To be sure, the Iranian prototype of
paradeisos (*pari-daiza- < *peri- + *dHeig^Ho-) was originally a secular
term: it meant '[a place] with a wall around it, enclosed space' > 'pleasure
ground, park, enclosed oasis', and it first spread throughout the Near East as a
world of culture ('Persian-style garden') with the help of Aramaic, before if
found its way into the Bible. I deliberately mentioned the Parthian/Pahlavi
(rather than Avestan) meaning of <ra:y> 'bliss, happiness', attributing
the loan to a fairly recent period. The initial meaning of *rajI may have been
'(mythical) land of happiness', with 'eternal happiness, heaven, paradise' being
a post-pagan semantic specialisation.
Polish wyraj 'the southern land where birds
spend the winter' is considered to be an East Slavic loan; as far as I
know, Vasmer explains <vyrej> as reanalysed <v irej
(kraj)>.
Piotr
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, December 11, 2001 11:14 PM
Subject: Re: [tied] Iranic in Slavic
Oc^en' popul'arnaja etimologija slav. *rajI, objasn'ajus^c^aja ego kak
zaimstvovanije iz iranskogo, sr. avest. *ra:y- 'bogatstvo, sc^astje', vyzyvajet
vs'o bol's^e somnenij. Iranskoje slovo ne obladajet priznakami religioznogo
termina (kstati, grec^eskoje nazvanije raja, stavs^eje vposledstvii
internacionalizmom s etim znac^enijem -- para'deisos -- prodolz^ajet sovsem
drugoj iranskij prototip).
... c^to kasajets'a pol'sk. <wyraj> 'mesto, kuda uletajut pticy
na zimy', to ono moz^et byt' belorusizmom, iz *vy-rIjI, a jego pristavka
variantna v otnos^enii k *jI-rIjI