Zoroaster

Zarathushtra (Zara?u?tra), usually known in English as Zoroaster after the Greek version of the name, ??????????, was a Persian (Iranian) prophet and the founder of Zoroastrianism, which was the national religion of Persia from the time of the Achaemenidae to the close of the Sassanid period. Zoroaster was probably born in the northeastern part of Persia (Iran), though there is also a tradition that he came from Balkh in modern day Afghanistan. In Modern Persian the name takes the form of Zarto?t or Zardo?t (?????).

Zoroaster's name

The name zara?-u?tra is a Bahuvrihi compound in the Avestan language, of zar?ta- "feeble, old" and u?tra "camel", translating to "having old camels, the one who owns old camels". The first part of the name was formerly commonly translated as "yellow" or "golden", from the Avestan zaray, giving the meaning " yellow camels". A more romantic, but inaccurate, translation of the name in the past has been " golden dawn", based on the mistaken assumption that the second part of the name is a variant of the Vedic word Ushas meaning "dawn". This last translation seems to have derived from a desire to give a more fitting meaning to the prophet's name than "owner of feeble camels."

Related Topics:
Bahuvrihi - Avestan language - Camel - Vedic - Ushas

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