"قاموس، فارسي، عربي، إنجليزي، مع أطروحة عن لغات أمم المشرق وآدابها وعاداتها" [و‎‎٢‎٦] (١٨٢٦/٥٦)

DISSERTATION.
XXXV
which has a reference to stones. The derivation
is sufficiently vague in any point of view ; but the
tracing it to an Arabic origin seems to destroy it
at once. It is not till the seventh century of the
Christian era, as before observed, that we are to
look for the introduction of Arabic words into the
Persian language; whilst Istakhar is a city of such
high antiquity, that the origin is lost in uncer
tainty and fiction. King Jamshed is the historical
founder of it: Romance carries it beyond Adam,
and ascribes it to Jan ben Jan, the king of the
Genii: the one indeed may be as fabulous as the
other, but they both incontestibly prove its extreme
antiquity. To suppose, then, that the Persians,
who appear, in all ages, to have been remarkably
attentive to give every place a name, in their own
tongue, expressive of some peculiar quality, or
commemorative of some great event, should, on
the foundation of their metropolis, their chief
temple, or their royal palace, have recourse to a
language they apparently knew nothing of, and
spoken by a people whose political consequence
could then entitle them to no superior respect, ap
pears equally visionary as hunting for the etymolo
gies of London or Paris in the dialects of China
or Japan. Mr. Bryant is led to question this
derivation, but upon grounds, I am afraid, more
refined than solid. “ I am entirely a stranger
“ (says he) to the Persic and Arabic languages:
“ yet I cannot acquiesce in his opinion The
“ place, to be sure, is built of stone taken from a
“ quarry or rock : but what temple or palace is
“ not?” This reasoning does not seem conclu
sive; for, were there not, even in England, number
less palaces and churches built of materials very
different from stone, the caprice of founders cannot
always be accounted for ; and he might, with the
same force of argument, dispute the existence of
Civitd vecchia, or Newcastle, because all cities must,
in time, grow old, and every castle must have once
been new. But the interpretation which this ob
jection is meant to introduce, stands upon a bottom
by no means more substantial; for where doesesta
signify Jire, and char a palace or a temple ? Not
apparently in the Persian, to which alone we ought
to look for the etymon of a Persian metropolis: and
this idea has accordingly been followed by the
author of the Farhang, who deduces it from a word,
which in that language signifies a large cistern or
tank hollowed out of the rock : but this derivation
appears also to be exceptionable; as every cir
cumstance of likelihood will lead us rather to
imagine that the cistern, instead of bestowing a
name, received its own d posteriori from the
temple ; to which it was not only inferior in impor
tance, but subsequent probably in point of time,
whilst the sacred application of its waters, to some
of the higher mysteries of their religion, might
soon cause the name universally to prevail, and to
denote, in general, any similar reservoir of water.
Having thus dissented from such respectable au
thorities, I shall now proceed to hazard two ety
mologies, which have at least the appearance of
standing upon a broader and more simple basis.
Istd denotes a place, station, dwelling (from the
Persian verb istddan, to stand, remain, dwell); khnr
or kh'ar signifies the Sun : whence Istakhar will
naturally imply, the place or temple of the sun.
Istd, estd, or astd, means also praise (from the verb
sutudan) ; and, in this sense, the combination of
these words will express praise of the sun : both of
which interpretations seem to be unforced, and
highly characteristic of the capital and chief temple
of an empire, where, from time immemorial, the Sun
had been the great ostensible object of adoration. 65
Shem, shamen, and shemesh, we are next told,
are terms relative to the heavens and to the sun ;
and here we have Hebrew authority: but every
conclusion the learned gentleman has formed, from
the premises, is another demonstrative proof, how
much in the dark the best judgment must wander,
when building upon etymological definitions, with
out a knowledge of the languages whence the infor
mation should be drawn. Samos, Samothrace, Sa
mara, and such like names, if they are of Eastern
extraction, must flow from very different roots,
whilst the chief point he endeavours to fix, that
Syria, from its name, was particularly devoted to
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