Written by Afsheen Sharifzadeh, a graduate of Tufts University focusing on Iran and the Caucasus. After a brief orientation to the historical development of Persian, this article draws attention to a number of everyday words whose Indo-European ancestry remains readily recognizable when set beside their English cognates. These words are a reminder of the shared history of the Indo-European language family, despite millennia of geographic separation and independent linguistic development.

(1) Two-story arched niches decorated with polychrome glazed tiles enclose the central courtyard, Masjed-e Shāh, Isfahan (c. 1629 A.D.) (2) Interior of the northwestern domed chamber. The surface is completely covered with polychrome majolica tiles depicting floral and vegetal motifs which are a metaphor for the idyllic gardens of Paradise, above a continuous marble dado (3) Details of the northwestern dome, of a smaller scale than the dome of the main sanctuary. Floral and vegetal motifs emanate in a sunburst pattern from a turquoise gem at the apex (4) A woman seated before the massive-scale ayvān to the main chamber (5) Details of polychrome glazed tilework in the corridor connecting the portal ayvān to the courtyard (6) The rear portal to the complex, decorated with a stalactite vault and tiles with floral and geometric designs

A Brief History of the Persian language
Persian (endonym Fārsi, Pārsi; frequently Tājiki in Central Asia and Dari in Afghanistan) is an Indo-European language belonging to the Iranic branch of that family. Of note, it is not related to Semitic (Arabic, Hebrew, etc.) or Turkic at any discernible time point. Among its relatives, the Indic branch stands genetically closest to Iranic; however, observers are often surprised by the presence of readily recognizable cognates between Persian and the genetically more distant Germanic, Slavic and Romance branch languages (e.g. Persian دختر dokhtar, English daughter; Persian موش mūsh, Russian мышь mysh’ “mouse”; Persian لب lab, Spanish labio “lip”). More remarkable still, Persian has preserved fragments of the same ancient Proto-Indo-European word-building system that survive in altered form in English, Latin, Greek, and other members of the family, as the present article will illustrate.

In a manner not dissimilar to that of French in pre-modern Europe, at its zenith, New Persian became a prestige language in a vast zone spanning from the Balkans and Crimea to Western China and Bengal. It was selected as the official court, administrative, educational and diplomatic language by various Islamic dynasties such as the Seljuk, Ottoman, Safavid, Timurid, and Mughal dynasties, and emerged as a global vehicle of high literature, poetry, scholarship and intellectual discourse whose effects are still felt today. Some of the world’s most famous pieces of literature from the Middle Ages, such as the Shahnameh by Ferdowsi, the works of Rumi, the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, the Panj Ganj of Nizami Ganjavi, The Divān of Hafez, The Conference of the Birds by Attar of Nishapur, and the miscellanea of Gulistan and Bustan by Saadi Shirazi, are written in Persian.

Today, Persian is spoken primarily in Iran, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, however due to prolonged ages of cultural contact, Persian has supplied the lion’s share of foreign elements in Turkish, Azerbaijani, Turkmen, Uyghur, Uzbek, Iraqi and Gulf Arabic dialects, Urdu, Hindi, Kashmiri, Punjabi, Gujarati, Bengali, Armenian, Georgian, among other languages. Dozens of Persian words reached more distant languages such as Mandarin, Thai, Malay, Swahili, French and Russian through direct historic exchanges. It was indeed the Persian brand of Islam—and Persianized Arabic, or Arabic through the medium of Persians—that evangelized most of the Muslim world (e.g. every Muslim language in Eurasia uses derivatives of Persian words for religious concepts such as “prayer”, نماز namāz, rather than Arabic صلاة ṣalāh; “prophet”, پیغمبر payġambar, rather than Arabic نبى nabiyy; “ablution”, آبدست âbdast, rather than Arabic وضوء wudu’, indicating the medium of the religion’s transmission). In the words of the British-American historian Bernard Lewis, “the Ottoman Turks brought a form of Iranian civilization to the walls of Vienna.” The role of the Persian language in human history has been vast, yet it remains curiously underacknowledged.

The Iranic and Indic branches share a more recent common ancestor with each other than with the rest of Indo-European. Under the Kurgan hypothesis, the speakers of this unattested language—conventionally termed Proto-Indo-Iranian—emerged along the northeastern fringe of the Proto-Indo-European-speaking Middle Dnieper cultural horizon (ca. 3200-2300 B.C.) in what is now Ukraine. Toward the end of this period, the Proto-Indo-Iranian speakers appear to have moved eastward from the Pontic-Caspian steppe into the Sintashta region, where the archaeological record points to a culture practicing specialized bronze metallurgy and large-scale animal sacrifice. It is at this stage that they are thought to have referred to themselves by the ethnonym *Áryas “Aryan; lit. esteemed, noble” (later Old Persian 𐎠𐎼𐎡𐎹 (a-r-i-y /ariyaʰ/ → Middle Persian 𐭠𐭩𐭥𐭠𐭭‎ ʾērān, “of the Aryans” → New Persian ایران‎ irān).

Over a period of centuries, the Indo-Iranians gradually migrated southward where they interacted with the sophisticated Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex (BMAC), also known as the Oxus civilization, a non-Indo-European Bronze Age civilization centered around Marv (Margiana) and Balkh (Bactria) which influenced the Indo-Iranians. From the unknown language of BMAC, the ancient Indo-Iranians appear to have adopted a number of words and associated cultural concepts, including BMAC *uštra ‘camel’ > Persian šotor; BMAC *ištya ‘brick, clay’ > Persian khišt; BMAC *nagna ‘bread’ > Persian nān; BMAC *bʰiš- ‘medicine, healing’ > Persian pezešk. Then, during the second millennium B.C., the Indo-Iranian community differentiated into Indo-Aryan and Iranian branches, the former moving gradually southward into the Indian subcontinent, with an offshoot apparently traversing as far as Syria and becoming the masters of the Kingdom of Mitanni. The Iranians then swept into the Iranian Plateau after 1800 B.C. through a series of migrations likely spanning several centuries. From the northeastern margins of this world, a population of Iranians appears to have back-migrated from Khwārazm into the Eurasian steppe, there becoming the Scythians of classical sources.

(1) A Persian poem inscribed on a band of glazed azure tiles adorns the Kalta Minor in Khiva, Uzbekistan (c. 1851 A.D.) (2) The pictured couplets read: به جنت کرد نادرش عرضه خاک / رسیده چون ستون بر كاخ گردون / ز وصفش قاصر آمد عقل و ادراک / از این در آگهی سال بنایش “be jannat kard nāderash ‘arze-ye ḵāk / Raside chun sotūn bar kāḵ-e gardūn / ze vaṣfash qāṣer āmad ‘aql-o-edrāk / Az in dar āgahi-ye sāl-e banāyash…” (see here for a complete transcription). Persian served as the official, court, literary, high culture and administrative language of the Sāmānid Empire (f. 819 A.D.) and all successive Muslim polities in Central Asia for over a millennium until the region’s incorporation into the U.S.S.R. in 1924.

Old Persian is first attested in cuneiform in the Achaemenid royal inscriptions of Darius I (r. 522–486 B.C.), most famously at Behistun in Kermānshāh, though the language itself was native to Persis (modern Fārs). New Persian, by contrast, appears in written form more than a millennium after the Behistun carvings, having followed a circuitous historical route: first through Mesopotamia during the Middle Persian period, then eastward into Central Asia, before ultimately re-entering the Iranian plateau in its classical form.

In the Old Iranian stage, Persian can be regarded as a conservative Indo-European language with three grammatical genders, complex noun inflections and a largely synthetic morphology. Yet the vernacular appears to have undergone a vast simplification within a comparatively short period, and this development is difficult to explain by ordinary intergenerational language transmission (drift) alone. Instead, this evolution likely reflects the sociolinguistic conditions of the Achaemenid heartland, where widespread multilingualism and large-scale settlement of non-Iranian adult populations—such as artisans and laborers drawn from across the empire and employed on the monumental building projects at Persepolis and Susa—created an environment conducive to imperfect language acquisition and structural leveling. The most consequential population may have been local, however: Elamite, the region’s indigenous non-Indo-European language and its old administrative medium, died in precisely these centuries, and its speakers in Fārs shifted to Persian. When the Persian language surfaced again nearly six centuries later in Sasanian-era rock inscriptions at Naqsh-e Rostam using a modified Aramaic script, it was profoundly different from Old Persian¹. This literary language (Middle Persian), which appears to reflect the contemporary vernacular of the Persian court and administration at Seleucia-Ctesiphon, lacks grammatical gender and noun declensions altogether, and features a more analytic morphology with re-elaborations in lieu of many inherited Proto-Indo-European forms. This scenario closely parallels the development of Middle English from Old English on the British Isles over a millennium later.

Later in the Sassanian period, elites from Mesopotamia who presumably spoke a Middle Persian vernacular (Pārsīk) settled in the northeast of the empire, particularly in the urban centers of Khorāsān and Transoxiana, including Merv, where the Middle Persian language took hold at the expense of the local Iranic Parthian and Sogdian languages. The presence of garrisons and state administrators further strengthened Middle Persian in the region. With the conquest of the Sassanian empire by Arab-Islamic troops between 632 and 651 A.D. and the flight of yet more Sassanian aristocrats there, it was these Pārsīk vernaculars, transplanted from Seleucia-Ctesiphon to Khorāsān and Transoxiana, that served as the basis of Muslim (New) Persian. In the centuries thereafter, the new Islamized Persian language, written in a modified Arabic script, spread retrograde into Iran proper, even Fārs (Persis), where it came to coexist with distantly related vernaculars that had continued uninterrupted since the Middle Iranian stage and largely escaped Arabicization (e.g. Lārestāni; for more, see here). These various Western Iranian languages, akin to Persian, also possess etyma that recall quite distant Indo-European relatives (Māzanderāni mi mar o ti per, Spanish mi madre y tu padre “my mother and your father”).

(1-2) Onlookers behold the colossal statue of King Shapur I (c. 240–272 A.D.), chiseled from a single stalagmite in situ in the 3rd century A.D., in a cave overlooking a royal Sassanian polo field (čōgān), Kāzerun, Iran. Shapur I is depicted with his idiosyncratic thick, wavy locks and crenellated crown (3) A 3rd century rock relief depicting Shapur I mounted in triumph over two Roman emperors: Philip, genuflected before him, and Valerian, whom he holds by the wrist, Naqsh-e Rostam, Fārs Province, Iran

Below is a list of Persian words inherited from Proto-Indo-European, set beside their recognizable English cognates. They are the surviving fragments, in London and Tehran, of a single ancestral vocabulary, carried apart for some five thousand years through Persian’s long development in a milieu surrounded by non-Indo-European languages.

Of note, Persian also preserves an ancient stratum of Indo-European prepositional material whose forms will be immediately familiar to readers of Latin and Greek, both sister languages of Persian. Fossilized prefixes such as far(ā)/for(ū)- (cognate with Latin pro-, English for-), (a)bar– (Greek hyper-), ā- (Latin ad-), af- (Greek hypo- and amphi-), bī– (earlier New Persian abē-; Latin ab-, Greek apo-), dosh- (Greek dys-), pirā– (Greek peri-), pari/pār- (Latin pre-), par– (Latin per-, Greek para-) ham– (Greek homo-), and ne– (Latin in-) remain embedded in countless everyday words, as evidenced by the list below. These elements reveal a conserved Proto-Indo-European word-building system that, though no longer productive, remains discernible in Persian.

The entries below are arranged alphabetically and traced, wherever the evidence allows, to their Proto-Indo-European roots; and the reader who comes to them knowing only English will find that a good number require no introduction at all.

Word List and Indo-European Etymologies

Abar “super-, over-” (e.g., abartavān “superpower”): inherited from Middle Persian ʾp̄l /⁠abar⁠/, whence also the clipped bar “on, upon”(in bartar “more superior”; barneshastan “to ride, sit; be enthroned”, barkhāstan “to rise”), from Proto-Iranian *upári, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *upári, from Proto-Indo-European *upér. Cognates include German über, Ancient Greek ὑπέρ hupér, whence English hyper-, over

Abrū “eyebrow”: from Middle Persian (blwk’ /brūg/), from Proto-Indo-Iranian *HbʰrúHs, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃bʰruH-. Cognates include Kurmanji birû, Ossetian ӕрфыг (ærfyg), Sanskrit भ्रू (bhrū), Ancient Greek ὀφρύς (ophrús) English brū > English brow, eyebrow

Āfarinande “the Creator”: from Middle Persian āfrīdan “to bless, praise; to create”, from Old Iranian *ā– “toward, to” (cognate with Latin ad-) + the root *frī– “to please, delight” with the agentive suffix, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd “to, at” + *preyH– “to love, please” + *-nt-, the present participle; the bare root survives unprefixed in Tajik Persian foridan “to please”, foram “pleasant”. Cognate and nearly parallel formation with Old English frēond, lit. “the loving one”, whence friend

Afrāshtan “to raise, elevate; erect”: from Middle Persian ʾplʾstn’ ⁠abrāštan⁠, “to lift, raise”), is a compound verb, so the elements are *af- from Proto-Indo-European *upó (cognate with Greek hypo-) “under, below, towards” + *rāš- (cognate with English right, Latin rectus) from Proto-Indo-Iranian *Hraštás “straightened, right”. Thus cognate with English upright

Afruxtan “to kindle, burn”: from Middle Persian ʾplwhtn’ abrōxtan, “to light, kindle, illuminate, polish”, is a compound verb, so the elements are *af- from Proto-Indo-European *upó “under, below, towards” (cf. Greek hypo-) + *rōx- from Proto-Indo-European *lewk- “bright, to shine, to see” (cognate with Latin lux, English light). Literally, “to set alight from beneath, kindle”

Āmadan “to come”: from Proto-Iranian *ā “to, towards” (cf. Latin ad-, English at) – + *gam– “to come” (cf. English come), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd (“to, at”) + *gʷem– (“to walk, to step, to come”). Exact cognate with Latin adventus (ad- + venīre) > English advent, and cognate with English at + come (lit. “to come at, toward”)

Āmāde “ready, prepared”: inherited from Middle Persian mʾdg /⁠āmādag⁠/, “ready, prepared”, from Proto-Iranian *āmaH-, from Proto-Iranian prefix *ā– “toward, to” (cognate with Latin ad-) + *maH– (“to measure”), from Proto-Indo-European *meh₁- (“to measure”). The sense is thus “measured out, made to measure”. Cognate with English admeasure

Āmixtan “to mix, mingle”: from Middle Persian ʾmyhtn (āmēxtan), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd “to, at” (cf. Latin ad) and *meyḱ-, whence also English admix

Andar “in, within”: from Middle Persian 𐭡𐭩𐭭‎ (BYN /andar/), from Old Persian 𐎠𐎫𐎼 (aⁿtar, “among, within”), from Proto-Iranian *Hántarah, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *Hántaras, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁énteros (“inner, what is inside”). Cognate with English enter, inter–

-ande “a suffix that makes agent nouns” (e.g. parande “bird, lit. the flying one”): inherited from Middle Persian -ntk’ –andag, from Proto-Indo-European *-nt-, the present participle. Cognates include Latin –ant/-ent, whence English agent, and Old English frēond, fēond “the loving one, the hating one”, whence friend, fiend

Angusht “finger”: from Middle Persian ʾngwst’ from Proto-Indo-Iranian *Hangúštʰas, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eng- (“joint”). Related to Latin angulus, English angle

Ārāstan “to decorate, adorn, arrange”: from Middle Persian ʾlʾstny /⁠ārāstan⁠/, prefixed form of Proto-Iranian *Hraz-, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd “to, at” (whence Latin ad) plus *h₃reǵ- (“to straighten”). Cognate with Latin arrectus “raise, upright” (e.g. arrector pili “that which sets the hair upright”: the minute smooth muscle attached to each hair follicle which, under sympathetic stimulation, contracts and draws the hair erect, producing what is commonly called goosebumps) and related forms; cf. English rectify, erect

Arg “citadel”: from Middle Persian (arg), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂erk-. Cognates include Old Armenian արգել (argel, “obstacle”) and Ancient Greek ἀρκέω (arkéō), Latin arx (“citadel”)

Ārugh “belch”: ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁rewg- (“belch, roar”). Cognate with Latin erugo (“belch”), English eruct

Arre “saw”: from Proto-Indo-European *sers- (“to cut off”). Compare Latin serra “saw”, whence English serrated

Arziz “tin” (archaic): from Middle Persian ʾlcyc (arzīz, “tin, lead”) (Manichaean Middle Persian ʾrzyz). Perhaps ultimately from Proto-Iranian *arjata- (“silver”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂erǵ-. Cognate to Greek άργυρος árgyros “silver”, Latin argentum “silver”

Āshoftan “to agitate, disturb”, Āshub “riot, turmoil”: inherited from Middle Persian ʾšwptn’ /⁠āšuftan⁠/, derived with the preverb *aH– (cognate with Latin ad-) from the root Proto-Iranian *xšawb– (“to rustle, tremble”), from Proto-Indo-European *k⁽ʷ⁾sewbʰ– (“to rock, tremble”), reflecting a semantic shift from application of physical force to states of agitation and disorder. Cognate with English shove

Āvāz “voice, sound”, Vāzhe “word”, Pezhvāk “echo” and Vāk “voiced”, Navākhtan “to play music”: from Middle Persian ʾwʾz (āwāč, āwāz, “voice, sound, tune”), the second element from 𐭥𐭠𐭰‎ (wāč, wāz, “word, speech”), from Proto-Iranian *wā́xš, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *wā́kš, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd “to, toward” (cognate with Latin ad-) + *wōkʷs. Thus āvāz is ultimately composed of the same elements as Latin advocāre < ad– “to” + vocāre “to call”, whence English advocate. All forms are ultimately cognate with Sanskrit वाच् (vā́c) and Latin vōx, English voice

Āvordan “to bring”: inherited from Middle Persian ʾʾwrd /⁠awurdan⁠/, from Proto-Iranian *ā- + *bárati- “to bear”, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd “to, at” (cf. Latin ad-) and Proto-Indo-Iranian *bʰárati “to bear, carry” respectively. Cognates include Latin adferre “to bring forth”, whence English offer, afferrent

Awj (owj) “apex, zenith”: from Arabic أَوْج‎ (ʔawj), from Persian اوگ‎ (owg), from Middle Iranian, ultimately Proto-Indo-European *h₂ewg- (“related to increasement”). Cognate with English augment, august

Bāftan “to weave; braid; knit”: from Middle Persian waf– “to weave”, from Proto-Iranian *wabdi, Proto-Indo-Iranian *wabdʰi, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *webʰ-. Compare Greek υφαίνω yfaíno “to weave”, English weave, web

Band “band, tie; to close (pres. stem)”: from Proto-Iranian *bandah, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *bʰandʰas,  ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰendʰ-. Cognate with English band, bind

Bandeh “slave”, Bandegi “bondage, slavery”: from Middle Persian bndk’ /bandag/, from Old Persian 𐎲𐎭𐎣 badaka,  ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰendʰ-. Cognate with English bond, bondage

Bār “burden, load; sorrow, grief”: from Middle Persian bʾl (bār, “load, burden; duty; fruit”), ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European root *bʰer-. Cognate with English bear, burden

Barādar “brother”: from Middle Persian (brād, brâdar), from Old Persian 𐎲𐎼𐎠𐎫𐎠 (brātā), from Proto-Iranian *bráHtā, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *bʰráHtā, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰréh₂tēr. Cognate with English brother

Bāridan “to rain”, Bārān “rain”: from Middle Persian wārān⁠, compound of wār-⁠ and –ān⁠, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *wáHr̥ “water; rain”, from Proto-Indo-European *weh₁r– “water”. Cognate with Old Norse vari “liquid, water”, Luwian wār “water”, English water

Bas “enough, sufficiently”: from Middle Persian was “sufficient, abundant”, lit. “as much as one could wish”, from Proto-Iranian *was– “to want, wish”, from Proto-Indo-European *weḱ– “to wish”. Cognate with English wish

Bereshtan “to roast, fry; to toast”: from Middle Persian blyštn’ brištan, “to roast”, ultimately from a Western Iranian derivative of Proto-Indo-Iranian *bʰr̥ȷ́yáti, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰr̥ǵ-yé-ti, from *bʰerǵ ~ *bʰreǵ “to roast, fry”. Cognates include Latin frigo “to fry”, English fry, fritter, friction

Bimār “sick, ill person”: from Middle Persian 𐭥𐭩𐭬𐭠𐭫‎ (wēmār, “sick, ill”), from Proto-Indo-European *wemh₁- (“to spew, vomit”) + ār (agent suffix). Cognate with Latin vomō (“be sick, vomit”). Cognate with English vomit

Bir “hero, champion”: from Middle Persian wyl (wīr), from Proto-Indo-European *wiHrós “man, husband; hero”. Cognate to Lithuanian výras “man”, English wer “man (obsolete)” > werewolf “man-wolf”; Latin vir “man, hero; husband” > English virile “manly”

-Bod/-bad “Lord, master”: from Middle Persian -pt’ –bed, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *pátiš, from Proto-Indo-European *pótis (“master”). Cognate with English potent, despot

Bon “bottom, foundation, root”: from Middle Persian bwn’ bun, from Proto-Iranian *buHnáh, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *bʰudʰnás, from *bʰudʰmḗn. Cognate with English bottom and Latin fundus “bottom” > English foundation

Bordan “to take; to bear, carry”: from Middle Persian bwltn (bortan, “carry, take”), from Proto-Iranian *bárati, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *bʰárati, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰéreti. Cognate to Latin ferre, English bear

Boz “goat”: from Proto-Iranian *bujáh, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *bʰuȷ́ás, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰūǵ-o-s, from *bʰuǵ- (“buck, he-goat”). Cognate with English buck (“male goat”)

Būdan (1) “to be” and Ast (2) “he/she is”: (1) from Middle Persian (būdan, baw-), from Old Persian 𐎲𐎺- (bav-), from Proto-Iranian *báwati, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *bʰáwHati, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰewH- (“to be, become”), *bʰew- (“to grow”). Cognate with Russian быть bytʹ “to be”, English to be (2) from Middle Persian 𐭠𐭩𐭲𐭩‎ (ast), from Old Persian 𐎠𐎿𐎫𐎡𐎹 (astiy), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ésti “to be”. Cognate with Latin est, German ist, English is

Burj “tower; fort, castle”: Arabicized form of Classical Syriac ܒܘܪܓܐ‎ (burgāʾ), from Middle Persian (burg), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerǵʰ- (“high”), with cognates including Persian برز‎ (borz), Sanskrit बृहत् (bṛhát, “lofty, high, tall”), Old Armenian բարձր (barjr, “high”) and Old English burg

Būs “kiss”: from imitative Proto-Indo-European *bu, compare Latin basium (“kiss”), Welsh bus (“kiss, lip”), and English buss (“kiss”).

Chand “how much, how many”: inherited from Middle Persian 𐭰𐭭𐭣‎ (čand), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷíh₂-onts, from *kʷíh₂, neuter of *kʷís. Cognate with Avestan 𐬗𐬎𐬎𐬀𐬧𐬙‎ (cuuaṇt), Sanskrit कियत् (kiyat), Latin quantus

Chāneh “chin”: from Proto-Iranian *jánukah, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *ȷ́ʰánuš, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵénus (“chin, jaw, cheek”), cognate with English chin

Dādan “to give”: from Old Persian 𐎭𐎭𐎠𐎬𐎢𐎺 (d-d-a-tu-u-v /dadātuv/), from Proto-Indo-Iranian *dádaHti, from Proto-Indo-European *dédeh₃ti. Cognates include Avestan 𐬛𐬀𐬛𐬁𐬌𐬙𐬌‎ (dadāⁱti), Polish dać, Ancient Greek δίδωμι (dídōmi), Latin dare, datum (lit. “given”) and thereby English data

Dām “livestock”: from Middle Persian dʾm /⁠dām⁠/ “tame animal”, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *demh₂- “to tame, dominate”. Cognate with English tame

Dandān “tooth”: from Middle Persian KKA, dnd’n’ /dandān/, “tooth”, from Proto-Iranian *Hdantán-, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *Hdánts, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃dónts (“tooth”). Cognate with Greek δόντι (dónti), Latin dēns > English dental

Dar “door”: From Middle Persian 𐭡𐭡𐭠‎ dar, “gate, court, palace”, from Old Persian 𐎯𐎺𐎼𐎹𐎠 duvar-, “door, gate”, from Proto-Iranian *dwar-، from Proto-Indo-Iranian *dwar-, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰwer- “gate, door”. Cognate to German Tür, Armenian դուռ (duṙ), Irish doras, English door

Dār “tree, wood”: from Middle Persian (dʾl, “tree, gallows; wood”), from Old Persian 𐎭𐎠𐎽𐎢𐎺 (d-a-ru-u-v /dāruv/), from Proto-Iranian *dā́ru, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *dāru, from Proto-Indo-European *dóru. Cognate with English tree

Daridan “to ravage, attack, bite”: from Proto-Indo-Iranian *dar-, from Proto-Indo-European *der-. Cognate with Ancient Greek δέρω (dérō, “I skin, I flay”) and English tear

Din “religion”: from Middle Persian dyn’ /⁠dēn⁠/, from Old Persian 𐎭𐎠𐎡𐎴 (d-a-i-n /⁠*daina-⁠/, “a religious-informed or conscientious way of life”, already influenced by Avestan 𐬛𐬀𐬉𐬥𐬁 (daēnā, “religion, vision”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-Iranian *dʰayHanā- compare Sanskrit ध्यान dhyāna “meditation, contemplation, thought, reflection, especially profound and abstract religious meditation” > Chinese 禅 chán > Japanese 禅 zen > English zen

Div “demon, devil”: from Middle Persian dēw /ŠDYA/, “evil spirit”, from Old Persian 𐎭𐎡𐎺 (daiva-), from Proto-Iranian *daywáh, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *daywás, from Proto-Indo-European *deywós (the Persian meaning “demon” reflecting the Zoroastrian demotion of the old daivas to false gods, whereas other Indo-European languages retained the original sense). Cognate to Latin deus, dīvus and English divinity

Do “two”: from Proto-Iranian *dwáH,  from Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁. Cognate with Spanish dos, English two

Dokhtar “daughter; girl”: from Middle Persian dwhtl /duxtar/, oblique case of dwht’ /duxt/, from Old Persian *𐎯𐎧𐏂𐎡 *duxçī-, from Proto-Iranian *dugdā, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *dʰugʰdʰā, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰugh₂tḗr. Cognate with German Tochter, English daughter

Dord “The sediment settled at the bottom of a container of unfiltered wine; the worst or lower part”: from Proto-Iranian *dr̥ti- “manure, feces”, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰṛ-to-, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰreyd– “to have diarrhea”. Cognate with English dirt

Dorugh “lie, deception”: from Middle Persian drōg, from Old Persian 𐎭𐎼𐎢𐎥 drauga, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *dʰráwgʰas, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰrówgʰos, from *dʰrewgʰ-. Cognate with German Trug “deception, delusion”, Dutch bedrog “deception, fraud”; Welsh drwg “bad, evil”, English dream (via Proto-Germanic *dʰrowgʰ-mos “falsehood, illusion”)

Doshman “enemy, foe; hostile entity”: from Proto-Indo-Iranian *dušmánas, from Proto-Indo-European *dusménes. Equivalent to *duš- (“bad”) +‎ *mánah (“mind, thought”). Compare Ancient Greek δυσμενής dusmenḗs “enemy, hostile” and English from cognate Greek components dys– + –manía: dysmania

Doshnām “insult”: from Middle Persian (dwšnʾm /dušnām/), from Proto-Iranian *dušHnā́ma (“insult”), from Proto-Indo-European *dus- (“bad”) + *h₁nómn̥ (“name”). Within Persian, compare دشمن‎ (došman, “enemy”), نام‎ (nâm, “name”). Compare English from cognate Greek components dys– + –nómos: dysnomy, dysnomia

Dūst “friend; liking, pleasure”: from Middle Persian 𐭣𐭥𐭮𐭲𐭩‎ (dwst’ /dōst/), from Old Persian 𐎭𐎢𐏁𐎫𐎠 (d-u-š-t-a /dauštā/), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵews- (“to taste, to try”). Cognates with Sanskrit जुष्ट (juṣṭa), Avestan 𐬰𐬎𐬱𐬙𐬀‎ (zušta), Latin gustus, Spanish gusto

Farjām “end, conclusion; result”: from Middle Persian plcʾm /⁠frazām⁠/, from Proto-Iranian *fra– (from Proto-Indo-Iranian *pra-, from Proto-Indo-European *pro-) + Proto-Iranian *ǰám– (from Proto-Indo-European *gʷem– “to come”, hence cognate with English come). Cognate with English forthcome “approaching or about to take place”

Farmān, Farmudan “decree, order; command”: from Middle Persian plmʾn’ /⁠framān⁠/, “order, command”, from Old Persian framānā, “command”, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *pramaHnam, from Proto-Iranian *fra- (“forward, pro-”) and the second element from Proto-Indo-European *meh₁nom, from *meh₁- “to measure”, cognate with English measure, metric. The compound thus encodes the notion of an outcome conceived in advance, something “measured out” or determined beforehand. While not a direct lexical cognate, the semantic logic closely parallels English formations such as premeasure, though Persian far- is cognate with Latin pro– rather than pre-.

Farzand “child, offspring”: From Middle Persian [script needed] (prznd /⁠frazand⁠/, “child, son”), from Proto-Iranian *frazanti-, from Proto-Iranian *fra- (“forward, pro-”) + a root descended from Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- (“to produce, give birth”). Via Greek, cognate with English progeny

Ferestādan “to send”: from Middle Persian plyst-ʾtn’ /⁠frēstādan/ “to send,” composed of the prefix *fra- “before, forward,” (cognate with pro-) and ē̆stādan “to stand” (cognate with English stand), from Proto-Indo-European steh₂- “to stand”, thus literally “to set forth, to put forward”. Related to English forestand (lit. “to stand in front”) and Ancient Greek *pro-hístēmi, whence prostatēs (lit. “one who stands before, guardian”) and English prostate (so named because the gland lies anterior to the rectum)

Foruxtan “to sell”: from Middle Persian frōxtan, present stem frōš-, from Old Iranian *fra–wač– “to call out, proclaim”, from *fra– “forth” (cognate with Latin prō-) + *wač– “to call, speak”, from Proto-Indo-European *wekʷ– (whence Latin vōx, vocāre, English voice); to sell was to cry one’s wares. Cognate with Latin prōvocāre “to call forth”, whence English provoke (the agentive noun forushande “seller, vendor” is further cognate with French provocant in all three of its elements)

Galū “throat”: from Proto-Indo-European *gʷel- (“throat”). Cognate with Russian глотка (glotka, “throat”) Latin gula (“throat”) and English gullet, glutton 

Gām “step, pace”: from Middle Persian gām, from Proto-Iranian *gāma– “step, stride”, from gam– “to come, go”, from Proto-Indo-European gʷem– “to come” (the same root hides in the compounds anjām “end, completion” and hengām “time, occasion”, both literally “a coming together”, with *ham-, cf. Greek homo-, and in farjām “end, outcome”, with far-, cognate with Latin and Greek pro-, thus cognate with English forthcome; see entry). Cognate with English come

Garm “warm”: from Proto-Iranian *garmáh, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *gʰarmás, from Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰer- (“to warm, heat”), cognate with Khotanese garma- (“hot”), English warm

Gāv “cow”: from Middle Persian (TWRA /gāw/), from Old Persian𐎥𐎢 (g-u), from Proto-Iranian*gā́wš, from Proto-Indo-Iranian*gāuš, from Proto-Indo-European*gʷṓws. Cognate with English cow

Gerd, “round, circular” and Gardidan “to turn, revolve, spin, circulate”: from Proto-Iranian *wart- (“to turn, spin, rotate; to writhe”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wert-. Cognate with German werden (“to turn (into), become”), Latin vertere (“to turn”) > English vertigo, and weird

Gerān “expensive; heavy (archaic)”: from Middle Persian glʾn’ (garān), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷréh₂us (“heavy”). Cognate to Latin gravis (“heavy”), English grave

Gereftan “to grab, grip”: from Middle Persian (/griftan/), from Old Persian [Term?] [Term?] (/grab-/, “to seize”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰrebh₂- (“to grab, seize”). Cognates include Central Kurdish گرتن‎ (girtin), Baluchi گرگ‎ (girag), Sanskrit गृह्णाति (gṛhṇāti, “he seizes”), Russian гра́бить (grábitʹ), German greifen, and English grab, grip

Gostardan “to spread, extend”: inherited from Middle Persian wstltn’ ⁠wistardan⁠, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *str̥náHti plus a prefix, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sterh₃-. Compare Latin sternō “I bestrew, sprinkle”, English strew

Haft “seven”: from Middle Persian hp̄t’ haft, “seven”, from Proto-Iranian *haptá, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *saptá, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *septḿ̥. Cognate with Ancient Greek ἑπτά heptá > English hepta-

Ham “same”: from Middle Persian hm (ham, “also, same”), from Old Persian 𐏃𐎶 (h-m /ham(a)/, “same, together”), from Proto-Iranian *hamHáh, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *samHás, from Proto-Indo-European *somHós (“same”). Compare Sanskrit सम (sama), Greek homo-, whence English compounds such as homonym (cf. Persian hamnām “homonym”)

-in “suffix forming adjectives of material”: from Middle Persian –ēn, from Old Iranian *-aina-, from a Proto-Indo-European adjectival suffix *-iHno-. Cognate with the Germanic suffix of English –en, such as in wooden, golden; thus Persian zarrin and English golden are parallel formations

Istādan “to stand up; to stay”: from Middle Persian (istātan), from Old Persian, from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand”). Cognate with English stand

Jang “war”: from Middle Persian jnng /ǰang⁠/, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰengʰ- “to walk, to stride”. Cognate with English gang (the semantic development would seem to parallel other Indo-European cases in which verbs of movement come to denote organized advance or armed conflict)

Javān “young”: from Middle Persian (yw’n /ǰuwān/), from Proto-Iranian *HyúHā, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *HyúHā, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂yéwHō. Cognate to Latin iuvenis (Italian giovane, French jeune, or Spanish joven) > English juvenile

Javidan “to chew”: from Middle Persian ywtn’ /jūdan/, from Proto-Indo-European*ǵyewh₁-. Cognate with English chew

Joft “pair, couple”: from Middle Persian (ǰuxt /ywht/), from Proto-Iranian *yuxtáh, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *yuktás, from Proto-Indo-European *yugtós. Cognate with Latin iuxtā, English juxtapose

Kal “bald”: from Proto-Indo-European *gelH- (“naked, bald”) or *kl̥H-. Cognate with English callow and Latin calvus

Kāv “concave, hollow”: from Proto-Indo-European *ḱówH-. Cognate with English cave

Kerm “worm”: from Proto-Iranian *kŕ̥miš, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *kŕ̥miš, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷŕ̥mis (“worm”). Cognate with Sanskrit कृमि (kṛ́mi, “worm”), Proto-Slavic *čьrvь (“worm”), Lithuanian kirmìs (“worm”), English worm, wyrm

Kharāshidan “to scratch, scrape”: from Proto-Iranian *xrā́š– “to scratch”, from Proto-Indo-European *greds– “to scrape”. Cognates include German kratzen “to scratch” and English scratch

Khoftan, Khʷāb “sleep, dream”: from Middle Persian 𐭧𐭥𐭠𐭡‎ hwʾb /xvāb/, from Proto-Iranian *hwápati, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *swap-, from Proto-Indo-European *swep- “to dream”. Cognate with Ancient Greek ὕπνος húpnos “sleep”, whence English hypnosis

Kherad “wisdom, intelligence; understanding”: inherited from Middle Persian (hlt /xrat, xrad/, “wisdom, understanding, intelligence”), from Proto-Indo-Iranian *krátuš (“intelligence, mental power”), from Proto-Indo-European *krét-us “intelligence, strength”. Cognate with Ancient Greek κρατύς kratús, “strong”, κράτος krátos “strength, power, dominion” > English autocrat, democrat

Khers “bear (animal)”: from Proto-Iranian *Hŕ̥šah (compare Avestan 𐬀𐬭𐬴𐬀‎ (arṣ̌a), Ossetian арс (ars)), from Proto-Indo-Iranian *Hŕ̥ćšas, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ŕ̥tḱos. Cognate to Latin ursus,

Khor “sun”: from Proto-Iranian *húHar, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *súHar, from Proto-Indo-European *sóh₂wl̥. Cognate with Greek helios, Latin sol

Khūk “pig, hog”: from Middle Persian (HZWLYA) /(hwk’ /hūg/), from Proto-Iranian *huHkáh, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *suH-, from Proto-Indo-European *suh₂kéh₂, from *suH-. Cognate with English hog

Kuh “hill, mountain”: from Middle Persian 𐭪𐭥𐭯 kōf, “hill, mountain”, ultimately from Old Persian 𐎣𐎢𐎳 kaufa, “mountain”, from Proto-Indo-European *kewHp “heap; a hollow”. Cognate with Latin cūpa “tub, cask, vat” > English cup, cupula

Lab “lip, edge”: from Proto-Indo-European *leb-. Cognate with English lip

Lang “lame, crippled”: from Proto-Iranian *langa-, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *langa– “lame”, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)leh₁g– “weak, feeble”. Cognate with Latin languēo “to be faint, weak”, whence English languid “lack of energy, slow; weak or faint from illness or fatigue”

Leng “leg”: from Proto-Indo-European *lekʷs-, *lewks- (“groin”). Cognate with English leg

Lis “lick”: from Proto-Iranian *rijáti, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *riȷ́ʰáti, from Proto-Indo-European *leyǵʰ- (“to lick”). Cognate with Latin lingō (“lick”), English lick

Mādar “mother”: from Middle Persian 𐭬𐭠𐭲𐭥‎ (mādar), from Old Persian 𐎶𐎠𐎫𐎠 (mātā), from Proto-Iranian *máHtā, from Proto-Indo-European *méh₂tēr; compare Armenian մայր (mayr), Italian madre, English mother

Māh, Māng “moon”: from Middle Persian 𐭡𐭩𐭥𐭧 byʿḥ /⁠māh⁠/, from Old Persian 𐎶𐎠𐏃 m-a-h /⁠māhaʰ⁠/, from Proto-Iranian *mā́Hah (compare Northern Kurdish meh, mang, Ossetian мӕй mæj, Avestan 𐬨𐬃 mā̊, 𐬨𐬂𐬢𐬵 måŋh, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *mā́Has (compare Sanskrit मास mā́sa), from Proto-Indo-European *mḗh₁n̥s “moon, month”. Cognate with English moon, month

Mammeh “breast, boob”: an onomatopoeic baby-talk common in Indo-European languages, ultimately must descend from Proto-Indo-European. Cognate with Ancient Greek μάμμη mámmē, Latin mamma, whence English mammal

Man “I”: from Middle Persian 𐫖𐫗‎ (man, “me (early), I (later)”) from Old Persian 𐎶𐎴 (m-n /mana/, “me”) from Proto-Iranian *máHm from Proto-Indo-Iranian *máHm (“accusative singular of *aȷ́ʰám”). Cognate with Ancient Greek ἐμέ (emé, “accusative of “ἐγώ””), and Latin me (“accusative of “ego””), English me

Māndan “to remain, to stay”: from Middle Persian KTLWNtn’ māndan, KTLWN mān-, from Old Persian, from Proto-Iranian, from Proto-Indo-European *men- “to stay, stand still”. Cognate with Ancient Greek μένω ménō, “I remain”, Latin maneō “I remain” > remain, maintain

Mard “man” and Mardom “people”: from Middle Persian mlt’ /mard/, GBRA /mard/, from Old Persian 𐎶𐎼𐎫𐎡𐎹 martiya, from Proto-Iranian *mŕ̥tah, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *mŕ̥tas, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *mr̥tós (“dead, mortal”), from *mer- (“to die”). Cognate to Latin mortuus > English mortal

Marz “border, delineation”: from Middle Persian (mlc /marz/, “boundary, march; (astronomy) term”), from Proto-Indo-European *merǵ- (“edge, boundary, border”). Cognate with Avestan 𐬨𐬀𐬭𐬆𐬰𐬀‎ (mar^əza, “frontier”), Proto-Germanic *markō (> English march), and Latin margo. Akin to English mark, margin

Meh, Migh “mist”: inherited from Proto-Iranian *HmíčaH, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *Hmíkš, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃meygʰ-. Cognate with English mist

Mey “wine; alcoholic beverage”: from Middle Persian mdy /⁠may⁠/, “wine”, from Old Persian *𐎶𐎯 *m-du /⁠*madu⁠/, from Proto-Indo-European *médʰu (“honey, mead”). Cognate with Greek μέθη méthi, “drunkenness”; English mead

Mixtan “to urinate”: inherited from Middle Persian myc, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₃meyǵʰ. Cognate with English micturate “urinate”

Miyān “middle, center”: from Middle Persian mdyʾn’ (mayān), from Old Persian *madyānaʰ, from Proto-Iranian *mádyānah, composed of *mádyah +‎ *-anah, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *mádʰyas, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *médʰyos. Cognate with English middle, median

Mordan “to die”: from Middle Persian YMYTWNtn’ (murdan), from Old Persian (mar-), from Proto-Iranian *márti, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *márti, ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European *mer- (“to die”). Cognate with Latin mortuus, English murder

Mūsh “mouse”: from Middle Persian mwšk’ (mušk, “Mouse, rat”), from Proto-Iranian *múHs, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *múHs, from Proto-Indo-European *muh₂s. Cognate with English mouse

Na or Ne “no”: from Middle Persian 𐭫𐭠 / 𐭭𐭩‎ (nē), from Proto-Iranian *ná, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *ná, from Proto-Indo-European *ne (“not”). Cognate with English no

Nāf “navel, bellybutton”: from Proto-Indo-European *h₃nebʰ (“navel”). Cognate with English navel

Nākhon “nail”: inherited from Proto-Iranian *Hnāxunah, a derivative of *Hnā́xš, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *Hnā́kš, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃nṓgʰs. Cognates include Latin unguis “nail”, Greek ὄνῠξ ónŭx “nail”, whence English onycho– “relating to nails” (e.g. onychoschizia “splitting of the nail”, a compound whose elements are both cognate in Persian nākhon “nail” + shikasteh “broken, split”)

Nām “name”: from Middle Persian ŠM (/nām/), from Old Persian 𐎴𐎠𐎶 (n-a-m /nāma/), from Proto-Iranian *Hnā́ma, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁nómn̥ (“name”). Cognate with Italian nome, English name

Nar “man, virile”: from Middle Persian 𐭦𐭪𐭫‎ (ZKL), 𐭭𐭫‎ (nl /nar/, “male”), from Proto-Indo-Iranian *Hnā́, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂nḗr. Cognate to Ancient Greek: ἀνήρ anḗr “man”, Proto-Italic *nēr “man” > Oscan: 𐌍𐌉𐌉𐌓 niir “man” and Latin neriōsus “firm, vigorous”, Nerō (personal name; lit. “masculine”)

Nāv “ship”: from Middle Persian nʾw (nāw, “ship”), from Proto-Iranian (compare Ossetian нау (naw) / науӕ (nawæ)), from Proto-Indo-Iranian *náHuš, from Proto-Indo-European *néh₂us (“boat”) (compare Ancient Greek ναῦς (naûs, “ship”), Latin nāvis (“ship”). Cognate with English navy

Navākhtan “to play an instrument, play music; to caress”: from Proto-Iranian *ni + *wač– “to say, speak”. The prefix is from Proto-Iranian *ní “into, down” (cognate with in-), while the second component is from Proto-Indo-European *wekʷ– (“to speak, sound out”). Directly cognate to Latin invocāre “to call upon”, whence English invoke “to conjure up or summon with incantations; to call upon” (the semantic development in Persian extends toward sound and music rather than speech)

Naveh “grandchild”: from Middle Persian np (nab, “grandson”)، Old Persian 𐎴𐎱𐎠 (napā), from Proto-Iranian *napāth, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *nápāts, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂népōts, *népōts. Cognate with English nephew, nepotism

Neveshtan “to write”: from Middle Persian npštn’ nibištan “to write”, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *ní “downwards, into” (cognate with in-) + Middle Persian *pištan-, the latter from Old Persian *pi⁽ⁿ⁾θ-, from Proto-Iranian *pais- (“to adorn, paint, write”), from Proto-Indo-European *peyḱ- (“to cut out; to stitch; to paint, mark”). Cognate with Russian napisatʹ “to write” and the second component with English paint, poikiloderma

Neshastan “to sit”: from Middle Persian nšstn’ nišastan “sit on”, a compound from Proto-Indo-European *ni- (“in”) / *na– + Middle Persian *šstn’ *šastan-, the latter from Proto-Iranian *had- (“to sit, be seated”), from Proto-Indo-European *sed- (“to sit”). Cognate with English nest, inset (nest and neshastan are the same compound, prefix and root both, assembled once in the proto-language and carried intact to England and to Iran)

Now “new”: from Middle Persian 𐭭𐭥𐭪𐭩‎ (nōg), from Old Persian 𐎴𐎺 (n-v), from Proto-Iranian *náwah, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *néwos. Cognate to Greek νέος (néos), Russian но́вый (nóvyj), Italian nuovo and English new

Nūn (archaic, poetic; more commonly aknūn) “now”: from Proto-Indo-European *nu (“now”). Cognate with English now

Oftādan “to fall”: from Middle Persian ’wpt- /⁠ōft-⁠/, “fall”, from Proto-Iranian *ava– “away, down” + *pat– “to fly; to fall”, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *Háwa “away, down”, the latter from Proto-Indo-European *peth₂- “to spread out; fly”. The first element is cognate with Greek apo– “away” and the second with Greek ptosis “falling, a fall”, whence English ptosis “drooping of an organ, especially the eyelid”. The Persian verb oftādan is directly cognate with the Greek form apoptosis “a falling off or away; falling of things that detach, such as petals” > English apoptosis “a process of programmed cell death” (compare other Greek compounds e.g. proptosis “falling forward” > English proptosis, with the exact Persian cognate foru-oftādan “to collapse, plummet; crash”)

Ostoxān “bone”: ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₃ésth₁ (bone). Cognate with Ancient Greek ὀστέον ostéon “bone”, English osteopathic

Pā “foot”: from earlier پای‎ (pāy), from Middle Persian (pāy), from Old Persian 𐎱𐎠𐎭 pād(a), from Proto-Iranian *pā́dah, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *pā́ts, from Proto-Indo-European *pṓds (“foot”). Cognate with Spanish pie, Greek: πόδι pódi > English -pod, foot

Pahn “wide, broad”: inherited from Middle Persian pʾhn’ /⁠pahn⁠/, “wide, broad”, from Proto-Iranian *páθana-, from Proto-Indo-European *peth₂- “to stretch out, to spread out”. Cognate with Latin pandere “to spread out”, whence English expand

Pand “advice, counsel, guidance”: from Middle Persian pnd (pand, “path; counsel, advice”) (compare Parthian pnd‎ (pand, “counsel”), pndʾn‎ (pandān, “path”)), from Proto-Indo-European *pent- (“to go, walk; way, path”). Cognate with Ancient Greek πάτος (pátos), πόντος (póntos), Latin pons “bridge”, English path

*Note archaic Persian meaning “trick, knack” → Arabic fann “art” (Semantic development resembles Ancient Greek τέχνη (tékhnē “cunning, wile”) and Latin ars “cunning, stratagem”) 

Panj “five”: from Middle Persian (pnc /panǰ/), from Proto-Iranian *pánča, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *pánča, from Proto-Indo-European *pénkʷe. Cognate with Greek πέντε pénte > English penta-

Par “feather, wing, leaf”: from Proto-Indo-Iranian *parnám, from Proto-Indo-European *pornóm (“feather, wing”), from *perH- (“to fly”). Cognate with Avestan 𐬞𐬀𐬭𐬆𐬥𐬀‎ (par^əna, “feather”), Lithuanian spar̃nas (“wing”), Old Church Slavonic перо (pero, “wing, feather”), Albanian fier (“fern”), English fern

Parastidan “to worship, idolize; to serve”: from Middle Persian plstytn’ paristīdan, “to serve; to worship; to minister in a ritual”, from Proto-Iranian *pari– “around, peri-” + *staH– “to place, set, stand”. Thus cognate with Greek peristasis (lit. “standing around”), English peristasis “a hall of columns surrounding a cella in ancient Greek temples”

Parde “curtain, veil; membrane, screen”: from Middle Persian pltk’ pardag, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pel– “to cover, wrap; hide, cloth”. Cognates with Latin pellis “skin, membrane” > Spanish piel “skin”; English pelt, fell

Pāre “torn; piece, part, portion (archaic); money (archaic)”: From Middle Persian pʾlk’ pārag⁠, “piece, part, portion”, also meaning “gift, offering, bribe”, from Proto-Iranian *pāraka “piece, part”, from Proto-Iranian *par– “to separate, divide into parts”, from Proto-Indo-European *per– “to sell, exchange”. Cognate with Latin pars “part, portion” > English part, portion

Part “far away, remote”: ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pr̥to-. Cognate with Dutch voort, English forth “away, beyond a certain boundary; forward”

Parvardan “to nurture, nourish; to raise, propagate”: inherited from Middle Persian plwl-tn’ parwardan, “to foster, nourish, cherish, educate”, ultimately from Proto-Iranian *para “beyond, thorough” + *wart “to turn”, from Proto-Indo-European *per “thorough” + *wert– “to turn, rotate”. Exact cognate with Latin pervertō “to corrupt, overthrow” (from per– “thoroughly” + vertō “to turn”) > English pervert

Parvāz “flight” (parvāz kardan “to fly”): from Middle Persian plwʾc /⁠parwāz⁠/, from Proto-Iranian *para (farther or beyond, highest)- + *waj– “to carry, drive” (from Proto-Indo-Iranian *waȷ́ʰ-, from Proto-Indo-European *weǵʰ– “to carry, transport”; same element as in vazidan “to blow; movement of wind or breeze”, see entry below). Both elements are cognate with those of the modern English mathematical term paravector (para- + vector)

Pas “after, behind; so, therefore”: from Middle Persian 𐭯𐭮‎ (ps /pas/, “then, afterwards, behind”), from Old Persian 𐎱𐎿𐎠 (p-s-a /pasā/), from Proto-Indo-Iranian *pasčáH, from Proto-Indo-European *pos-(sḱ)-kʷéh₁. Cognate with Latin post “after”, whence Spanish pues, después, English post-, posterior

Pedar “father”: from Middle Persian (pidar), from Old Persian 𐎱𐎡𐎫𐎠 (pitā), from Proto-Iranian *pHtā́, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *pHtā́, from Proto-Indo-European *ph₂tḗr. Cognate with English father

Pesar or Pos (dialectal) “son, boy”, –pūr “son of; descendant of”: from Middle Persian (BREl) / (pwsl /pusar/, “son”), formed from 𐭡𐭥𐭤‎ (pus [BRE], “son”), from Old Persian 𐎱𐎢𐏂 (p-u-ç /puça/), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂u- “few, little; smallness (semantic development to “small man”). Cognate with Latin paucus “little, small”, puer “boy, lad” > English puerile “childish, silly”

Pir “old, aged”: from Middle Persian pyl /⁠pīr⁠/, “old, aged, ancient”, from Proto-Iranian *paru– “ash-gray, pale gray, hoary”, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *parHušás “gray”;. Cognates include English pale, poliosis

Pirāmun “vicinity, environs; around, surrounding”: from Middle Persian pylʾmwn’ /⁠pērāmōn⁠/), 𐫛𐫏𐫡𐫀𐫖𐫇𐫗 (pyrʾmwn /⁠pērāmōn⁠/, “around, vicinity”, from Proto-Iranian *pari– “around, peri-” + *maH– (“to measure”), the latter from Proto-Indo-European *meh₁- (“to measure”). Thus cognate with English perimeter

Pokhtan “to cook, bake; broil”: from Proto-Iranian *pačati, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *páčati, from Proto-Indo-European *pekʷ– (“to cook, become ripe”). Cognate with Latin coquo “to cook”, English cook

Pol “bridge”: from Middle Persian 𐭯𐭥𐭧𐭫𐭩‎ (puhl, “bridge”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pértus (“crossing”). Compare English ford, German Furt, and Latin portus

Raftan “to go, leave, depart”: from Middle Persian (SGYTWN-tn’ /raftan/, “to move, proceed”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁reh₁p-. Compare Latin rēpō (“I creep; I crawl”), Latvian rãpât, râpt, Middle High German reben (“to move, steer”), English reptile (lit. “creeper, slinker”)

Rāndan “to ride, steer; to run, manage”: from Proto-Iranian *Har- “to set in motion”, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃er- “to move, set in motion”. Cognate with English run

Rāst “straight, right”: from Middle Persian rāst, from Old Persian 𐎼𐎠𐎿𐎫 (rāsta, “right”), from Proto-Iranian *Hraštáh, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *Hraštás, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵtós (“having moved in a straight line”), from *h₃reǵ- (“to straighten, direct”). Cognate with English right

Rombidan “to collapse”: from Proto-Iranian *Hrum-, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃rew-. Cognate with English ruin.

Ruz “day، daylight” and Rokhsh “light”: inherited from Middle Persian 𐭩𐭥𐭬 yʿm, from Old Persian 𐎼𐎢𐎨𐏃 r-u-c-h, from Proto-Iranian *ráwčah, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *ráwčas, from Proto-Indo-European *lewk– and *-os. Cognate with Latin lux “light, daylight”, English light (of note, compounds such as pariruz “the day before yesterday,” composed of the Indo-European elements pari– “pre-, prior” + ruz, literally “prior-day”, and now-ruz, literally “new day”, which may be rendered through cognates as English new light or Latin nova lux)

Sad “hundred”: from Middle Persian 𐭰𐭲‎ (čat, sad), from Old Persian *θata-, from Proto-Iranian *catám, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *ćatám, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱm̥tóm. Cognates include Latin centum, French cent

Sar “head; topmost part”: from Middle Persian 𐭫𐭥𐭩𐭱𐭤‎ LOYŠE /sar/, from Proto-Iranian *cŕ̥Hah, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *ćŕ̥Has, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱerh₂-. Cognate with first component of Latin and English cerebrum

Sepordan “hand over, deposit”: from Middle Persian abespurdan, abespār- “to commit, entrust, consign”, from Proto-Iranian *upa– + *spar “to hand over, entrust”, which according to Cheung is from Proto-Indo-European *sper– “to deliver, secure”. Cognate with English spread, spore, disperse

Setabr “thick, firm; strong”: from Middle Persian stpl stabr, “strong, firm”. From Proto-Indo-European *stóbʰ–o-s “staff”, from *stebʰ– “to stand still; to harden”. Cognate with Ancient Greek στιβαρός stibarós “firm”, Icelandic stafur “cane, stick; a magic stave”, English staff, stave

Setāk “stalk, stem”: from Middle Persian 𐮍𐮑𐮀𐮄 stʾh /⁠stāx⁠/, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)teyg- “to be sharp, to stab, to goad, to puncture”. Cognate with English stalk, stick

Setam “oppression, tyranny”: from Middle Persian stahm, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European stembʰ– “to prop, make rigid”, nasal-infixed variant of *stebʰ-, whence also setabr (see entry). Compare Ancient Greek στέμβω stémbō “to shake; maltreat”, Sanskrit स्तम्भ् stambh– “to make rigid, paralyze”. The physical image recurs transparently in sarkub “suppression,” lit. “head-pounding” and in English oppress < Latin opprimere “to press down”. Cognate with English stamp, stomp

Setāre “star”: from Middle Persian stʾlk’ /stārag/, stl /star/) from Old Persian 𐎠𐎿𐎫𐎼 (star-), from Proto-Iranian *Hstā́, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *Hstā́, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂stḗr. Cognate with English star

Setize “quarrel, dispute; enmity”, doublet of tiz “sharp”: inherited from Middle Persian styck’ /⁠stēzag⁠/, “strife”, from Proto-Iranian *staiǰ-, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)teyg- (like setāk, see above). Cognates include English stick, instigate, stigma

Setorg “stark, tough; powerful, great, strong”: From Middle Persian stwlg /⁠sturg⁠/, from Proto-Iranian *stūrakah, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)terg– “rigid, stiff”. Cognate with English strong, stark

Sharm “shame”: from Middle Persian 𐭱𐭥𐭬‎ (šarm), from Avestan 𐬟𐬱𐬀𐬭𐬆𐬨𐬀‎ (fšar^əma), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱormo- (“suffering, pain”). Cognate with Khotanese (kṣär-, “be ashamed”) and English harm “insult, damage”

Shegeft “wonder, amazement; surprise”: from Middle Persian škypt’ škeft⁠, “astonishing, extraordinary, hard”, from Proto-Indo-European *skep-, possibly from *speḱ– via metathesis. Cognate with Ancient Greek σκέπτομαι sképtomai, “to look at, to examine”, whence English skeptic.

Shikastan “to break”: from Middle Persian škastan “to break”, from Proto-Iranian *sčand / *skand– “to break, cleave”, from a blend of Proto-Indo-European *(s)ke(n)dh₂ “to shatter, scatter” and Proto-Indo-European *skeyd- “to split, tear”. Cognate to Greek σχίζω skhízō “to split”, whence English schism, schizophrenia 

Shesh “six”: from Middle Persian (šaš), from Proto-Iranian *šwáš, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *šwáćš, from Proto-Indo-European *swéḱs. Cognate with German Sechs, English six

Shūr “salty”: from Parthian 𐫢𐫇𐫡‎ šwr /šōr/; compare with Middle Persian swr /sōr/, perhaps from Proto-Iranian *sauraH “salty”, from Proto-Indo-European *súHros “sour; salty”. Cognate with English sour

Sotuh “distressed, fatigued; overwhelmed, struck by a negative emotion”: from Middle Persian stwb’ /⁠stō⁠/ “distressed, defeated”, ultimately an extension from Proto-Indo-European *(s)tewp- “to push, hit”. Cognate with English stupid, stupor

Sotur “beast of burden, pack animal; horse”: from Middle Persian stwl /⁠stōr⁠/, “horse, mount; large cattle”, from Proto-Iranian *stáwrah, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *stáwras (“large domestic animal, cattle”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)táwros (“wild bull, aurochs”). Cognates include English steer, taurus

-(e)stān “country, land” (e.g., Pakistan, lit. “land of the pure people” in Persian): from Middle Persian -stʾn’ –estān, from Old Persian 𐎿𐎫𐎠𐎴 s-t-a-n /⁠stānaʰ⁠⁠⁠/, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *stáHnam, from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand”). Cognate with German stadt, English state

Tab “fever”, and Tāb “heat, radiance, illuminating”: from Middle Persian (tp /tab/, “fever”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *tépos (“heat, warmth”). Cognate with English tepid

Tāj “crown”: from Arabic تَاج‎ (tāj), from Parthian (tʾg /tāg/, “crown”), attested in 𐫟𐫀𐫡𐫤𐫀𐫃‎ (xʾrtʾg /xārtāg/, “crown of thorns”), from Old Iranian *tāga-, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)teg- (“to cover”). Cognate with Latin tegō “cover” (tegaderm), toga “a garment; roof”, English thatch “straw covering”

Tanidan “to spin, weave; pay attention”: from Middle Persian tn- /⁠tan-⁠/, present stem of ttn’ /⁠tadan⁠/, “to weave”; the verb was regularized according to the present stem. Ultimately from Proto-Indo-Iranian *tanáwti, from Proto-Indo-European *tn̥néwti, from *ten– (“to stretch, draw”). Cognate with Latin tenēre “to hold (on), grasp; have”, Old English þennan “to stretch out, spread out; make an effort”, English tenacious, tenable, maintain

-tar “suffix forming comparatives” (behtar “better”; superlative –tarin): from Middle Persian –tar, from Old Persian –tara-, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *-taras, from Proto-Indo-European *-teros, a suffix originally contrasting one of two alternatives. Cognate with Greek –teros (deúteros “second”, whence deuterium; presbýteros “elder”, whence presbyterian) and with English whether, other, either, and after, where Germanic keeps the suffix as a fossil. In Persian it remains fully productive, and bartar “superior” (see abar above) matches Greek hypérteros morpheme for morpheme.

Tarāshidan “to scrape, carve”: from Middle Persian tʾšytn /⁠tāšīdan⁠/, “to cut, cleave”, with intrusive -r- from contamination with خراشیدن (xarâšidan, “to scratch”), from Proto-Iranian *tā́šti (“to cut”), from Proto-Indo-Iranian *tā́ćšti, from Proto-Indo-European *tetḱ– (“to create; to cut”). Cognates in Ancient Greek tékhnē, “art, craft” and Latin texō “to pleat; to weave”, whence English technical, text, textile

Tars, tarsidan “fear, terror”: from Middle Persian tlsyt’ (tarsēdan, “fear”), from Proto-Iranian *tr̥ŝáti, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *tr̥sćáti, from Proto-Indo-European *tres-. Cognates include Latin terreō, English terror

To “you”: from Middle Persian 𐭫𐭪‎ (LK /tō/, “you, thou”), from Old Persian (compare 𐎬𐎺𐎶 (tuvam)), from Proto-Iranian *tuHám (compare Northern Kurdish tu, Pashto ته‎ (tə), Avestan 𐬙𐬏𐬨‎ (tūm)), from Proto-Indo-Iranian *tuHám, from Proto-Indo-European *túh₂. Cognate with Spanish tu, English thou

Tondar “thunder”; from Middle Persian (tndr /tundar, tundur/), from Proto-Indo-Iranian *stánati, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)tenh₂-. Cognate with Parthian (tndwr /tandur/), Sogdian (twntr /tundar/), Sanskrit स्तनति (stanati, “to resound; to thunder”) English thunder

Tūdeh “masses, people; heap”: from Proto-Iranian *taw(H)táH, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *taw(H)táH (“people, folk, crowd”), from Proto-Indo-European *tew(H)téh₂ (“people, tribe, men-at-arms”). Cognates include Lithuanian tautà, Welsh tud, Latin tōtus and English total

-uleh (e.g. goluleh “bullet”, lit. “little ball”) “diminutive suffix, conveying smallness, roundness, affection”: from Proto-Iranian: *-ulah, *-urah “diminutive suffix”, from Proto-Indo-Iranian: *-ulás, *-urás, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *-elós, thematized from Proto-Indo-European *-lós. Cognate with Latin –ulus,-ula,-ulum, whence English granule “little grain”, globule “little ball” (globule is ultimately cognate with Persian goluleh in both elements, the first element from Proto-Indo-European root gel- “to form into a ball, clump”), etc.

Vānestan “to conquer, to triumph”: from Middle Persian wānist, wān-, (“to conquer”), from Proto-Iranian *wan– (“to triumph, win”), from Proto-Indo-Iranian *wan-, from Proto-Indo-European *wenh₁-. Cognate with Sanskrit वन् van, English win

Varz “agriculture; craft, trade” and Varzesh “exercise”: from Middle Persian wlc (warz, “work, agriculture”), from Proto-Iranian *warj-, from Proto-Indo-European *werǵ-. Cognate with English work

Vāy “ woe, alas, oh dear!” From Proto-Iranian *wáy, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *wáy, eventually from Proto-Indo-European *wai. Cognate with Latin vae, English woe

Vazidan “to blow; movement of wind or breeze.” From Middle Persian wazīdan⁠, “to move; to blow”, from Proto-Iranian *wájati, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *wáȷ́ʰati, from Proto-Indo-European *weǵʰ– “to carry, transport; to ride”. Cognates include Latin vehiculum, vectis, whence English vehicle, vector

Vis “clan”: from Old Persian 𐎻𐎰 viθ- “house(hold), clan, royal court”, from Proto-Indo-European *weyḱ- “settle, settlement”. Cognate with Latin vicus “”village, hamlet; neighborhood, quarter” > English vicinity; –wick, -wich (e.g. Warwick, Norwich)

Yūgh “yoke” from earlier جغ‎ (joğ), from Middle Persian ywg (juğ, “yoke”), from Proto-Iranian *yugám, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *yugám, from Proto-Indo-European *yugóm. Cognate with English yoke  

Zan “woman; wife”: from Middle Persian zan, from Proto-Iranian *ǰánHh, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *ǰánHs, from Proto-Indo-European *gʷḗn. Cognates include Russian жена (žena), Greek γυναίκα (gynaíka), English queen, gynecology

Zānū “knee”: from Proto-Iranian *jā́nu, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *ȷ́ā́nu, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵónu. Cognate with Latin genū, English knee

Zard “yellow”: from Middle Persian 𐭦𐭫𐭲𐭠 zlt’ zard⁠, “yellow”, related to Middle Persian *zarr “gold”, from Parthian *zarn “gold”, from Old Persian 𐎭𐎼𐎴𐎡𐎹 d-r-n-i-y. Ultimately from a derivative of Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰelh₃- “green, yellow”. Cognate with English gold

Zarmān “decrepit old man; old age” From Middle Persian (zlm’n’ /zarmān/). Cognate with Sanskrit जरिमन् (jariman, “old age, decrepitude”). from Proto-Indo-European *ǵerh₂- (“to grow old”), Cognate with English geriatrics

Zesht “ugly, heinous”: from Middle Persian (zyšt’ /zišt/, “hateful, ugly”), a loanword from Avestan 𐬰𐬀𐬉𐬱𐬀‎ (zaēša) from Proto-Indo-Iranian *ȷ́ʰáyždas, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰéysd-os, from *ǵʰeysd- (“anger, agitation”). Cognate with Proto-Germanic *gaistaz (“ghost, mind”), English ghost, ghastly

Further reading:
Cheung, Johnny. Etymological Dictionary of the Iranian Verb. Brill, 2007.

Durkin-Meisterernst, Desmond. Dictionary of Manichaean Middle Persian and Parthian. Brepols, 2004.

Fortson, Benjamin W. IV. Indo-European Language and Culture: An Introduction. 2nd ed., Wiley-Blackwell, 2010.

Kent, Roland G. Old Persian: Grammar, Texts, Lexicon. 2nd ed., American Oriental Society, 1953.

Lazard, Gilbert. A Grammar of Contemporary Persian. Mazda Publishers, 1992.

MacKenzie, D. N. A Concise Pahlavi Dictionary. Oxford University Press, 1971.

Skjærvø, Prods Oktor. An Introduction to Old Persian. Harvard University, 2005.

Skjærvø, Prods Oktor. Introduction to Pahlavi. Harvard University, 2007.

van Bladel, Kevin T. Ancient Persian: A Linguistic History. Cambridge University Press, 2026.

Windfuhr, Gernot L., editor. The Iranian Languages. Routledge, 2009.

1. For example, Proto-Iranian, spoken around 2000 B.C. in Central Asia, inherited from Proto-Indo-European a tripartite aspectual system based on distinct present, aorist, and perfect stems. These categories remained functional in the Old Avestan of the Gāthās (c. 1500–1000 B.C.), but had already been substantially reduced in Old Persian. By the time of Darius I (c. 522 B.C.), Old Persian possessed only one productive inherited past tense, formed synthetically through an augment and personal inflection. At Behistun, Darius says 𐎠𐎭𐎶 𐏐 𐎠𐎤𐎢𐎴𐎺𐎶 adam akunavam, “I made,” with the verb combining augment, stem, person, and number in a single word. Alongside this inflected past stood a resultative construction: 𐎶𐎴𐎠 𐏐 𐎣𐎼𐎫𐎶 manā kartam, literally “it has been done by me,” consisting only of an oblique agent and the passive participle. By the Middle Persian period, this resultative construction had become the only past tense; the inherited synthetic past tenses had vanished entirely. Its expansion may have occurred during the same era of widespread second-language acquisition that plausibly stripped the language of gender and case: adult learners latched onto the comparatively accessible analytic construction at the expense of opaque inflectional paradigms. The oblique pronoun that accompanied the passive participle was apparently reanalyzed as a nominative subject and subsequently generalized. It is therefore manā (cognate with English me), not adam (cognate with English I, Latin ego < PIE *h₁eǵ), that survives as the modern Persian man “I”, while some Iranian languages retained the case distinction (e.g. Talyshi: az “I”, men “me”; Kurmanji Kurdish: ez “I”, min “me”). ↩︎