گناه

Ottoman Turkish

Alternative forms

• جناه (cünah)
• կիւնահ (günah) — Armeno-Turkish

Etymology

Borrowed from Persian گناه (gonâh, “sin; crime; guilt”).

Noun

گناه • (günah)

1. fault, guilt, blame, the responsibility for a mistake or wrongdoing

   Synonyms: ذنب (zenb), صوچ (suç)

2. crime, misdeed, offence, any act committed in violation of the law

   Synonyms: جرم (cürm), جنایت (cinayet), صوچ (suç)

3. (religion) sin, a transgression against divine law or a law of God

   Synonyms: صوچ (suç), وبال (vebal)

Derived terms

• گناه ایشلمك (günah işlemek, “to sin”)
• گناهسز (günahsız, “innocent”)
• گناهكار (günahkâr, “culprit”)
• گناهنه گیرمك (günahına girmek, “to accuse one wrongfully”)

 

Descendants

• Turkish: günah
• → Albanian: gjynah
• → Armenian: (Constantinople) գո̈ւնահ (günah), (Van) գո̈ւնախ (günax)
• → Hungarian: bűn (possibly)
• → Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic script: ђу̀на̄х

  Latin script: đùnāh

Further reading

• Çağbayır, Yaşar (2007) “günah”, in Ötüken Türkçe Sözlük (in Turkish), volume 1, Istanbul: Ötüken Neşriyat, page 1803
• Hindoglu, Artin (1838) “كناه”, in Hazine-i lûgat ou dictionnaire abrégé turc-français‎^[1], Vienna: F. Beck, page 397a
• Kélékian, Diran (1911) “كناه”, in Dictionnaire turc-français‎^[2], Constantinople: Mihran, page 1043
• Meninski, Franciszek à Mesgnien (1687) “Culpa”, 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^[3], Vienna, column 307
• Meninski, Franciszek à Mesgnien (1680) “كناه”, in Thesaurus linguarum orientalium, Turcicae, Arabicae, Persicae, praecipuas earum opes à Turcis peculiariter usurpatas continens, nimirum Lexicon Turkico-Arabico-Persicum‎^[4], Vienna, column 4029
• Nişanyan, Sevan (2002–) “günah”, in Nişanyan Sözlük
• Redhouse, James W. (1890) “كناه”, in A Turkish and English Lexicon‎^[5], Constantinople: A. H. Boyajian, page 1574

Persian

Alternative forms

• گنه (gonah) (archaic)

Etymology

From Middle Persian [Book Pahlavi needed] (wnʾs /⁠wināh⁠/), 𐫇𐫏𐫗𐫀𐫍 (wynʾh /⁠wināh⁠/, “sin, crime”), ultimately from the Proto-Iranian preverb *vi- (from Proto-Indo-European *wi (“apart, against”)) and the root *nas- (“to disappear; to perish”), from Proto-Indo-European *neḱ- (“to perish, to disappear”). Akin to Old Armenian վնաս (vnas) (from Iranian), Old Georgian უნასი (unasi) (from Iranian), Baluchi [script needed] (gināsk), Northern Kurdish binas (binās) and Sanskrit विनाश (vināśa).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Persian) IPA^(key): [ɡu.ˈnɑːh]

 

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [ɡʊ.nɑ́ːʱ]

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [ɡʊ.nɑ́ːʱ]
  • (Kabuli) IPA^(key): [ɡʊ.nɑ́ː]
  • (Hazaragi) IPA^(key): [ɡu.nɔ́ː]

• (Iran, formal) IPA^(key): [ɡ̥o.nɒ́ːʰ]

• (Tajik, formal) IPA^(key): [ɡu.nɔ́ʱ]

Readings
Classical reading?	gunāh
Dari reading?	gunāh
Iranian reading?	gonâh
Tajik reading?	gunoh

Noun

Dari	گناه
Iranian Persian
Tajik	гуноҳ

گناه • (gonâh) (plural گناهان (gonâhân) or گناه‌ها (gonâh-hâ))

1. sin
2. crime, guilt
   • 11th century, Abul-Fazl Bayhaqi, Tarikh-e Beyhaqi[6]

     امیر گفت: پس از حسنک درین باب چه گناه بوده است؟ که اگر راه بادیه آمدی در خون آنهمه خلق شدی

     amir goft: "pas az hasanak darin bâb če gonâh bude ast? ke agar râh-e bâdiye âmadi, dar xun-e ânhame xalq šodi."

     Amir said: "So what was Hasanak's crime here? For if he would come through the desert route, he would have been responsible for the blood of so many people."

Derived terms

• بی‌گناه (bi-gonâh)
• گناه‌کار (gonâh-kâr)
• گناه کبیره (gonâh-e kabire)

Descendants

• → Tajik: гуноҳ (gunoh)
  • → Uzbek: gunoh
• → Arabic: جُنَاح (junāḥ) (from Middle Persian)
  • → Persian: جناح (jonâh) (rare)
• → Azerbaijani: günəh, günah
  • → Armenian:
    • Karabakh: գո̈ւնա̈հ (günäh)
• → Bashkir: гонаһ (gonah)
• → Dungan: гўнахар (gwnahar)
• → Kazakh: күнә (künä)
• Kurdish:
  • → Central Kurdish: گوناح (gunaḧ), گوناھ (gunah)
  • → Northern Kurdish: gune, guneh, guna, gunah
• → Kyrgyz: күнөө (künöö)
• → Ottoman Turkish: گناه (günah), جناه (cünah); կիւնահ (günah)
  • Turkish: günah
  • → Albanian: gjynah
  • → Armenian: (Constantinople) գո̈ւնահ (günah), (Van) գո̈ւնախ (günax)
  • → Hungarian: bűn (possibly)
  • → Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: ђу̀на̄х

    Latin script: đùnāh

• → Punjabi: ਗੁਨਾਹ (gunāh)
• → Rohingya: guná
• → Tatar: гөнаһ (gönah)
• → Turkmen: günä / гүнә
• → Urdu: گناہ (gunāh)
• → Uyghur: گۇنا (guna), گۇناھ (gunah)
• → Zazaki: guna

References

• MacKenzie, D. N. (1971) “wināh”, in A concise Pahlavi dictionary, London, New York, Toronto: Oxford University Press, page 91
• Ačaṙean, Hračʻeay (1979) “վնաս”, in Hayerēn armatakan baṙaran [Armenian Etymological Dictionary] (in Armenian), 2nd edition, a reprint of the original 1926–1935 seven-volume edition, volume IV, Yerevan: University Press, page 347
• Cheung, Johnny (2007) “*nas”, in Etymological Dictionary of the Iranian Verb (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 2), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 282ff
• Nyberg, H. S. (1974) “vinās”, in A Manual of Pahlavi, Part II: Glossary, Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, page 213a