Persian

Alternative forms

• گپر ‎(gapr)

Noun

گبر • ‎(gabr)

1. hauberk

Etymology 2

From Aramaic 𐡂𐡁𐡓𐡀 ‎(gaḇrā [gbrʾ], “man; person”), reflected in the Middle Persian logogram (huzvarishn) GBRA ‎(mard, “man”). The Persian word was probably used in pre-Islamic Persia to refer to some Zoroastrians in Mesopotamia (inhabited by many Aramaeans).

Traditionally has been derived from Arabic كَافِر ‎(kāfir, “unbeliever”), but that is problematic on phonetic and semantic grounds.

See Shaki in Encyclopædia Iranica for more.

Alternative forms

• گور ‎(gavr) (archaic)
• گاور ‎(gâvor, gâvar) (archaic)

Noun

گبر • ‎(gabr)

1. (archaic, later pejorative) Zoroastrian
2. (archaic) kafir, infidel
   • Attributed to both Abū-Sa'īd Abul-Khayr (967-1049) and Rumi (1207-1273)

     باز آ باز آ هر آنچه هستی باز آ
     گر کافر و گبر و بت‌پرستی باز آ
     این درگه ما درگه نومیدی نیست
     صد بار اگر توبه شکستی باز آ‎

     Bāz-ā! Bāz-ā! Har ānče hastī bāz-ā!
     Gar kāfir u gabr u but-parastī bāz-ā!
     Īn dargah-i mā dargah-i nōmēdī nēst
     Sad bār agar tawba šikastī, bāz-ā!

     Literal translation:
     Return, return! Whatever thou art, return!
     Whether kafir, infidel, or idolater, return!
     This threshold of ours is not a threshold of despair.
     [Even] if you've broken your repentance a thousand times, return!

Derived terms

• گبری ‎(gabri)
• گبرک ‎(gabrak)
• گبرکی ‎(gabraki)

Descendants

• → French: guèbre
  • → English: gueber, guebre
• → German: Geber

(via the by-form گاور ‎(gâvor))

• → Azeri: gavur
• → Ottoman Turkish: كاور ‎(gâvur)
  • Turkish: gâvur
  • → Armenian: գյավուր ‎(gyavur)
  • → English: giaour
  • → French: giaour
  • → German: Giaur
  • → Hungarian: gyaur
  • → Italian: giaurro
  • → Polish: giaur
  • → Russian: гяу́р ‎(gjaúr)
  • → Serbo-Croatian: ђаур / đaur, каур / kaur

References

• Mansour Shaki (December 15, 2000), "Gabr", in Encyclopædia Iranica, retrieved January 27, 2016
• "گبر" in Dehkhoda Dictionary.
• MacKenzie, D. N. (1971), “mard”, in A concise Pahlavi dictionary, London, New York, Toronto: Oxford University Press, page 54
• “gbr”, in The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon Project, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, 1986–
• Lokotsch, Karl (1927) Etymologisches Wörterbuch der europäischen Wörter orientalischen Ursprungs (in German), Heidelberg: Carl Winter’s Universitätsbuchhandlung, § 632, page 50b

See also

• Gabr on Wikipedia.Wikipedia