and the 21 (2017) 389-396

SWIran. *didā- “fortress, walled residence” in Iranian Toponymy

Garnik Asatrian Russian-Armenian State University, Yerevan Centre for Asian and African Studies, HSE, Saint Petersburg

Abstract The paper deals with the identification of the Iranian place-names produced with the lexical elements derived from South West Iranian *didā-/*daidā- “fortress, a fortified walled residence” (vs. North West Iranian *dizā-/*daizā- ‘id.’), hitherto assumed to be ab- sent from the geographic nomenclature of Iran and the adjoining areas.

Keywords Iranian Toponymy, Iranian Etymology, “Fortress, Wall” in Iranian

It always seemed peculiar to me that the Old Iranian lexeme with the meaning “fortress, walled residence” in the toponymy of Iran was preserved only in its North Western (“Median”) version, i. e. *dizā-/*daizā- , while its South Western (“Persic”) form, *daidā-/didā-, has disappeared without any trace.1 Indeed, there are numerous toponyms with the ele- ment diz/diž throughout Iran, Central and even in Armenia.2 Besides,

1 Except, perhaps, dēvār, a Pers. word meaning “wall” (cf. also Pahl. dēvār, MMPers. dēwār), from *daida-bāra- or *daida-wāra- (cf. Semnani dēzōr, Gazi dīzār ‘id.’, from *daiza- bāra-/*-wāra-). It is directly evidenced in the OPers. cuneiform texts as didā- “befestigter Platz, Burg, Burgmauer” (Schmitt 2014: 169), as well as in the compounds *diδā̆ kara- “Mau- rermeister” and paridaiδa- (= Av. pairi-daēza-) attested in the Elamite by-tradition (cf. Hinz 1973: 72ff; idem 1975: 88, 179; Schmitt 1980/81: 33-34). 2 Cf., for example, Gardēz in Afghanistan, located in the Hindu Kush mountains, from *gari-daizā- “mountain fortress”; Sanandaǰ, the centre of the Kordestan province in Iran, from *sēna-diž “fortress on the mountainside” (Arab geographers call the place Sīsar <*sīγ- sar (“terrain having stone tops”); Šāhīn-dež, a town in the West province, to the South East of Lake Urmiya (formerly called Şā‘in-dеž or Şā‘in-qal‘a ; saïn “beautiful”, a

© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2017 DOI: 10.1163/1573384X-20170406

Downloaded from Brill.com09/28/2021 06:07:13PM via free access 390 G. Asatrian / Iran and the Caucasus 21 (2017) 389-396 in all Iranian dialects—starting from the Middle Iranian period—it is the “Median” form, i.e. diz (diž, dē/īz), that features as the main signifier of the concept “fortress, stronghold, fortified place” (of course, apart from the Arabic qal‘a). The SWIran. *didā-/*daidā- has not only been lost as a lexical unit in modern dialects, but it also seems completely erased from the Iranian to- ponymy, which usually retains very archaic elements, even those having left no trace in living languages and written tradition. However, as an important technical term referring to the construction landscape, it must have somehow manifested itself in one form or another. The mysterious disappearance of the “Persic” term denoting a fundamental cultural concept from the toponymic paradigm of Iran against the backdrop of the rich representation of its “Median” correlate had long been preoccupying my mind until the abundance of place- names with elements dil-, dīl- and dāl-, hitherto remaining undefined, attracted my attention. It became clear upon closer examination that it is this particular form that corresponds to the anticipated reflex of the OIran. protoform in its South Western phonetic garb. The -d- > -l- change here, irrespective of its origin,3 can be considered unquestioned: this development can be traced in many WIran. dialects, sometimes very distant from the East Iranian realm (cf. in Fahlaviyyats of mol “hair” < OIran. *mauda-, Pers. mūy, belas = Pers. bidast “span”, Avestan vitasti ; ǰel = Pers. ǰudā (<*yuta-); Kurd. lēb “deception” <*dabya-; Luri lōšāba = Pers. dōšāb “syrup”, Talyshi laxma “swamp” = Pers. daxma “dungeon”, also Pers. pil “heel” <*paδa-, pālīk “type of shoes” < MIran. *paδīk ; mul “wine” <*maδu-, etc).4

a settlement in Siyahkal, in the Deylaman shahrestan ,(دزدﻟﯿﻢ) Mongolian word); Dizdelīm of Gilan, from *diz-Dēlim “the Deilam fortress”; Dīzaǰ, name of settlements in the Hama- dan, and West Azerbaijan provinces, from *dēzak; Dizak, a village in , in the Tafresh shahrestan, Central province of Iran, from *dēzak ; Dizak (also from *dēzak), the name of a region in the historical Armenian province of Artsakh (also known as Ktiš, probably from Katiš, by the name of the fortress near its central town of Toł ), etc. 3 For a thorough consideration of this phenomenon in Eastern Iranian, see Édel’man 2006: 66-68. 4 It suggests itself that the forms with the final -l can have emerged through a simple dissimilation: d−d > d−l). However, other explanations are possible too: *-δ- in *da(i)δ- be- comes -h -, and the resulting *dih, for avoiding homonymy with dih “village”, receives the

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Moreover, all three vowel alterations of the root are testified (mainly in various combinations with adjectives or appellatives and in suffixal (دﯾﻞ) ( diδā-, full grade dīl (<*dēl*> (دل) formations): zero grade dil .-dāiδā*> (دال) daiδā-, and the lengthened grade dāl*> Below is represented the main body of toponymic evidence with *didā-/*daidā- identified among the Iranian place-names during a cursory review of the available material. The transcription of toponyms is given according to the classical pronunciation, which is historically more relevant in terms of vocalism.

1. Place-names with *diδā- in the district of the , meaning “small—(دﻟﭽﮫ) Dilča • (دﻟﯿﺠﮫ) fortress”, with diminutive suffix -čа <*-čak. Hardly here also Dilīǰa in the Gorgan (Golestan) province (ancient ): it should rather de- rive from the name of the predatory bird delīǰa of presumably Turkic origin. in the Rudbar shahrestan, Gilan, meaning “(a place—(ﮐﻨﺪﻻت) Kandilāt • abounding with) destroyed fortresses (castles)”; from *kanda-dil-āt. Arab. plural suffix -āt, as a topoformant, corresponds to the widespread Iranian toponymic suffix -ān indicating an area or space around a settlement de- fined by the main word. Cf., for example, Fūman-āt “Fuman district”, Harzand-āt “Harzand district”, Qā‘en-āt “district of Kaen (in southern Khorasan)”, etc. By the way, the name of the famous city of Herāt in Afghanistan is also formed by this model—with the help of the above- mentioned formant. In Achaemenid times, the Herāt region was known as Haraiva- in Old Persian, Harōiuua- in Avestan, and Ἄρειος in Greek, corresponding to the name of the main river of the region Harē-rūd (<*harayu- “fleeting”, cf. Skt. sarayū-) (Mayrhofer 1967: 443). In the Sasanian period, the city and its district were called Harēv, which became

cross-functional substantive suffix of the New Iranian period -l(a) -. The same process may have affected the reflexes of the other grades of the root, i. e. *dē(h)-l and *dā(h)-l, by analogy with *di(h)-l. Otherwise, dil could also be accounted for a suffixed variant of dih “village, province, region” rather than a phonetic development of *diδ-, but then its correlates, i.e., dīl and, especially, dāl, would remain unexplained. Although the anatomic names (like “neck, bosom, side”) often occur in the landscape terminology of Iran, Pers. dil “heart” and Turkic dil “tongue” must safely be discarded as possible versions of interpreting this item, for there were no item found matching them semantically.

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the basis for the toponym Herāt (with the suffix -āt) after the Arab conquest of Iran: *Harē(v)-āt > Har-āt/Her-āt/Hirāt. However, Kandil can also be derived from *kuhan-diδ “old fortress”, just like Kundiz/Kandiz/Kunduz, the name of a city in “Shahnama” and in Central Asia, which is usually explained as *kuhan-diz ‘id.’. Rudbar, Gilan province. Literally means “(area) of a—(ﮔﺮدﻻت) Girdilāt • stone fortress” or “(area) of stony terrain”; *ga/ir-dil-āt (see the previous example for the suffix -āt) <*gari-diδā-, cf. Gardēz <*gari-daizā- (see above, note 2). Rudbar, Gilan province. Literally means—(ﻣﺤﻤﻮدﻻت) Maḥmūdilāt • “(village, district) of the fortress of Mahmud”; *Maḥmūd-dil-āt (for the topoformant –āt, see the previous two items). ,is a town in central Iran, south of Qum, north of (دﻟﯿﺠﺎن) Dilīǰān • west of Kashan and east of Arak (for details, see Ṣafarī 2003/1382). Three other settlements in the central part of Khorasan and in the Rudbar and shahrestans of the Gilan province bear the same name. The resort centre in the highland region of Armenia is also called Diliǰan. The topo- nym may literally mean “(area, surroundings) of a small fortress”; *dilīk- ān, with diminutive suffix -īk (*diδīk), plus the topoformant -ān, having parallel function with Arabic -āt in toponyms (see above). The local vari- in the (دﻟﯿﺎن) ant of Dīlīǰan is Delīgān or Delīgūn. Apparently, Dilyān province of Luristan, should also be added here. Cf. also Dālīǰān (below, §3). Fuman, Gilan. Also Dilxān erroneously written—(دﻟﮫ ﺧﺎﻧﯽ) Dilaxānī • with a vāv-e ma‘dūle in xā-, and read as Dalxān), a village in the ,دﻟﺨﻮان Sepidan shahrestan in Fars. It means, probably, “fortress with a spring”; for xān(ī), cf. Kurdish kānī, Tal. hōnī, xōnī “spring, source” (< OIran. *xā-); in the Takab shahrestan of (دل ﺑﻼﻏﯽ) dil(ak)-xānī(k). Similarly, Dilbulāγī*> the , but with the Turkic bulağ “spring”. See also Dālxānī (below, §3). a village in Sabzavar, Khorasan, meaning literally—( دل ﻏﻨﺪ) Dilγand • “village-fortress” or “village near the fortress”; γand <*kanta-, Sogd. kanθ, in the Khoy shahrestan of (دﻟﮑﻨﺪی) Turk. (< Iran.) ke/andi ; cf. also Dilkandī the West Azerbaijan province. Bijar, Kurdistan, meaning lit. “(settlement on the—(ﺧﻮدﻻن) Xwadilān • territory) of one’s own fortress”; *xwa-dil-ān (?); Kurd. xwa “one’s own, self”.

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Sarab, West Azerbaijan, meaning “(area) of a small—(ﮐﮭﺪﻻن) Kihdilān • -small, lesser”; sometimes pronounced as Keh“ ( ﮐﮫ .fortress”; kih (Pers dolān. Charoymag, East Azerbaijan; means literally “strong—( ﺳﺨﺖ دل) Saxtdil • (well-fortified) fortress”; saxt “strong”. .Varzakan, East Azerbaijan; erroneously read toxmdel—(ﺗﺨﻢ دل) Taxmdil • Literally means “strong fortress”; taxm = Pers. tahm “strong, powerful”, Av. taxma- “strong, courageous, heroic”; cf. tahmtan “(man with a) strong body”, one of the epithets of Rustam in “Shahnama” (see below, §2, s.v. Tandīl). ”Varzakan, East Azerbaijan. Means “stone fortress—(ﺳﻐﻨﺪل) Siγindil • < *siγēn-dil ; siγ “stone” < OIran. *sikā-. On the nearby highlands of this village, there are traces of several constructions, including an Urartian fortress, built, according to the inscription found there, upon the order of the King of Urartu Sarduri II, the son of Argishti in 735-733 B.C. Here also ,in ( ﺳﻘﺪل ,undoubtedly belongs Siγdil (mistakenly written with qāf but without the -ēn suffix of the relative adjective. located in the same area and called Sūmadel by—(ﺻﻮﻣﻌﮫ دل) Ṣoma‘a-dil • the local inhabitants. The meaning is “monastery-fortress”. in Kohgiluye-Boyrahmadi. The meaning is not—(دل ﮐﻮن) Dilkūn • amenable to a concrete formulation: kūn means “backside, buttocks”, often serving as a comparison term in Iranian dialects (in all regions); for example, kūnbāfī “elbow” in the central dialects, literally meaning “back of the forearm”. in Central Khorasan; is composed with a very common—(دل آﺑﺎد) Dilābād • topoformant -ābād (<*ā-pāta-) pointing to a populated place. The mean- ing is “settlement with a fortress”. -Salmas, West Azerbaijan. The second part, -zīh, is ob—(دﻟﺰی) (Dil(a)zī(h • scure; hardly zih “source, spring, running water”. village in Fuman, Gilan; pronounced also as Zyūdil. The—(زودل) Zūdil • first component z(y)ū- can be interpreted in two ways on the basis of the local Talishi dialect: “son, lad” or “power, strength”. There is also Jīrzūdil ,”in the same area, i. e. “Lower Zūdil”—Tal. ǰīr “bottom, lower (ﺟﯿﺮزودل) Kurd. žēr, Pers. zēr < hača-adari-. a ruined historical city in the north of Afghanistan—(دﻟﺒﺮﺟﯿﻦ) Dilbarǰēn • to the northwest of the city of Balkh. Means “fortress on the hill” or “high fortress”; -barǰēn <*baržaina- (with a metathesis from *barzanya- “hill, top”). Cf. below Dilvarzēn.

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,an ancient settlement in the south of Uzbekistan—(دﻟﻮرزﯾﻦ) Dilvarzēn • on the territory of Bactria, also Dilvarzēn-tappa, i. e. “D-n Hill” (called also Dalverzin-teppe). A similar formation with the same meaning as the preceding toponym: -varzēn is a dialectal variant of barǰēn in Dilbarǰēn (see the preceding item).

2. Place-names with *daiδā- In the entire body of Iranian toponyms I managed to find only two examples with dīl (<*dēl). Perhaps, the rarity of such names can be explained by the not infrequent vagueness of methods of official fixation of toponyms and by the absence of a strict scientific approach to this sphere in Iran. It can be definitely stated that the long -ī- in dīl in the local pronunciation of names (of course, given their absence in written sources) could be perceived as a short -i- (= Pers. -e-) by a Persian- speaking registrar who could have, certainly, understood the component as del “heart”. Therefore, it is possible that some of the toponyms considered above (see §1) actually reflect dīl, rather than dil. ,a village in Kohgiluye-Boyrahmadi, meaning just “fortress—(دﯾﻞ) Dīl • fortified place” (<*daiδā-). Kaenat, Southern Khorasan. It is unlikely that tan- could—(ﺗﻨﺪﯾﻞ) Tandīl • mean “body” in this case. It is rather an adapted form of a certain lexeme, which has a relevant meaning for the given toponym. It may rather be tahm “strong”: *Tahmdīl could easily turn into Tandīl (see above, § 1, s.v. Taxmdil). Tand-īl is also unlikely, since the suffix -īl, as far as I know, does not occur in Iranian toponymy.5

3. Place-names with *dāiδā- -a settlement in Ramsar, Mazandaran (sometimes er—(داﻟﺨﺎﻧﯽ) Dālxānī • .( see above, §1, s. v. Dilxānī ; داﻟﺨﻮاﻧﯽ roneously written Saveh, Central Province. Means “land (place) of—(داﻟﺴﺘﺎن) Dālistān • fortresses”. Near the village, on a hill called Tappe-ye Dālestān, there are ruins of an ancient structure of the pre-Islamic period. The toponym contains the suffix -stān, which forms the names of areas and countries.

5 Names, such as Ardabīl, Andabīl, Šūrabīl, etc. are created with -bīl, a multifaceted and highly original element, often traced in hydrotoponymy of the South Caspian-Aturpatakan region (see my forthcoming publication in this journal).

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-Piranshahr, West Azerbaijan. The meaning is, proba—(داﻻوان) Dālāvān • bly, “a fortress settlement”; -āvān (<*ā-wahāna-) is a formant indicating a place, settlement, abode. Cf. Arm. (< Iran.) avan “village, settlement”. Faruj, North Khorasan. A similar formation with the—(داﻟﯿﺠﺎن) Dālīǰān • same meaning as that of Dilīǰān (see above, §1). ,Dena, Kohgiluye-Boyrahmadi; čāl “pit”, but, apparently—(ﭼﺎل دال) Čāldāl • this should be a collision of the form čahār “four”: *čārdāl > čāldāl. Thus, the original meaning of the word could be “(the place) of four fortresses”. in the same area; tangāb “shallow pond” (there—(ﺗﻨﮓ آب دال) Tangābdāl • is also a village with this name in Ize, ). The meaning is “fortress (near the village of) Tangāb” or “fortress (near a brook with) shallow water”. (Jajrom, North Khorasan. The meaning is “(village—(ﺳﻔﯿﺪ داﻟﯽ) Safīddālī • of the white fortress”; safīd “white”. Jiransu, North Khorasan. The meaning is “a hill—(داﻟﻖ ﺗﭙﮫ) Dālaq-tappa • (on which there is) a small fortress”; tappa “hill”, dālaq <*dālak. The place .dilak*> (دﻟﻖ ﺗﭙﮫ) (is also called Dilaq (tappa - Divandarre, Kordestan; composed with the topoformant—(داﻻن) Dālān • ān. The meaning is “(land, area ) of fortresses”, hardly “corridor”!

Thus, a general examination of the Iranian toponyms containing dil/dīl/dāl demonstrates that they are found throughout the whole terrain of Iran, though concentrated mainly in the South Caspian zone, in Khora- san, in Aturpatakan and in the Kurdish-speaking areas. Moreover, the presence of parallel variants—with dil and dāl—excludes any other origin of the examined lexeme but one suggested here. Further, a review of the assumed meanings of the studied place-names suggests that the primary semantics of the Old Iranian protoform (“fortress, fortification, walled residence”) has acquired in the toponymic paradigm some shades of meaning like “populated place, abode”, as well as “elevated place; hill; rocky terrain”. Therefore, in many instances, the meaning of “fortress” is only visible with a certain stretch.

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