cynʾl

Middle Persian

Etymology

According to Eilers, perhaps from *ča/inā-βara- (favour-bringing, favorable). For the constituents see *čan- and Proto-Indo-European *bʰer-.

On the other hand, in view of Middle Armenian ճանդարի (čandari, plane tree), Martirosyan prefers to posit *čana(h)-dāra- (literally auspicious tree), with the same first component but with *dāra- (tree) (from Proto-Indo-European *dóru), which yielded Parthian *čan(a)dār- (through early syncope) on the one hand (and hence the Armenian borrowing), and Middle Persian *čanayār (intervocalic -d- → -y-) → *čanyār (syncope) → *čēnyār (y-epenthesis) → cynʾl (čē/inār) on the other.

The implication is that the plane is thought to be an auspicious tree, in a manner associated with spirits. A reason for this could be the fact that the leaves of this tree tremble in the slightest wind.

Noun

cynʾl • (činār)

  1. oriental plane tree

Descendants

References

  • MacKenzie, D. N. (1971) “činār”, in A concise Pahlavi dictionary, London, New York, Toronto: Oxford University Press, page 22
  • Martirosyan, Hrach (2014) “Armenian čandari ‘plane tree’”, in Iran and the Caucasus, volume 18, number 1, pages 51–63
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