Iran naming dispute

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Iran has been the subject of a naming dispute in common Western usage. The two possible names for this country are Iran and Persia; their adjectives being Iranian and Persian, respectively.

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[edit] Etymology of Persia

Modern reconstruction of the ancient world map of Eratosthenes from c. 200 BC, using the names Ariana and Persis
Modern reconstruction of the ancient world map of Eratosthenes from c. 200 BC, using the names Ariana and Persis

The Greeks (who tended earlier to use names related to "Median") began in the fifth century to use adjectives such as Perses, Persica or Persis for Cyrus the Great's empire (a word meaning "country" being understood)[1]. Such words were taken from the Old Persian Pārsa - the name of the people whom Cyrus the Great of the Achaemenid dynasty first ruled (before he inherited or conquered other Persian Kingdoms) and of whom he was one. This tribe gave its name to the region where they lived (the modern day province is called Fars/Pars) but the province in ancient times was larger than its current area. In Latin, the name for the whole empire was Persia.

In the later parts of the Bible, where this kingdom is frequently mentioned (Books of Esther, Daniel, Ezra and Nehemya), it is called "Paras" (Hebrew פרס), or sometimes "Paras ve Madai" (פרס ומדי) i.e. "Persia and Media".

[edit] The two names

The name "Persia" was the "official" name of Iran in the Western world before 1935, but Persian people inside their country since the Sassanid period (226–651 A.D.) have called it "Iran" meaning "the land of Aryans". The Proto-Iranian term for Iran is reconstructed as *Aryānām (the genitive plural of the word *Arya) and the Avestan equivalent is "Airyanem" (as in Airyanem Vaejah). The internal preference for "Iran" was noted in some Western reference books (e.g. the Harmsworth Encyclopaedia, entry for IRAN, circa 1907: "The name is now the official designation of Persia.") but for international purposes, "Persia" was the norm.

On 21 March 1935, the ruler of the country, Reza Shah Pahlavi, issued a decree asking foreign delegates to use the term Iran in formal correspondence. Some believe he made this decision in order to be closer to Germany, by trying to emphasize the Aryan connection between Hitler's idealistic German Aryan race and the Persian Aryan race, given that "Iran" means "land of Aryans", at a time where the German empire was slowly becoming an unstoppable superpower. Some others believed he changed "Persia" to "Iran" to present a new and modern face of the country in the world.

Members of the Persian intelligentsia were not happy with this decree, seeing a pro-Nazi motive behind it.[2] After Dr. Hjalmar Schacht, the Nazi Economics minister, commented on the Aryan origin of Persians, Reza Shah's ambassador in Germany encouraged him to issue the above-mentioned decree, asking all foreign delegates to use the word "Iran" (meaning "Land of the Aryans") instead of "Persia" in formal correspondence.[3]

As the New York Times explained at the time, "At the suggestion of the Persian Legation in Berlin, the Tehran government, on the Persian New Year, March 21, 1935, substituted Iran for Persia as the official name of the country. In its decision it was influenced by the Nazi revival of interest in the various Aryan races, cradled in ancient Persia. As the Ministry of Foreign Affairs set forth in its memorandum on the subject, 'Perse,' the French designation of Persia, connoted the weakness and tottering independence of the country in the nineteenth century, when it was the chessboard of European imperialistic rivalry. 'Iran,' by contrast, conjured up memories of the vigor and splendor of its historic past."[4] A few years later some Persian scholars also protested to the government that changing the name of the country in Western languages had separated the country from its past and its culture.

During World War II, Winston Churchill ordered that the name "Persia" be used in all British government documents to avoid confusion.

In 1959 Mohammad Reza Shah announced that both "Persia" and "Iran" could officially be used interchangeably.[5] Now both terms are common; "Persia" mostly for historical and cultural texts, "Iran" mostly for political texts.

In recent years most exhibitions of Persian history, culture and art in the world have used the term "Persia" (eg. "Forgotten Empire; Ancient Persia", British Museum; "7000 Years of Persian Art", Vienna, Berlin; and "Persia; Thirty Centuries of Culture and Art", Amsterdam).[6]

In 2006, the largest collection of historical maps of Iran, entitled "Historical Maps of Persia", was published in the Netherlands.[7]

In modern times, many of those exiled or alienated by the post-revolution Iranian government often refer to themselves as Persians. This is done to distance themselves from the current government of Iran.

[edit] History of the debate

A Persepolis sculpture dating back to the Achaemenid period, when the country was referred to as Aryanam.
A Persepolis sculpture dating back to the Achaemenid period, when the country was referred to as Aryanam.

Serious argument on this matter began in the 1980s, when Professor Ehsan Yarshater (editor of the Encyclopædia Iranica) started to publish articles on this matter (in both English and Persian) in Rahavard Quarterly, Pars Monthly, Iranian Studies Journal, etc. After him, a few Persian scholars and researchers such as Prof. Kazem Abhary, Prof. Jalal Matini and Pejman Akbarzadeh followed the issue. Several times since then, Persian magazines and websites have published articles from those who agree or disagree with usage of 'Persia' and 'Persian' in English.[8]

It is normal in many countries that native name is different from international name but for Persians/Iranians it has been very controversial. Main points on this matters:

  • Persia belongs to antiquity, and ought not to be used now.
  • Persia shows the old culture and civilization of the country and should be used.
  • Persia includes only one province within Iran, and should not be used for the whole country.
  • The origin of the name Persia comes from 'Pars' but the meaning became general for whole country.
  • Iran means land of Aryans and many people in Iran are not Aryan.
  • In Western languages all famous cultural aspects of Iran have been recorded as "Persian" (eg. Persian Carpet, Persian Food, Persian Cat, Persian Pottery, Persian Melon, etc.)[9]

Also some people from Afghanistan or Baluchistan call themselves Persians, referring to the ancient empire which covered those lands.

There are many Persians (Iranians) and non-Persians in the West who prefer "Persia" and "Persian" as the English names for the country and nationality, similar to the usage of La Perse/persan in French.

However, the name has held problems for some Iranian ethnic groups inside Iran who do not identify themselves as Persian, or whose native language is not Persian.

Many countries and languages have different names in other languages (see Exonym). For example, Germans call their country "Deutschland" but in English people call it "Germany", in French "Allemagne" and in Spanish "Alemania" (after Alamannia), in Finnish "Saksa", in Estonian "Saksamaa" (after the Saxons), in Lithuanian "Vokietija", and in Polish, "Niemcy". People of Greece, Armenia, Finland, Albania, Egypt, Algeria, India, Japan and China call their countries, respectively Ellas, Hayastan, Suomi, Shqipëria, Mesr, al-Jaza'ir, Bharat or Hindustan, Nippon or Nihon, and Zhōnggúo or Chung-kuo in their respective languages. Similarly, the native name of "Persia" is "Iran".

[edit] Persian language

Main article: Nomenclature section of Persian language

Defying the general conversion in usage, the term "Iranian" with reference to the language of Iran has never gained currency in the west; the language is correctly called Persian. In Persian the name Farsi is another form of pronunciation of the original word (Parsi) meaning Persian. Farsi has been the local name for the language ever since the Arab invasion, whereby they were forced to speak Arabic for several centuries. In Arabic the phoneme /p/ does not exist, hence the pronunciation being altered to an /f/. In linguistic usage, the term "Iranian" refers more broadly to the Iranian languages, a larger family of languages of which Persian is a member.

Referring to Persian as Farsi is incorrect within English. An analogy would be requesting that the German language be called Deutsch by those who speak English[10]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Liddell and Scott, Lexicon of the Greek Language, Oxford, 1882, p 1205
  2. ^ G. Motamedi (2001-02-26). Bring back Persia. The Iranian. Abadan Publishing Co.. Retrieved on 2007-05-03. “[A]ccording to anecdotal reports ... There were significant activities by the Nazis and their organized supporters in Tehran. As witnessed by many Iranians studying in Germany at the time, the Nazis honoured Persians because of their "Aryan roots".... It is believed that close advisers to Reza Shah suggested replacing Persia with Iran (which possibly derives from "Aryan") as a show of solidarity with the Germans.”
  3. ^ The History of Iran, Elton Daniel, p.3
  4. ^ Oliver McKee Jr., New Names of Places: Change of Santo Domingo to Trujillo City Recalls Others, The New York Times, 26 June 1933, p. XX9.
  5. ^ Pejman Akbarzadeh (2005-09-20). A Note on the terms "Iran" and "Persia". Payvand's Iran News. NetNative. Retrieved on 2007-05-03. “After some Persian scholars protested this announcement, in 1959 Prof. Ehsan Yarshater made a committee to research this matter. The committee announced that "changing the name has not been right", so Mohammad Reza Shah announced ...”
  6. ^ Hermitage (2007-09-20). "Persia", Hermitage Amsterdam. Hermitage. Hermitage. Retrieved on 2007-05-03. “Persian objects at Hermitage”
  7. ^ Brill (2006-09-20). General Maps of Persia 1477 - 1925. Brill website. Brill. Retrieved on 2006-05-03. “Iran, or Persia as it was known in the West for most of its long history, has been mapped extensively for centuries but the absence of a good cartobibliography has often deterred scholars of its history and geography from making use of the many detailed maps that were produced. This is now available, prepared by Cyrus Alai who embarked on a lengthy investigation into the old maps of Persia, and visited major map collections and libraries in many countries...”
  8. ^ Pejman Akbarzadeh (2005-09-20). A Note on the terms "Iran" and "Persia". Payvand's Iran News. NetNative. Retrieved on 2007-05-03. “Serious argument on this matter began in the 1980s, when Professor Ehsan Yarshater (Editor of the Encyclopedia Iranica) started to write several articles on this matter (in both English and Persian) in Rahavard Quarterly, Pars Monthly, Iranian Studies Journal, etc. After him, a few Persian scholars and researchers such as Kazem Abhary (Professor at the South Australian University) followed the issue. Several times since then, Persian magazines and websites have published articles from those who agree or disagree with usage of 'Persia' and 'Persian' in English...”
  9. ^ Merriam Webster (2008-01-05). Persian. MW. MW. Retrieved on 2008-01-05. “Persian Carpet, Cat, melon...”
  10. ^ Pejman Akbarzadeh (2005-11-19). “FARSI” or “PERSIAN”?. CHN. Retrieved on 2007-12-07. “"Farsi” (an Arabic adaptation of the word “Parsi”), is the indigenous name of the Persian language. Just as the German speaking people refer to their language as ‘Deutsch’, the Greek ‘Ellinika’ and the Spanish ‘Espanol’, the Persians use ‘Farsi’ or ‘Parsi’ to identify their native form of verbal communication. In English, however, this language has always been known as “Persian” (‘Persane’ in French and ‘Persisch’ in German’). But many Persians migrating to the West (particularly to the USA) after the 1979 revolution continued to use ‘Farsi’ to identify their language in English and the word became commonplace in English-speaking countries.....The Academy of the Persian Language and Literature (Farhangestan) in Tehran has also delivered a pronouncement on this matter and rejected any usage of the word “Farsi” instead of Persian/Persa/Persane/Persisch in the Western languages. The first paragraph of the pronouncement states: “PERSIAN has been used in a variety of publications including cultural, scientific and diplomatic documents for centuries and, therefore, it connotes a very significant historical and cultural meaning. Hence, changing ‘Persian’ to ‘Farsi’ is to negate this established important precedence. Changing ‘Persian’ to ‘Farsi’ may give the impression that it is a new language, and this may well be the intention of some ‘Farsi’ users…” Fortunately all International broadcasting radios with Persian language service (e.g. VOA, BBC, DW, RFE/RL, etc.) use “Persian Service”, in lieu of the incorrect “Farsi Service.” That is also the case for the American Association of Teachers of Persian, The Centre for Promotion of Persian Language and Literature, and several American and European notable universities.”

[edit] External links

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