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a class of female demonic beings in the Avesta, often translated “sorceress, witch, or enchantress.” PAIRIKĀ, feminine, non-Gathic Avestan noun denoting a class of female demonic beings in the Avesta and often translated “sorceress, witch, or enchantress.” We shall deal with the Avestan term pairikā- (I.-E. *parikehₐ-, OPers. * parikā-, MPers. parīg, Sogh. prʾyk h, Manich. MPers. parīg, Khot. palīkā-, Pers. parī, Pashto pēraī, Nuristanī pari/bari/barai, Arm. parik) chronologically, beginning with (1) the suggested etymologies, (2) the Old Iranian phase, then co…

“The Doctors of Islam,” title given to two medieval Zoroastrian polemical treatises written in Modern Persian. ʿOLAMĀ -YE ESLĀM “The Doctors of Islam,” title given to two medieval Zoroastrian polemical treatises written in Modern Persian. More precisely, the title of the second treatise is “Another Version of the Doctors of Islam” (Pers. ʿOlamā-ye Eslām be-digar raveš). The Bibliothéque National de France houses a manuscript (No. 1022/7) which includes the second treatise among other works in Persian collected by E. Blochet (Aḏkāʾi, 1990, p. 344). T…

Iranian philologist specializing in the field of Middle Persian studies with a focus on social, economic, and ideological issues of the Sasanian period. SHAKI, MANSOUR (Manṣur Šaki), Iranian philologist (b. Tehran, 21 March 1919; d. Prague. 22 March 2000),specializing in the field of Middle Persian studies with a focus on social, economic, and ideological issues of the Sasanian period.Mansour’s ancestors hailed from the Shaki tribe living on the Russian side of the Araxes river (q.v.), but his father, Shaikh ʿAli Khan, who was a military man, moved be…

HOUMAN, MAHMOUD (Maḥmud Human; b. Tehran, 1908; d. Germany, October 30, 1980; Figure 1) Iranian thinker and educator. He is primarily remembered for his works in philosophy, history, and Persian literature.Mahmoud Houman was born in Tehran into an affluent merchant family in 1908. After completing his high school education at the German School in Tehran, he attended the Teacher Training College (Dāneš-sarā-ye ʿĀli, q.v.) and later he graduated with a B.Sc. in chemical engineering from the German-Persian vocational school ( madrasa-ye ṣanʿatī) of Tehran. Soon he began …

MONCHI-ZADEH, DAVOUD (Dāvud Monšizāda; b. Tehran, 28 August 1914; d. Uppsala, 13 July 1989), Iranian linguist and political activist. Davoud Monchi-Zadeh is mainly remembered for his contributions to Iranian linguistics, particularly to the study of Modern and Middle Iranian languages. However, he also led an active political life in Iran and abroad. Monchi-Zadeh’s family hailed originally from Shiraz, but during the reign of the Safavids the family moved to Yerevan (Armenia). His grandfather Karim Beyk and his father Mirzā Ebrāhim Monši-Zāda, bo…