and the Tigris."

   • 1882, James Darmesteter, The Zend-Avesta, volume 1 (SBE, volume 31), Oxford UP, page 7, xxviii:

     "Kavi means a king, but it is particularly used of the kings belonging to the second and most celebrated of the two mythical dynasties of Iran."

     "One certain fact is the occurrence of geographical names [Bactria, Sogdiana, etc] in Vendidad I, which are obviously intended to describe the earliest homes of the Iranian races whose lore was the Avesta."

   • 1909, John Huston Finley (ed.), "Iran" in Nelson's Perpetual Loose-leaf Encyclopaedia, volume 6, page 479:

     "Iran. in early times, the name applied to the great Asiatic plateau which comprised the entire region from the Caucasus, the Caspian Sea, and Russian Turkestan on the north to the Tigris, the Persian Gulf, and the Arabian Sea on the west and south, and extending to the Indus on the east, likewise comprising the modern Afghanistan and the territory to the north of it as far as the Jaxartes River."

See also

• Persia (archaic exonym)

References

Anagrams

• ARIN, Arin, NIRA, Nair, RNAi, Rian, Rina, arni, rain, rani

Proper noun

Iran

1. Iran

Proper noun

Iran ?

1. Iran

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central, Valencian) IPA^(key): /iˈɾan/
• Rhymes: -an

Proper noun

Iran m

1. Iran

Proper noun

Iran

1. Iran

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Proper noun

Iran n

1. Iran

See also

• Perzisch (archaic exonym)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈiːɹan/
• Homophone: iðran

Proper noun

Iran

1. Iran

Anagrams

• Arni
• Rani

Proper noun

Iran

1. Iran

Anagrams

• Arin, arin

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /i.ʁɑ̃/

Proper noun

Iran m

1. Iran

See also

• persane (archaic exonym)
• Perse (archaic exonym)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /iˈʁaːn/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aːn

Proper noun

Iran n (genitive Irans)

1. Iran

Proper noun

Iran m (genitive Irans or Iran)

1. Iran

See also

• Perser (archaic exonym)
• Persien (archaic exonym)
• persisch (archaic exonym)
• Persisch (archaic exonym)

Proper noun

Iran

1. Iran

Proper noun

Iran

1. Iran

Proper noun

Iran m

1. Iran

See also

• Persia (archaic exonym)

Romanization

Iran

1. Rōmaji transcription of イラン

Proper noun

Iran

1. Iran

Proper noun

Iran

1. Iran

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈi.ran/

• Audio

  (file)

Proper noun

Iran m

1. Iran

Proper noun

Iran n

1. Iran

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ǐraːn/
• Hyphenation: I‧ran

Proper noun

Ìrān m (Cyrillic spelling Ѝра̄н)

1. Iran

Proper noun

Iran n (genitive Irans)

1. Iran

Etymology

From Spanish Irán (“Iran”).

Proper noun

Irán

1. Iran