Nameh Farhangestan
Year:2010 | Volume:11 | Issue:3 (43)|Papers Count:15

The origin and function of the Persian suffix "-tar" in words astar (Sanskrit: asvatara, Old-persian: *asatara, Pahlavi: astar) and kabutar (Sanskrit: kapota, Pahlavi: kapotar) have not been adequately explained. In this paper explanations are offered for both cases.The suffix -tar generally forms comparative adjectives; but often it is added to nouns also. In this case it sometimes puts emphasis on the main semantic feature of the noun, and sometimes denotes a contrast and otherness within a similar context, e.g., Latin matertera means aunt (=mother, but other than mother). Thus asvatara (astar) is a horse, but other than a horse. In this connection it is important to note that the persian word andar (antar in Avesta) denotes otherness in words like padandar and madandar - stepfather and stepmother - i.e., a father or a mother who is other than a real father or mother.The -tar ending of kabutar has remained a problem. It has to be noted that in this case there is no question of suffix "-tar". The word in Sanskrit and Old-persian is kapota, the -ta ending (perhaps originally a participial ending) being part of the word, just as it appears at the end of other words for colours, e.g., spaeta/sveta (white) zairita (yellow), rekta (red). The author’s suggestion is to see the problem from this angle. He argues that the word koputa originally meant grey or dark blue, and, later, received the noun and adjective making suffix "-ra" to form the noun kapotara (the grey one) in Iranian dialects.

Forough FARROkHzAd has greatly helped the growth and evolution of modern Persian poetry with her many poetic innovations. Even though she focused on the content of her poetry, she was not indifferent to form. One of her formal innovations was the type of meter she used in some of the poems of the collection Tavallodi Digar (Another Birth) and all the poems of the collection Iman Byavarim be Agaz-e Fasl-e Sard (Let’s Believe in the Beginning of the Cold Season). The meter of these poems neither follows traditional or folkloric meter nor Nima’s meter. This meter has certain important advantages over Nima’s meter. In this paper, the writer first introduces FARROkHzAd’s innovative prosody and then shows its advantages over Nima’s meter.

In this paper, the writer draws the following conclusion: 1) Reading a piece of Blawhar and Budasef shows that it is a Persian poem written in rhyming couplets, survived from Rudaki’s time. 2) Nezam Tabrizi, the man who has corrected Blawhar and Budasef is Nezam al-Din Sami, writer of Zafarname. 3) The manuscript corrected by Nezam Tabrizi kept in Malek National Library is not unique. Esma’il Pasa, of Baghdad, has seen the manuscript written by the writer himself and mentioned it. 4) In his Zafarname, Nezam al-Din Sami has recorded the events up to 806 AH, so he must have been living by this date.

Seyyed Abdolhoseyn NoosHiN was among the first Iranians who were drawn to France by their love for theater. Coming back to Iran, he decided to stage, with the help of his wife Loretta, foreign drama which could be of social benefit to the Iranian audience. The success of such performances was overwhelming as both the common people and the elite showed an interest. But his political ideas and the political circumstances of the time were such that he was forced to leave the country for Russia, where he was engaged in doing research on the Sahname. After the victory of the Islamic revolution, some of his friends and followers, with the help of Nosrat KARiMi, bublished a book of articles on his life and the influence of his works. These articles show, among more significant matters, the constant preoccupation of NoosHiN to avoid harms of foreign ideologies.

A blog is a modern internet phenomenon which has been warmly received by Persian speakers. The first Persian blogs were written about ten years ago and today Persian is the fourth language of the world with the greatest number of blogs. It is anticipated that this phenomenon will turn into the most important media, bringing about changes in all areas including language, society, culture and politics. The purpose of this paper is to describe the characteristics of Persian blogs and the linguistic problems faced by Persian bloggers and to offer solutions to these problems in an attempt to avoid damage to Persian language. The most important characteristics of Persian blogs include: using a simple language, writing in the first person, showing a tendency toward humor, writing briefly, showing a tendency toward colloquial language, using various styles, and avoiding the passive voice. The most important linguistic problems include: confusing orthography, ambiguities, indifference to grammatical rules, frequent taboo and street words, abundance of misspellings and foreign words.

A study of the stories of Zahhak in ancient texts and the texts of the Islamic era shows that there are two quite separate stories about the end of this demonic existence, one told by Zoroastrian religious authorities (Fereydun killing Zahhak up and imprisoning him on the mythical Mt. Damavand) and the other the continuation of the ancient Version (Fereydun killing Zahhak). Both versions have appeared in the Islamic era sources. On the other hand, there is ample evidence that shows that the more recent versions of the story of Zahhak appearing in Pahlavi texts and the religious texts of the Zoroastrians and, consequently, in the texts of the Islamic era, have been modeled on the story of Ahriman: sawing Jamsid, killing the guard of the marvelous cow Barmaye, killing of the cow by Zahhak, killing Mardas, Zahhak’s father, in the pit and imprisoning Zahhak on the Mt. Damavand. In this paper, the writer provides evidence to prove that those who wrote these stories took inspiration from the killing by Ahriman of Kyumars, the mythological first man in the beginning of creation in Ahriman’s second attack on the Ahuramazda world.

In this paper the writer continues the discussion on the Persian compounds with studying ten more structures: Structure 16: noun+past stem: the compounds formed in this way are nouns and adjectives. Structur 17: reflexive pronoun+past stem: The number of these compounds is small and they can be nouns or adjectives. Structure 18: noun+gerund: the number of these compounds is few and all of them are nouns. Structure 19: adjective+noun: most of these compounds are adjectives describing something or someone as having the quality mentioned. Structure 20: adjective+adjective: these compounds are adjectives in which the first word has the role of an adverb modifying the second word. Structure 21: adjective+agentive: these compounds are adjectives. Structure 22: adjective+past participle: these compounds are also adjectives. Structure 23: adjective+ (the same) adjective: these compounds are either adjectives or advebs. Structure 24: an Arabic adverb+adjective: these compounds are adverbs. Structure 25: adjective+ -al-+noun: these compounds are adjectives in which "-al-" is a formative.