Where does “spāhān” come from?
spāhān (Pahlavi) comes from Old Median Spādānah, from Old Persian 𐎿𐎱𐎠𐎭, from Proto-Iranian *cwáHdah, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *ćwáHdʰaH, from Proto-Indo-European ḱwéh₁-dʰ-o-h₁.
Ancestry of “spāhān”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Old Median | Spādānah | — |
| 2 | Old Persian | 𐎿𐎱𐎠𐎭 | — |
| 3 | Proto-Iranian | *cwáHdah | army |
| 4 | Proto-Indo-Iranian | *ćwáHdʰaH | — |
| 5 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱwéh₁-dʰ-o-h₁ | — |