قلزم

Persian

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic اَلْقُلْزُم (al-qulzum), from Ancient Greek Κλύσμα (Klúsma). "Red Sea" > "ocean" (in general).

Pronunciation

(Classical Persian) IPA^(key): /qul.ˈzum/

(Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [qʊl.zʊ́m]
- (Kabuli) IPA^(key): [qʊl.zʊ́m]
- (Hazaragi) IPA^(key): [qul.zúm]

(Iran, formal) IPA^(key): [qol.zóm]

(Tajik, formal) IPA^(key): [qul.zúm]

Readings
Classical reading^?	qulzum
Dari reading^?	qulzum
Iranian reading^?	ġolzom
Tajik reading^?	qulzum

Proper noun

قلزم • (qolzom)

(historical) Clysma (ancient town on the Gulf of Suez)
(archaic) the Red Sea; ellipsis of (daryâ-ye qolzom) or (bahr-e qolzom)

Noun

قلزم • (qolzom)

(figurative, poetic) great sea; ocean
- 1932, Muhammad Iqbal, Javid Nama [Book of Eternity]‎^[1]:
  آنچه دیدم می نگنجد در بیان
  تن ز سهمش بیخبر گردد ز جان
  من چه دیدم قلزمی دیدم ز خون
  قلزمی ، طوفان برون ، طوفان درون
  ānči dīdam mē-na-gunjad dar bayān
  tan zi sahm-aš bē-xabar gardad zi jān
  man či dīdam qulzumē dīdam zi xūn
  qulzumē, tūfān birūn, tūfān darūn.
  What I saw cannot be held in speech;
  My body, out of fear, became unaware of the soul;
  What did I see? I saw an ocean out of blood;
  An ocean, a storm inside, a storm outside.

Descendants

→ Gujarati: કુલઝુમ (kuljhum)
→ Hindustani:
Hindi: क़ुल्ज़ुम (qulzum)

Urdu: قُلْزُم (qulzum)