دژ

See also: در, ڈر, ذر, and دز

Persian

Etymology 1

Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dus- (“bad”)

Pronunciation

• (Classical Persian) IPA^(key): [duʒ], [diʒ]

 

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [d̪ʊʒ], [d̪ɪʒ]

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [d̪ʊʒ], [d̪ɪʒ]
  • (Kabuli) IPA^(key): [d̪ʊʒ], [d̪ɪʒ]
  • (Hazaragi) IPA^(key): [d̪uʒ], [d̪iʒ]

• (Iran, formal) IPA^(key): [d̪oʒ], [d̪eʒ]

• (Tajik, formal) IPA^(key): [d̪uʒ], [d̪iʒ]

Readings
Classical reading?	duž, diž
Dari reading?	duž, diž
Iranian reading?	dož, dež
Tajik reading?	duž, diž

Prefix

Dari	دژ
Iranian Persian
Tajik	дуж-

دژ • (dož- or dež-)

1. bad, difficult, hard

Etymology 2

Iranian, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰoyǵʰhos (“wall”), from the root *dʰeyǵʰ-; see there for further information.

The less common form دز (dez) is from Middle Persian KLYTA / dc (diz, “fortress”)

Pronunciation

• (Classical Persian) IPA^(key): [diʒ]

 

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [d̪ɪʒ]

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [d̪ɪʒ]
  • (Kabuli) IPA^(key): [d̪ɪʒ]
  • (Hazaragi) IPA^(key): [d̪iʒ]

• (Iran, formal) IPA^(key): [d̪eʒ]

• (Tajik, formal) IPA^(key): [d̪iʒ]

Readings
Classical reading?	diž
Dari reading?	diž
Iranian reading?	dež
Tajik reading?	diž

Noun

Dari	دژ
Iranian Persian
Tajik	диж

دژ • (dež) (plural دژها (dež-hâ))

1. fort, fortress

   Alternative form: دز (dez)

Derived terms

• دژبان (dežbân)
• دژبانی (dežbâni)
• دژدار (deždâr)

Descendants

• → Urdu: دژ (daž)

References

• MacKenzie, D. N. (1971) “diz”, in A concise Pahlavi dictionary, London, New York, Toronto: Oxford University Press
• Rastorgujeva, V. S., Edelʹman, D. I. (2003) Etimologičeskij slovarʹ iranskix jazykov [Etymological Dictionary of Iranian Languages] (in Russian), volume II, Moscow: Vostochnaya Literatura, pages 311—316

Urdu

Etymology

From Classical Persian دژ (diž).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Urdu) IPA^(key): /d̪əʒ/, /d̪ɪʒ/

Noun

دژ • (daž) ?

1. fortress, fort; citadel
2. castle

Derived terms

• دژبان (dažbān, “fort-keeper”)
• دژدار (daždār)
• دژ ِ رُوئیں (daž-e-rū'ī)

References

• “دژ”, in اُردُو لُغَت (urdū luġat) (in Urdu), Ministry of Education: Government of Pakistan, 2017.