Talk:Majus

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Saddam used Majus as a derogatory term, but in general it's not like this. ِِAccprding to lisan al arab, the largest and one of the most reliable Arabic dictionaries, Majus are people who worship the sun, the moon or the fire. There's nothing "bad" there about Persians or Iranian. Please, be aware of what you add to this article. --Lanov 16:40, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

In the cited reference (Birth of the Persian Empire) on this version of the article the only mention of Arab in page 92 is the following:

The question therefore arises why the Zoroastrians, who formulated their tradition in the 91n century, wanted to get rid of it, but so far no reasonable hypothesis has been suggested for this problem. The only suggestion one can think of that makes sense is the fact that the Aramaic word magūšā and the Arabic majūs were used not just to refer to Persian priests, but to Zoroastrians in general, and that the term came to be felt to he misleading for those who wanted to distinguish themselves as members of the priestly class.

I don't see any indication that the term is used in a derogatory manner. Therefore, I removed the comment on this regard. --Lanov 23:08, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

Maybe originally the term was not used in a deogatory manner but today it is used in a derogatory manner by Wahabites and Arab nationalists to refer to Iranians and Shi'ites in General. --alidoostzadeh 19:17, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

The problem with the dispute on this article is revert warring! The best way to improve the article would be to include both Lanov's and Mardavich's contributions - that is to say, the etymology of the word shouldb e explained more fully, who it relates to and its (modern) usage, all sourced. If you can agree to add to eachothers' contributions, rather than blanket reverting, it'll be fine! Thanks, Martinp23 21:36, 7 December 2006 (UTC)