--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Piotr Gasiorowski <gpiotr@...> wrote:
> The name [Gk. Orophernes, with a variant Olophernes] definitely
> sounds Persian (*X-farnah- 'X-glory' in OPer. terms, cf. Av.
> xVar&nah-)... I'm not sure about the protheme, which was certainly
> mangled in the transmission. Perhaps *Aurafarna: = *a(h)ura-farnah-
> 'having glory/fortune given by the lord' (which I think is at least
> a likely interpretation of Oropharnes of Cappadocia's name).
This indeed used to be the standard explanation of the name
Orophernes/Olophernes, yet more recently a different etymology for it
has been provided which posits a correspondence between Ir. va- and
Gk. o-; thus Orophernes :: *Varu-farnah 'having wide glory' (Ir. varu
= wide, broad). Other hypothesized instances of such a phonetic
correspondence are Omanos :: *Va(h)u-manah and Ochos :: *V(ah)auka.
See at:
http://tinyurl.com/6ararb
http://tinyurl.com/68rmbh
The Ir. onomastic *Varu-farnah may be also attested in a hybrid
Sanskrit inscription in a Buddhist cave at Karle in Maharasthra
(western India). A donor who excavates a hall in that monastery is
described as "Harapharan.a, son of Setapharan.a", obviously an Indo-
Parthian name (cf. Gk. Gondophernes, name of an Indo-Parthian king ::
Ir. Vinda-farnah 'finder of the glory'). The hybrid Sanskrit name
Harapharan.a may correspond to a Parthian derivative of Ir. *Varu-
farnah.
Regards,
Francesco