Dictionary

Zend en · PROPN

Etymology

Via Zoroastrian Middle Persian znd (zand, “understanding, interpretation”), from Avestan 𐬰𐬀𐬌𐬥𐬙𐬌 (zainti, “understanding”), from Avestan verbal root 𐬰𐬀𐬥- (zan-, “to know, to understand”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵneh₃-.

Meanings

1. Exegetical glosses, paraphrases, commentaries and translations of the Avesta's texts.
   • Zand or 'Interpretation' is a term for the exegesis of Avestan texts through glosses, commentaries and translations. 1984, Mary Boyce, Textual Sources for the Study of Zoroastrianism, Manchester: UP, page 3:
2. (dated) The Avestan language.
   • [The Avesta] is the only work known to be written in the Zend language. 1819, William Erskine, “On the Sacred Books and Religion of the Parsis”, in Trans. of the Lit. Soc. of Bombay, II, 1820, page 312:
   • As to grammatical forms, the Gâtha dialect shows not a few deviations from the current Zend language. 1878, Martin Haug, Essays on the Sacred Language, Writings, and Religion of the Parsis. Trübner, page 115
   • The dialect in which these writings are composed goes usually by the name of the Zend ; it is also styled the Avestan, and sometimes the Old Bactrian, from the country Bactria, the north-easternmost region of the great Iranian territory, which is supposed to have been its specific locality. 1867, William Dwight Whitney, Language and the Study of Language, Trübner, page 222:

Forms

Relateds

Zend-Avesta

Translations (6)

hi ज़ंद (the Avestan language) · fr zend (the Avestan language) · ota زند (the Avestan language) · de Zendisch (the Avestan language) · fa زند (the Avestan language) · kmr zend (ku) (the Avestan language)