اختر

See also: أختر

Ottoman Turkish

Etymology

Borrowed from Persian اختر (axtar, “star”).

Noun

اختر • (ahter)

1. (astronomy) star, a luminous celestial body made up of plasma

   Synonyms: ستاره (sitāre), نجم (necm), یلدز (yıldız)

2. (figuratively) one's star, fortune, luck, chance, destiny

   Synonym: ستاره (sitāre)

Derived terms

• اختراشناس (ahter-şinas, “astrologer”)
• اخترسوخته (ahter-suhte, “unfortunate”)
• اخترشمر (ahter-şümer, “astrologer”)
• اخترگو (ahter-gü, “astrologer”)
• بد اختر (bad ahter, “ill-fortuned”)
• نیك اختر (nik ahter, “lucky”)

 

Descendants

• Turkish: ahter

Further reading

• Çağbayır, Yaşar (2007) “ahter”, in Ötüken Türkçe Sözlük (in Turkish), volume 1, Istanbul: Ötüken Neşriyat, page 158
• Kélékian, Diran (1911) “اختر”, in Dictionnaire turc-français‎^[1], Constantinople: Mihran, page 59
• Meninski, Franciszek à Mesgnien (1687) “Stella”, in Complementum thesauri linguarum orientalium, seu onomasticum latino-turcico-arabico-persicum, simul idem index verborum lexici turcico-arabico-persici, quod latinâ, germanicâ, aliarumque linguarum adjectâ nomenclatione nuper in lucem editum‎^[2], Vienna, column 1595
• Meninski, Franciszek à Mesgnien (1680) “اختر”, in Thesaurus linguarum orientalium, Turcicae, Arabicae, Persicae, praecipuas earum opes à Turcis peculiariter usurpatas continens, nimirum Lexicon Turkico-Arabico-Persicum‎^[3], Vienna, column 90
• Redhouse, James W. (1890) “اختر”, in A Turkish and English Lexicon‎^[4], Constantinople: A. H. Boyajian, page 42

Persian

Etymology

From Middle Persian [Book Pahlavi needed] (ʾhtl /⁠axtar⁠/), an ancient backformation from [Book Pahlavi needed] (ʾpʾhtl /⁠abāxtar⁠/, “planet”), due to a mistaken folk etymology that the first element ab- was a negative suffix, since Zoroastrianism considers the planets to be nefarious "un-stars" due to their astronomically odd behavior.

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

• (Classical Persian) IPA^(key): [ʔax.taɾ]

 

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [ʔäx.t̪ʰäɾ]

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [ʔäx.t̪ʰäɾ]
  • (Kabuli) IPA^(key): [ʔäx.t̪ʰäɾ]
  • (Hazaragi) IPA^(key): [ʔäx.t̪ʰäɾ]

• (Iran, formal) IPA^(key): [ʔæx.t̪ʰæɹ]

• (Tajik, formal) IPA^(key): [ʔäχ.t̪ʰäɾ]

Readings
Classical reading?	axtar
Dari reading?	axtar
Iranian reading?	axtar
Tajik reading?	axtar

Noun

Dari	اختر
Iranian Persian
Tajik	ахтар

اَخْتَر • (axtar)

1. (astronomy or literary) star

   Synonyms: (usual word) سِتارِه (setâre), کُوْکَب (kowkab)

   • c. 1390, Shams-ud-Dīn Muḥammad Ḥāfiẓ, “Ghazal 12”, in دیوان حافظ [The Divān of Ḥāfiẓ]‎^[5]:

     ای شهنشاه بلند اختر، خدا را همتی
     تا ببوسم همچو اختر خاک ایوان شما

     ay šahinšāh-i buland axtar, xudā rā himmatē
     tā bibōsam hamčū axtar xāk-i ēwān-i šumā

     O King of Kings of soaring fortune [the Beloved], for God's sake just a little grace,
     So that I might kiss―as do the stars―the dust of your porch.

     (Classical Persian transliteration)

2. (literary, figurative) fortune; luck

   Synonym: بَخْت (baxt)

   اختر نیک (literary) ― axtar-e nik ― good fortune

   • c. 1390, Shams-ud-Dīn Muḥammad Ḥāfiẓ, “Ghazal 12”, in دیوان حافظ [The Divān of Ḥāfiẓ]‎^[6]:

     ای شهنشاه بلند اختر، خدا را همتی
     تا ببوسم همچو اختر خاک ایوان شما

     ay šahinšāh-i buland axtar, xudā rā himmatē
     tā bibōsam hamčū axtar xāk-i ēwān-i šumā

     O King of Kings of soaring fortune [the Beloved], for God's sake just a little grace,
     So that I might kiss―as do the stars―the dust of your porch.

     (Classical Persian transliteration)

3. (poetic, figurative) teardrop

   Synonyms: اشک (ašk), سرشک (serešk), ارس (ars), ستاره (setâre)

   • c. 1911, Mohammad Hossein Âğuli Torki-ye Shirâzi, دیوان ترکی شیرازی‎^[7]:

     باز این منم که از غم روی چو ماه تو
     شب تا به صبح، دیدهٔ من پر ز اختر است

     bâz in man-am ke az ğam-e ru-ye ču mâh-e to
     šab tâ be sobh, dide-ye man por ze axtar ast

     It is me again whose eyes, out of love-sorrow for your moon-like face,
     Are full of starry tears from nightfall to dawn.

Related terms

• ابرنواختر (abar-now-axtar, “supernova”)
• اختر شمردن (axtar šomordan, “to stay up all night”, literally “to count stars”)
• اخترشناس (axtaršenâs, “astronomer”)
• اخترمار (axtarmâr, “astronomer”)
• اختری (axtari, “stellar”)
• بد اختر (bad axtar, “ill-fortuned”, literally “bad-star”)
• بلند اختر (boland axtar, “lucky; fortunate”, literally “high-star”)
• نواختر (now-axtar, “nova”)