wnpšk'

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Middle Persian

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Alternative forms

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  • [script needed] (vanafša)

Etymology

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The origin is uncertain.

Bailey derives from the Iranian colour-name *van- (blue), comparing for it Khotanese [script needed] (banāte, plum or pear), Old English ƿann (dark) and Old Armenian վան- (van-, crystal). For the suffix -ap- he compares Latin cannabis.

On the other hand, Martirosyan proposes connection with Ancient Greek ἴον (íon, violet), earlier *ϝίον (*wíon), γία (gía, ἄνθη) = ϝία (wía), and Latin viola (violet), suggesting that "we might be dealing with a Mediterranean-Iranian flower-name" with a proto-form like *wion- which might yield Iranian *v(y)an-. He regards Iranian *-afš as a suffix of substrate origin comparable with -աւշ (-awš) in Old Armenian թեղաւշ (tʻeławš).

Some of the descendants (e.g. Old Armenian մանուշակ (manušak)) presuppose a by-form *manafšak.

Noun

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wnpšk' (wanafšag)

  1. violet (flower)

Descendants

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(Taking Middle Persian as representative for all Middle Iranian and including the descendants of the unattested by-form *manafšak:)

References

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  • Horn, Paul (1893) Grundriss der neupersischen Etymologie (in German), Strasbourg: K.J. Trübner, page 53
  • Ačaṙean, Hračʻeay (1977) “մանուշակ”, in Hayerēn armatakan baṙaran [Armenian Etymological Dictionary] (in Armenian), 2nd edition, a reprint of the original 1926–1935 seven-volume edition, volume III, Yerevan: University Press, page 256
  • MacKenzie, D. N. (1971) A concise Pahlavi dictionary, London, New York, Toronto: Oxford University Press, page 86
  • Martirosyan, Hrach (2010) Etymological Dictionary of the Armenian Inherited Lexicon (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 8), Leiden and Boston: Brill, page 759
  • Cabolov, R. L. (2001) Etimologičeskij slovarʹ kurdskovo jazyka [Etymological Dictionary of the Kurdish Language] (in Russian), volume I, Moscow: Russian Academy Press Vostochnaya Literatura, pages 115, 180
  • Bailey, H. W. (1979) Dictionary of Khotan Saka, Cambridge, London, New York, Melbourne: Cambridge University press, page 268b
  • Abajev, V. I. (1973) Историко-этимологический словарь осетинского языка [Historical-Etymological Dictionary of the Ossetian Language] (in Russian), volume II, Moscow and Leningrad: Academy Press, page 69