گواه

Persian

Etymology

From Middle Persian gwk’dy (gugāy). From Proto-Indo-European *wi (“apart”) + *kʷeḱ- (“to see”); literally meaning “to see apart, differentiate”. Compare Old Armenian վկայ (vkay), an Iranian borrowing.

Pronunciation

(Classical Persian) IPA^(key): [ɡu.ˈwɑːh]

(Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [ɡʊ.wɑ́ːʱ]
- (Kabuli) IPA^(key): [ɡʊ.wɑ́ː]
- (Hazaragi) IPA^(key): [ɡu.wɔ́ː]

(Iran, formal) IPA^(key): [ɡ̥o.vɒ́ːʰ]

(Tajik, formal) IPA^(key): [ɡu.vɔ́ʱ]

Readings
Classical reading^?	guwāh
Dari reading^?	guwāh
Iranian reading^?	govâh
Tajik reading^?	guvoh

Noun

گواه • (govâh) (plural گواهان (govâhân) or گواه‌ها (govâh-hâ))

witness
Synonym: شاهد (šâhed)
- 1705, Guru Gobind Singh, “verse 13”, in ظفرنامه [Zafarnama]:
  مرا اعتباری برین قسم نیست
  که ایزد گواه است و یزدان یکیست
  ma-râ e'tebâri bar in qasam nist
  ke izad govâh ast o yazdan yaki-st
  For me, there is no credit in this oath [of yours], that God is [your] witness and the Lord is One.
evidence
Synonyms: شاهد (šâhed), مدرک (madrak)
- c. 1260s, Jalāl ad-Dīn Mohammad Rūmī, translated by Reynold A. Nicholson, مثنوی معنوی [Masnavi-ye-Ma'navi], volume III, verse 2710:
  قوم گفتند ای گروه مدعی
  کو گواه علم طب و نافعی
  qowm goftand ey goruh-e modda'i
  ku govâh-e 'elm-e tebb o nâfe'i
  The people said, "O ye company of impostors, where is the evidence of [your] knowledge of medicine and [your] usefulness?"

Related terms

گواه آوردن (govâh âvardan)
گواه گرفتن (govâh gereftan)
گواهی (govâhi, gavâhi)
گواهی‌نامه (govâhi-nâme)

Descendants

→ Hindustani: gavāh
Hindi: गवाह

Urdu: گواه
→ Kazakh: куә (kuä)
→ Punjabi:
Gurmukhi script: ਗਵਾਹ (gavāh)

Shahmukhi script: گواه (gavāh)

References

Steingass, Francis Joseph (1892) “گواه”, in A Comprehensive Persian–English dictionary, London: Routledge & K. Paul
MacKenzie, D. N. (1971) “gwk’dy”, in A concise Pahlavi dictionary, London, New York, Toronto: Oxford University Press, page 38
Nourai, Ali (2011) An Etymological Dictionary of Persian, English and other Indo-European Languages, page 523

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