Parsi

//ˈpɑːsiː// adj, name, noun

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Of, or pertaining to, the larger and older of the two Zoroastrian communities of the Indian subcontinent. not-comparable
  2. 2
    Persian. not-comparable

    "The specimen No. 1 in Plate XVII., is copied from the end of a very beautiful manuscript of the Bibliothèque Royale at Paris, containing the celebrated heroic poem of Ferdusi, intitled Shah-Nameh, or the Book of Kings; a composition of 60,000 verses, written in the tenth century in the Parsi dialect, which has become the common language of Persia."

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    The Persian language.

    "To this dialect, two epochs may be attributed, namely, that of Ferdusi and other ancient Persian poets, who used only the words of their national language, as spoken in the courts of their sovereigns before the Arab conquest; and that of the modern Parsi or Persian, properly so called, which in consequence of the invasion of the Arabs, the irruptions of the Turks, and the conquests of the Mongols, has become inter-mingled with Arabic, Turkish, Tartar, and Indian words, and which from its easy pronunciation, and harmonious terminations, is now in use from the Caspian Sea to the Gulf of Persia, and from the Tigris to beyond the Indus: Anquetil indeed says, from Constantinople to Pekin."

Noun
  1. 1
    A member of the larger and older of the two Zoroastrian communities of the Indian subcontinent (the other community being that of the Iranis).
  2. 2
    A Persian.

    "This is a well-known fact, that the language spoken by conquerors who have established themselves, when it has been disseminated amongst people, great and small, has become the common language of the country. Just as in Baghdád, where originally but little Persian was spoken, when the Khalífa's dynasty was overthrown, the Pársís established themselves in it. Thenceforward, every thing that was Arab, became subject to Pársí rules, and the herd acquired respect for the language of the shepherds. The city, which was called Baghdád in Arabic, became converted in its first syllable to Bághchadád. Turkí became just as prevalent, when the Turks conquered the country, and the language of the chiefs bore fruit in a new soil."

  3. 3
    a member of a monotheistic sect of Zoroastrian origin; descended from the Persians; now found in western India wordnet

Etymology

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Gujarati પારસી (pārsī), "as the Gujaratis, from long tradition, called anyone from Iran", from Sanskrit पारसि (pārasi), पारसिक (pārasika), from Middle Persian [Term?]. The Indian term is attested many centuries prior to the arrival of the Parsis on the Indian subcontinent, and appears both for Iranians generally, as well as in the specific Iranian sense of Middle Persian parsi(k) ("of, or pertaining to, Persia proper") to refer to Sassanian kings, e.g. in the 4th-century Mahabharata. The Indian term is thus conventionally assumed to be ultimately a loanword from Middle Persian (or general Middle Iranian) parsi(k). In colonial times the term was also applied to the Portuguese, and by extension to Europeans in general. Older texts have pārasā́rya "Perso-Iranian", etc. Other Iranian ethnonyms found in the Mahabharata include Sanskrit pahlava, pahnava "Parthian(s)", sāka "(eastern) Scythian(s)", bāhlika "Bactrian(s)".

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Gujarati પારસી (pārsī), "as the Gujaratis, from long tradition, called anyone from Iran", from Sanskrit पारसि (pārasi), पारसिक (pārasika), from Middle Persian [Term?]. The Indian term is attested many centuries prior to the arrival of the Parsis on the Indian subcontinent, and appears both for Iranians generally, as well as in the specific Iranian sense of Middle Persian parsi(k) ("of, or pertaining to, Persia proper") to refer to Sassanian kings, e.g. in the 4th-century Mahabharata. The Indian term is thus conventionally assumed to be ultimately a loanword from Middle Persian (or general Middle Iranian) parsi(k). In colonial times the term was also applied to the Portuguese, and by extension to Europeans in general. Older texts have pārasā́rya "Perso-Iranian", etc. Other Iranian ethnonyms found in the Mahabharata include Sanskrit pahlava, pahnava "Parthian(s)", sāka "(eastern) Scythian(s)", bāhlika "Bactrian(s)".

Etymology 3

Borrowed from Classical Persian پَارْسِی (pārsī). By surface analysis, Pars + -i.

Etymology 4

Borrowed from Classical Persian پَارْسِی (pārsī). By surface analysis, Pars + -i.

Etymology 5

Borrowed from Classical Persian پَارْسِی (pārsī). By surface analysis, Pars + -i.

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