On 2007-10-18 00:18, gknysh wrote:
> ****GK: Old Persian "Parsa" supposedly meant "above
> reproach". "Parthava" is allegedly a dialectic variant. But I got
> these from Wikipedia.****
The Wiki article refers to an obscure 19th c. source. The etymology
can't be taken seriously. The meaning of OPer. pa:rsa- is just
'Persia(n)'; <parþava-> 'Parthia(n)' is probably related (as are Pahlavi
and Pashto). There are early references in foreign sources to the
Parsuwas (according to Assyrian texts, in the area of Lake Van) and RV
Pars'u-. The Ir. prototype would be something like *parc'u-/*pa:rc'wa-,
matching the Indo-Iranian word for 'rib, side' so well (cf. Skt.
párs'u-, Av. p&r&su- 'rib', Skt. pa:rs'va- 'side, flank', Oss. fars
'side') that the etymology 'border people' makes good sense. If so, they
would have been "the Ukrainians" of the early IIr. world :-).
Piotr