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Two words that ultimately are Old Persian in origin: (1) barbican 'a tower or fortification' from French from Persian barbârkhân from barbâr 'guard' (from Old Persian parivâraka, cf. wer- 'to cover') plus khân 'house'; (2) paradise (originally an enclosed garden) from Avestan pairidaêza ( pairi- 'around' + daêza 'wall' cf. English dough and Latin fingo 'to paint'). See http://www.bartleby.com/61/74/P0057400.html
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According to the AHD entry on barbican http://www.bartleby.com/61/18/B0071800.html, there was an intermediate step in Mediaeval Latin between the French and Persian. Are there any more missing steps? What contact was there between Latin speakers and Persians at the time when barbicans were being built? Shouldn't it have come through Byzantine Greek or through Arabic? Bingley
Bingley
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Bingley! You've gone Carpal too! CONGRATULATIONS!!What contact was there between Latin speakers and Persians at the time when barbicans were being built? I don't know about the missing language links, Bing, but I can tell you something about the historical connections. At the turn of the first millenium AD, in the last centuries BC, the Western Eurasian Steppe was inhabited by the Iranian Scythians; they gave way to the, Iranian again, Sarmatians - these people used a lot of ornate weaponry and gilt in their swords and jewelry. Around 2AD, I think, the Goths came into the Western Steppe from the Baltic. There followed a significant intermixion of the cultures of the Goths and the Sarmatians and what is currently referred to as the Gothic style is actually ascribed to the Sarmatians. The Mongols (?4-5AD) came in from the Eastern Steppe and displaced the nomadic Goth-Sarmatians into the very heart of Western Europe. With them they took the Iranian language, religion, and culture into Western Europe and these influences are seen to this very day. There was one Sarmatian tribe, I forget the name, that to this day lends its name to a city/town in France. A castle from the region with a good example of barbican fortressing is in Dagestan in Azerbaijan. Again, the name evades my memory. This architecture is borrowed from the region of the Caucasus and the modern day Iranian plateau. Khan is pronounced Khan-eh in Farsi and a married lady is called Khanum. Say jheem's wife (before I get another disclaimer, Bingley!  ) will be respectfully addressed as, Khanum-eh-jheem!
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There is another word, Firdauz. Which also loosely translates into Paradise, in Urdu and I think, Arabic as also, Farsi. I have heard that when the Arabs invaded Iran, words with P were translated into F in Arabic and that is how Pairidaeza came to be Firdauz, maybe. Perhaps, Farsi itself. From Parsi as it is called in India.
I came across a beautiful translation of Firdauz once:- a word to describe something so beautiful, that God could only have created it in his leisure.
(I know I posted this before, but didn't know where, so please bear with me)
Firdowsi: A great Persian writer, author of the celebrated, Shahnameh, the Stories of the Kings. This work is highly acclaimed in Iran, is *very dear to the Persian heart and every Persian worth his salt will be able to quote *something from it. Rustom and Sohrab are from the Shanameh. One of the reasons it is so celebrated is because, it is written *entirely in Farsi, (not one word from Arabic) in an effort to resurrect the Persian culture almost two centuries after Islam and its invading peoples came in from Arabia. The late struggle at resurrection sadly petered out.
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It's not as sure as I was led to believe. Meyer-Lübke derives Fr barbacane (as well as It & Sp barbacana, Pg barbacã) from a Provençal word that is from Arabic barbahhane 'wall'. He also states that "the word first comes to light in a document from Marseille in the 12th century. Whether the its entry point was in Spain or SW France, one cannot say." A third, but less likely origin, is from Latin barba canis 'dog's beard'.
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Provençal word that is from Arabic
But..but..jheem, from what I've read. Provencal and Occitania have strong connections to the Asian Steppe, both in religion and language and have hardly any to Arabic. The Moor/ Berber influence in Western Europe except in the deep South, was not comparative.
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Provencal and Occitania have strong connections to the Asian Steppe, both in religion and language and have hardly any to Arabic.
maahey-- I took a look at your other entry on Sarmatians, and must admit this is a new one on me. Provence was the first part of modern-day France to be conquered by the Romans, hence its name from provincia. Without research I'm not so sure how much of an impact the Goths (who were basically Germanic speakers) had on the area. They did penetrate into Spain, so it's not far-fetched. Sarmatia is between the Volga and the Vistula in eastern Europe. The Goths may have come from present-day Sweden and swung through Poland on their way to meet the Romans. They did end up in the Crimea and survived there linguistically until the 15th century or so. But Marseille has always been a big port in the Mediterranean with ships coming from and going to the Levant. Also, returning crusaders could have brought back Arabic words aa well as the barbacan itself from the Holy Land. Also, M-L says the word could have come from Spain from the Moors. I'm guessing that the religious connections to Iranians would be in Gascony (to the east of Provence), which was a stronghold of the Cathars (Albigensians).
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Jheem..bang on target with Albigensian. As for Marseille, trading and other connections with the Levant, notwithstanding, the time period of these influences might be a point of consideration here. It seems to me that the barbican architectural elements are from a period that is a few centuries earlier than the South's connection to the Levant.
I shall cross check over the weekend.
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