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Khvarenah


Khvarenah or khwarenah (xᵛarənah) is an Avestan word for a Zoroastrian concept literally denoting "glory" or "splendour" but understood as a divine mystical force or power projected upon and aiding the appointed. The neuter noun thus also connotes "(divine) royal glory," reflecting the perceived divine empowerment of kings. The term also carries a secondary meaning of "(good) fortune"; those who possess it are able to complete their mission or function.

In 3rd-7th century Sassanid-era inscriptions as well as in the 9th-12th century texts of Zoroastrian tradition, the word appears as Zoroastrian Middle Persian khwarrah, rendered with the Pahlavi ideogram GDE, reflecting Aramaic gada "fortune." Middle Persian khwarrah continues as New Persian k(h)orra. These variants, which are assumed to be learned borrowings from the Avestan, are the only Iranian language forms with an initial 'xᵛ-'. In all other dialects, the word has an initial f- (see details under related terms, below).

Avestan khvarenah is probably derived from Proto-Avestan *hvar "to shine," nominalized with the -nah suffix. Proto-Avestan *hvar is in turn related to Old Indic svar with the same meaning, and together descending from Proto-Indo-Iranian "to shine", ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sóhr "to shine". Other proposals suggest a linguistic relationship with Avestan xᵛar- "to eat".

Of the numerous Iranian languages in which the word is attested, the initial xᵛ- is evident only as Avestan khvar(e)nah and as Zoroastrian Middle Persian khwarrah, from which New Persian khorra then derives. In other Iranian dialects the word has an f- form, for instance as Median and Old Persian farnah-, from which Middle- and New Persian farr(ah) and adjectival farrokh derive. For many decades, the f- form was believed to represent a specific Median sound-law change of proto-Iranian xᵛ- to f-. The hypothesis has since been shown to be untenable, and the proto-Iranian form is today reconstructed as *hu̯, preserved in Avestan as xᵛ- and dissimilated as f- in other Iranian dialects.


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