Persian is a Lovely Word

Persian is a Lovely Word Persian is a Lovely Word Persian is a Lovely Word By Maeve Maddox Amir Bahmanyari raises a question about the use of the word Farsi in English: . . . there is a well defined word Persian in English which refers to the language of the Iranian people. Why is it that the Arabic word Farsi [is] used in daily communications by the English speaking people instead of the English word Persian? I suspect that political correctness may have something to do with it. Since many immigrants from the Middle East refer to the language as Farsi, it may be that journalists and others think theyre being ethnically respectful by doing the same. Until fairly recently the word Farsi was little known to English speakers. Even though the country formerly known as Persia took on its international identity as Iran in 1935, the language spoken there continued to be known as Persian. As Amir points out in the rest of his comment, Farsi is an Arabic version of the original word Parsi in which the letter P was replaced with an F by the Arabic speaking people. . . there is no letter P in Arabic . . . Although the people of Iran have always called their country Iran, English speakers and most other outsiders referred to it as Persia until 1935. The change came at the suggestion of the Persian diplomatic delegation in Berlin. The suggestion may have been prompted by the fact that the word Iran means land of the Aryans and the word Aryan was very popular in Germany at that time. In English the words Persia and Persian have connotations of exotic beauty. The words suggest Persian carpets, Persian cats and Persian literature. The name Iran has less romantic connotations Referring to the Persian language as Farsi is a recent development that not all speakers of Persian are happy with. According to the ruling body for the language, The Academy of the Persian Language and Literature (Farhangestan), the term Farsi is an incorrect term for the Persian Language; an analogy would be requesting that the German language be called Deutsch by those who speak English. Wikipedia Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:30 Synonyms for â€Å"Meeting†English Grammar 101: Verb Mood45 Idioms with "Roll"