ناهار
Persian[edit]
Etymology[edit]
The adjective is most probably from نا (nâ, “non-, un-”) + آهار (âhâr, “food, stew”), exactly equivalent to Sanskrit अनाहार (anāhāra, “not taking food, abstinent”). Compare also Old Armenian նիհար (nihar), an Iranian borrowing. The Persian dictionaries derive the noun for “lunch” from this adjective, saying that it originally referred to something eaten on an empty stomach (breakfast).[1] On the other hand, John R. Perry (emerite professor of Persian at the University of Chicago) derives the noun from Arabic نَهار (nahār, “day, daytime”) with a vocalic assimilation that is not unusual in Persian;[2] compare colloquial چاهار (čâhâr) for چهار (čahâr). In fact, both the noun and the adjective were also formerly spelt نهار (nahâr). It might be hypothesised that the inherited word was associated with the Arabic based on the parallelism with Persian روزه (ruze, “fasting”), which is eventually derived from روز (ruz, “day”). Compare also شام (šâm, “supper”, originally “evening”).
Pronunciation[edit]
- (Classical Persian) IPA(key): [nɑː.ˈhɑːɾ]
- (Iran, formal) IPA(key): [nɒː.ɦɒ́ːɹ]
- (Tajik, formal) IPA(key): [nɔ.ɦɔ́ɾ]
| Readings | |
|---|---|
| Classical reading? | nāhār |
| Dari reading? | nāhār |
| Iranian reading? | nâhâr |
| Tajik reading? | nohor |
Audio (Iran) (file)
Noun[edit]
ناهار • (nâhâr)
Synonyms[edit]
- چاشت (čâšt)
Adjective[edit]
ناهار • (nâhâr)
- not having eaten since having awoken
References[edit]
- ^ “Dehkhoda Persian Dictionary, ناهار”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name)[1], 2019 November 28 (last accessed), archived from the original on 28 April 2019
- ^ “Encyclopaedia Iranica: "Arabic Elements in Persian"”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name)[2], 2019 October 27 (last accessed), archived from the original on 5 August 2019