cynʾl

Middle Persian

Etymology

According to Eilers, perhaps from *ča/inā-βara- (“favour-bringing, favorable”). For the constituents see *čan- and Proto-Indo-European *bʰer-.

On the other hand, in view of Middle Armenian ճանդարի (čandari, “plane tree”), Martirosyan prefers to posit *čana(h)-dāra- (literally “auspicious tree”), with the same first component but with *dāra- (“tree”) (from Proto-Indo-European *dóru), which yielded Parthian *čan(a)dār- (through early syncope) on the one hand (and hence the Armenian borrowing), and Middle Persian *čanayār (intervocalic -d- → -y-) → *čanyār (syncope) → *čēnyār (y-epenthesis) → cynʾl (čē/inār) on the other.

The implication is that the plane is thought to be an auspicious tree, in a manner associated with spirits. A reason for this could be the fact that the leaves of this tree tremble in the slightest wind.

Noun

cynʾl • (činār)

1. oriental plane tree

Descendants

• → Arabic: صِنَار (ṣinār), صِنَّار (ṣinnār), جِنَار (jinār), جُنَّار (junnār)
  • → Ottoman Turkish: صنار (sınar) (rare)
  • → Persian: صنار (senâr) (rare)
• Persian: چنار (čenâr, čenâr), چنال (čenâl)
  • Tajik: чинор (činor)
    • → Uzbek: chinor
  • → Avar: чина́ри (činári)
  • → English: chenar, chinar
  • → Hindustani:

    Hindi: चिनार (cinār)

    Urdu: چنار (čanār, činār)

  • → Georgian: ჩინარი (činari)
  • → Kurdish:
    • Northern Kurdish: çînar
  • → Lezgi: чинар (činar)
  • → Middle Armenian: չինար (čʿinar), չինարի (čʿinari)
    • Armenian: չինար (čʿinar), չինարի (čʿinari) (in some dialects via Turkic)
  • → Talysh: чинар, чинор
  • → Turkic:
    • Azerbaijani: çinar
    • Kazakh: шынар (şynar)
    • Kyrgyz: чынар (çynar)
    • Ottoman Turkish: چنار (çinâr, çenâr, çınâr), صنار (sınar)
      • Turkish: çınar
      • → Albanian: çinar
      • → Armenian: չընար (čʿənar)
      • → Bulgarian: чина́р (činár)
      • → Greek: τσινάρι (tsinári)
      • → Macedonian: чинар (činar)
    • Tatar: чинар (çinar)
    • Turkmen: çynar
    • → Belarusian: чынара (čynara)
    • → Russian: чина́р (činár), чина́ра (činára), (obsolete) чинарь (činarʹ)
    • → Ukrainian: чина́р (čynár), чина́ра (čynára)
  • → Punjabi:

    Gurmukhi script: ਚਿਨਾਰ (cinār)

    Shahmukhi script: چنار (cinār)

  • → Udi: чинар (činar)

References

• MacKenzie, D. N. (1971) “činār”, in A concise Pahlavi dictionary, London, New York, Toronto: Oxford University Press, page 22
• Martirosyan, Hrach (2014) “Armenian čandari ‘plane tree’”, in Iran and the Caucasus‎^[1], volume 18, number 1, pages 51–63