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)
- oriental plane tree
Descendants
- Persian: چنار (činâr, čenâr), چنال (čenâl)
- Tajik: чинор (činor)
- → Uzbek: chinor
- → Arabic: صِنَار (ṣinār), صِنَّار (ṣinnār)
- → Avar: чинари (činari), чина́ри (činári)
- → English: chenar, chinar
- → Georgian: ჩინარი (činari)
- → Kurdish:
- Northern Kurdish: çînar
- → Lezgi: чинар (činar)
- → Middle Armenian: չինար (čʻinar), չինարի (čʻinari)
- → Talysh: чинар, чинор
- → Turkic:
- → Punjabi: ਸ਼ਾਖਚਿਨਾਰੀ (shākhchinārī, “a colour”)
- → Hindustani:
- → Udi: чинар (činar)
- Tajik: чинор (činor)
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