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Definition 2024

gwsʾn

gwsʾn

Parthian

Noun

gwsʾn ‎(gōsān)

  1. (Manichaean) gusan
    • 4th or 5th century, A Manichaean fragment
      cwʾgwn gwsʾn ky hsyngʾn šhrdʾrʾn ʿwd kwʾn hwnr wyfrʾsyd ʿwd wxd ʿywyc ny kryd‎
      čawāgōn gōsān kē hasēnagān šahrdārān ud kawān hunar wifrāsēd ud wxad ēwiž nē karēd
      Like a gusan, who proclaims the worthiness of kings and heroes of old and himself achieves nothing at all.

Descendants

  • Arabic: [script needed] ‎(jousān, “Gypsy”)
  • Classical Mandaic: [script needed] ‎(gwsʾnʾ /gōsānā/)
  • Old Armenian: գուսան ‎(gusan)
  • Persian: گوسان ‎(gôsân), کوسان ‎(kôsân) (or inherited from the Middle Persian cognate)

References

  • Ačaṙean, Hračʿeay (1979), “Haykakankʿ (Armeniaca)”, in Hayerēn armatakan baṙaran [Dictionary of Armenian Root Words] (in Armenian), volume IV, 2nd edition, Yerevan: University Press, pages 629–630
  • Asatrjan, G. S. (2013), “Parfjanskoje gōsān [Parthian gōsān]”, in Toxtasʹjev S. R., Lurʹje P. B., editors, Commentationes Iranicae. Sbornik statej k 90-letiju Vladimira Aronoviča Livšica (in Russian), Saint Petersburg: Nestor-Istorija, ISBN 978-5-4469-0127-2
  • Bailey, H. W. (1934), “Iranica (II)”, in Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, issue 3, page 514b
  • Durkin-Meisterernst, Desmond (2004) A Dictionary of Manichaean Middle Persian and Parthian (Corpus Fontium Manichaeorum; 3.1), Turnhout: Brepols, page 168a
  • von Stackelberg, R. (1894), “Lexicalisches aus ‘Wīs ō Rāmīn’”, in Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft (in German), volume 48, pages 490–497

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.

Ačaṙyan, who did not know about the attestation of the Parthian word, derived Persian گوسان ‎(gôsân) by contraction from Old Armenian գովասան ‎(govasan, “praiser”). As an example of such a contraction he cited Persian توانم ‎(tavấnam, “I can”) → colloquial تونم ‎(túnam).

On the other hand, Asatryan proposes derivation from earlier *gōβ(a)sān (whence possibly Old Armenian գովասան ‎(govasan)), contracted from *gōβ(a)sāhan ‎(“praise-sayer, panegyrist”), from Old Iranian *gauba-sāhana-, the first part of which is inherited from Proto-Iranian *gaub- ‎(“to say; to say positively”), whereas *-sāhana is a secondary formation based on *sanhana- ‎(“declaration”), from Proto-Iranian *sanh- ‎(“to declare”), perhaps influenced by *sāhana- ‎(“showing, indication, teaching”), from Proto-Iranian *sāh- ‎(“to teach, instruct”). For the inner-Parthian -ā̆ha- → *-ā- contraction Asatryan compares the parallel seen in the etymon of վան ‎(van); see there.

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