مینو
Persian
Alternative forms
- منو (menu)
Etymology
From Middle Persian 𐫖𐫏𐫗𐫇𐫃 (mynwg /mēnōg/, “the spiritual world, the intangible world”), borrowed from Avestan 𐬨𐬀𐬌𐬥𐬌𐬌𐬎 (mainiiu, “spirit”). Doublet of مینا (minâ), from the Middle Persian’s Arabic descendant.
In Zoroastrianism, mēnōg is the antonym of gētīg (“the physical world, the tangible world”), modern گیتی (giti, “world”). The spiritual realm of mēnōg has existed eternally, but the good god Ohrmazd created the physical world of gētīg, where humans currently live, as an arena to permanently defeat the evil god Ahriman. The opposition between these two terms did not survive into Islam, although see early quotations such as the one given below.
The Arabic loan suggests that already in Middle Persian, the word could mean "emerald" or "glass" as intangible and ethereal substances, although this is not directly attested.
Pronunciation
- (Classical Persian) IPA(key): /miː.ˈnoː/, /miː.ˈnuː/
- (Dari, formal) IPA(key): [miː.nóː]
- (Iran, formal) IPA(key): [miː.núː]
- (Tajik, formal) IPA(key): [mi.nú], [me.nú]
| Readings | |
|---|---|
| Classical reading? | mīnō, mīnū |
| Dari reading? | mīnō |
| Iranian reading? | minu |
| Tajik reading? | minu, menu |
Noun
مینو • (minu)
- paradise, heaven
- c. 1011, Abu'l-Qāsim Firdawsī, “The Reign of Gushtāsp”, in شاهنامه [Book of Kings][1]:
- فرستاد هرسو به کشور پیام
که چون سرو کشمر به گیتی کدام
ز مینو فرستاد زی من خدای
مرا گفت زینجا به مینو گرای- firistād har sō ba kišwar payām
ki čūn sarw-i kašmar ba gētī kudām
zi mīnō firistād zī man xudāy
ma-rā guft z-īnjā ba mīnō girāy - He sent a message to the countries of all directions:
"Where is anything like the cypress of Kashmar in the world [gētī]?
The Lord sent it to me from paradise [mīnō],
He told me to ascend to paradise [mīnō] thereby."
- firistād har sō ba kišwar payām
- (obsolete) emerald
- (obsolete) glass
Descendants
- → Urdu: مینو (mīnū)
References
- Ağa-Oğlu, Mehmet (1946) “The Origin of the Term Mīnā and its Meanings”, in Journal of Near Eastern Studies, volume 5, number 4, , pages 241–256
- Vullers, Johann August (1856–1864) “مینو”, in Lexicon Persico-Latinum etymologicum cum linguis maxime cognatis Sanscrita et Zendica et Pehlevica comparatum, e lexicis persice scriptis Borhâni Qâtiu, Haft Qulzum et Bahâri agam et persico-turcico Farhangi-Shuûrî confectum, adhibitis etiam Castelli, Meninski, Richardson et aliorum operibus et auctoritate scriptorum Persicorum adauctum[2] (in Latin), volume II, Gießen: J. Ricker, page 1259
Urdu
Etymology
Borrowed from Classical Persian مینو (mīnō, mīnū, “emerald; paradise”).
Pronunciation
- (Standard Urdu) IPA(key): /miː.nuː/
Noun
مِینُو • (mīnū) m (Hindi spelling मीनू)
Derived terms
- مِینُو سَواد (mīnū-savād, “heaven-like”)