Historically, Iran was commonly referred to as "Persia" in theWestern world.[1] Likewise, the modern-dayethnonym "Persian" was typically used as ademonym for all Iranian nationals, regardless of whether or not they wereethnic Persians. This terminology prevailed until 1935, when, during an international gathering forNowruz, theShah of Iran,Reza Shah Pahlavi officially requested that foreign delegates begin using theendonym "Iran" in formal correspondence. Subsequently, "Iran" and "Iranian" were standardised as the terms referring to the country and its citizens, respectively. In 1959, the last Iranian Shah,Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, announced that it was appropriate to use both "Persia" and "Iran" in formal correspondence.[2] Dana Pishdar (Zana Vahidzadeh) notes that the terminology shift from "Persia" to "Iran" in 1935 was more than a mere change in foreign naming conventions; it represented a reclamation of national identity rooted deeply in the region's long history.[3] A variety of scholars from theMiddle Ages, such as theKhwarazmian polymathAl-Biruni, also used terms like "Xuniras" (Avestan:Xvaniraθa-,transl. "self-made, not resting on anything else") to refer to Iran: "which is the center of the world, [...] and it is the one wherein we are, and the kings called it theIranian realm."[4]
TheModern Persian wordĪrān (ایران) derives immediately fromMiddle PersianĒrān (Pahlavi spelling:ʼyrʼn), attested in a third century AD inscription that accompanies the investiture relief of the firstSasanian kingArdashir I atNaqsh-e Rostam.[5] In this inscription, the king's Middle Persian appellation isardašīr šāhān šāh ērān in theParthian language inscription that accompanies the Middle Persian one. The king is also titledardašīr šāhān šāh aryān (Pahlavi:... ʼryʼn) both meaningking of kings of the Aryans.[5][6]
Thegentilicēr- andary- inērān andaryān derives fromOld Iranian*arya-[5] ([Old Persian]airya-,Avestanairiia-, etc.), meaning "Aryan",[5] in the sense of "of the Iranians".[5][7] This term is attested as an ethnic designator inAchaemenid inscriptions and in theZoroastrianAvesta tradition,[8][n 1] and it seems "very likely"[5] that in Ardashir's inscriptionērān still retained this meaning, denoting the people rather than the empire.
It reappears in theAchaemenid era where theElamite version of theBehistun Inscription twice mentionsAhura Mazda asnap harriyanam "the god of the Iranians".[9][10][11][12][13][14]
Notwithstanding this inscriptional use ofērān to refer to theIranian peoples, the use ofērān to refer to the empire (and the antonymicanērān to refer to Roman territories) is also attested by the early Sasanian era. Bothērān andanērān appear in 3rd century calendrical text written byMani. In an inscription of Ardashir's son and immediate successor,Shapur I "apparently includes inĒrān regions such asArmenia and theCaucasus which were not inhabited predominantly by Iranians".[15] InKartir's inscriptions (written thirty years after Shapur's), the high priest includes the same regions (together with Georgia, Albania, Syria and the Pontus) in his list of provinces of the antonymicAnērān.[15]Ērān also features in the names of the towns founded by Sassanid dynasts, for instance inĒrān-xwarrah-šābuhr "Glory of Ērān (of) Shapur". It also appears in the titles of government officers, such as inĒrān-āmārgar "Accountant-General (of)Ērān" orĒrān-dibirbed "Chief Scribe (of)Ērān".[5]
The termIranian appears in ancient texts with diverse variations. This includesArioi (Herodotus),Arianē (Eratosthenes apudStrabo),áreion (Eudemus of Rhodes apudDamascius),Arianoi (Diodorus Siculus) in Greek andAri inArmenian; those, in turn, come from the Iranian forms:ariya in Old Persian,airya inAvestan,ariao inBactrian,ary inParthian andēr in Middle Persian.[16]
TheGreeks (who had previously tended to use names related to "Median") began to use adjectives such asPérsēs (Πέρσης),Persikḗ (Περσική) orPersís (Περσίς) in the fifth century BC to refer toCyrus the Great's empire (a word understood to mean "country").[17] Such words were taken from theOld PersianPārsa – the name of the people from whom Cyrus the Great of theAchaemenid dynasty emerged and over whom he first ruled (before he inherited or conquered other Iranian Kingdoms). The Pars tribe gave its name to the region where they lived (the modern day province is calledFars/Pars), but the province in ancient times was smaller than its current area.[citation needed] InLatin, the name for the whole empire wasPersia, while theIranians knew it asIran orIranshahr.[citation needed]
In the later parts of theBible, where this kingdom is frequently mentioned (Books ofEsther,Daniel,Ezra andNehemiah), it is calledParas (Biblical Hebrew:פרס), or sometimesParas u Madai (פרס ומדי), ("Persia andMedia"). The Arabs likewise referred to Iran and the Persian (Sassanian) Empire asBilād Fāris (Arabic:بلاد فارس), in other words "Lands of Persia", which would become the popular name for the region in Muslim literature. They also usedBilād Ajam (Arabic:بلاد عجم) as an equivalent or synonym to "Persia". The Turks also used this term, but adapted toIranian (specifically,Persian) language form as "Bilad (Belaad) eAjam".
A Greek folk etymology connected the name toPerseus, a legendary character inGreek mythology.Herodotus recounts this story,[18] devising a foreign son,Perses, from whom the Persians took the name. Apparently, the Persians themselves knew the story,[19] asXerxes I tried to use it to suborn theArgives during his invasion of Greece, but ultimately failed to do so.
In the Iranian tradition, the world is divided into seven circular regions, orkarshvars, separated from one another by forests, mountains, or water. Six of those regions flank a central one calledXvaniraθa- in Avesta andXuniras in New Persian, which probably means 'self-made, not resting on anything else'. It was equal in size to all the rest combined and surpassed them in prosperity and fortune. Originally, onlyXuniras was inhabited by humans, which also hosted the "Iranian home" (Airyō.šayana- in the Avestan). But in the later tradition, that is, from about 620,Xuniras came to be the same as Iran itself, with known countries such as theRoman Empire andChina surrounding it. TheAbu-Mansuri Shahnameh describesXuniras as such: "(and) the seventh, which is the center of the world,Xuniras-e bāmi (splendidXuniras), and it is the one wherein we are, and the kings called it the Iranian realm/Ērānšahr." Another scheme of the seven regions of the world is reported byAbu Rayhan Biruni, who similarly arranges known nations into six connectedcircles surrounding the centralĒrānšahr.[4]
The exonymPersia was the official name of Iran in theWestern world before March 1935, but theIranian peoples inside their country since the time ofZoroaster (probably circa 1000 BC), or even before, have called their countryArya,Iran,Iranshahr,Iranzamin (Land of Iran),Aryānām (the equivalent ofIran in theproto-Iranian language) or its equivalents. The termArya has been used by the Iranian people, as well as by the rulers and emperors of Iran, from the time of the Avesta. Evidently from the time of theSassanids (226–651 CE) Iranians have called itIran, meaning the "Land of the Aryans" andIranshahr. InMiddle Persian sources, the nameArya andIran is used for the pre-Sassanid Iranian empires as well as the Sassanid empire. As an example, the use of the name "Iran" forAchaemenids in theMiddle Persian book ofArda Viraf refers to the invasion of Iran byAlexander the Great in 330 BC.[20] The Proto-Iranian term for Iran is reconstructed as *Aryānām (thegenitive plural of the word *Arya); theAvestan equivalent isAiryanem (as inAiryanem Vaejah). The internal preference for "Iran" was noted in some Western reference books (e.g. the Harmsworth Encyclopaedia,circa 1907, entry for Iran: "The name is now the official designation of Persia.") but for international purposes,Persia was the norm.[21]
In the mid-1930s, the ruler of the country,Reza Shah Pahlavi, moved towards formalising the nameIran instead ofPersia for all purposes. In theBritish House of Commons the move was reported upon by the United KingdomSecretary of State for Foreign Affairs as follows:[22]
On the 25th December [1934] the Persian Ministry for Foreign Affairs addressed a circular memorandum to the Foreign Diplomatic Missions in Tehran requesting that the terms "Iran" and "Iranian" might be used in official correspondence and conversation as from the next 21st March, instead of the words "Persia" and "Persian" hitherto in current use. His Majesty's Minister in Tehran has been instructed to accede to this request.
The decree of Reza Shah affecting nomenclature duly took effect on 21 March 1935.[citation needed]
To avoid confusion between the two neighboring countries of Iran andIraq, which were both involved inWorld War II and occupied by the Allies,Winston Churchill requested from the Iranian government during theTehran Conference for the old and distinct name "Persia to be used by the United Nations [i.e., the Allies] for the duration of the common War". His request was approved immediately by the Iranian Foreign Ministry. The Americans, however, continued usingIran as they then had little involvement in Iraq to cause any such confusion.[citation needed]
In the summer of 1959, following concerns that the native name had, asMohammad Ali Foroughi[23] put it, "turned a known into an unknown", a committee was formed, led by noted scholarEhsan Yarshater, to consider the issue again. They recommended a reversal of the 1935 decision, andMohammad Reza Pahlavi approved this. However, the implementation of the proposal was weak, simply allowingPersia andIran to be used interchangeably.[2] Today, both terms are common;Persia mostly in historical and cultural contexts,Iran mostly in political contexts.
In recent years most exhibitions of Persian history, culture and art in the world have used the exonymPersia (e.g., "Forgotten Empire; Ancient Persia", British Museum; "7000 Years of Persian Art", Vienna, Berlin; and "Persia; Thirty Centuries of Culture and Art", Amsterdam).[24] In 2006, the largest collection of historical maps of Iran, entitledHistorical Maps of Persia, was published in the Netherlands.[25]
In the 1980s, ProfessorEhsan Yarshater (editor of theEncyclopædia Iranica) started to publish articles on this matter (in bothEnglish andPersian) inRahavard Quarterly,Pars Monthly,Iranian Studies, etc. After him, a few Iranian scholars and researchers such as Prof. Kazem Abhary, and Prof.Jalal Matini followed the issue. Several times since then, Iranian magazines and websites have published articles from those who agree or disagree with usage ofPersia andPersian in English.
There are many Iranians in the West who preferPersia andPersian as the English names for the country and nationality, similar to the usage ofLa Perse/persan inFrench.[26] According toHooman Majd, the popularity of the termPersia among the Iranian diaspora stems from the fact that"'Persia' connotes a glorious past they would like to be identified with, while 'Iran' since1979 revolution... says nothing to the world butIslamic fundamentalism."[27]
Since 1 April 1979, the official name of the Iranian state isJomhuri-ye Eslâmi-ye Irân (Persian:جمهوری اسلامی ایران), which is generally translated as theIslamic Republic of Iran in English.
Other official names wereDowlat-e Aliyye-ye Irân (Persian:دولت علیّهٔ ایران) meaning theSublime State of Persia andKešvar-e Šâhanšâhi-ye Irân (Persian:کشور شاهنشاهی ایران) meaningImperial State of Persia and theImperial State of Iran after 1935.
The Persian pronunciation ofIran is[ʔiːˈɾɒːn].Commonwealth English pronunciations ofIran are listed in theOxford English Dictionary as/ɪˈrɑːn/ and/ɪˈræn/,[28] whileAmerican English dictionaries provide pronunciations which map to/ɪˈrɑːn,-ˈræn,aɪˈræn/,[29] or/ɪˈræn,ɪˈrɑːn,aɪˈræn/. TheCambridge Dictionary lists/ɪˈrɑːn/ as the British pronunciation and/ɪˈræn/ as the American pronunciation.Voice of America's pronunciation guide provides/ɪˈrɑːn/.[30]
Some Americans prefer to pronounce the wordIran withAmerican English phonology:/aɪˈræn/ oreye-RAN.[31][32][33][34] Many Americansmistook the hit songI Ran as a reference to Iran.[35] The common American pronunciation has been heavily criticised by persons familiar with the Persian pronunciation.[33][34]
'Iran' and 'Persia' are synonymous. The former has always been used by the Iranian speaking peoples themselves, while the latter has served as the international name of the country in various languages.
Persian objects at Hermitage
Iran, or Persia as it was known in the West for most of its long history, has been mapped extensively for centuries but the absence of a good cartobibliography has often deterred scholars of its history and geography from making use of the many detailed maps that were produced. This is now available, prepared byCyrus Alai who embarked on a lengthy investigation into the old maps of Persia, and visited major map collections and libraries in many countries ...
