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Airyan?m Vaejah, which approximately means "expanse of the Aryans," is a reference in the Zoroastrian Avesta
Avesta

The Avesta is the primary collection of sacred texts of Zoroastrianism, composed in the Avestan language....
 (Vendidad
Vendidad

The Vendidad or Videvdat is a collection of texts within the greater compendium of the Avesta. However, unlike the other texts of the Avesta, the Vendidad is an ecclesiastical code, not a liturgical manual....
, Farg. 1) to one of Ahura Mazda's
Ahura Mazda

Ahura Mazda is the Avestan language name for a divinity exalted by Zoroaster as the one uncreated Creator, hence God.The Zoroastrianism is described by its adherents as Mazdayasna, the worship of Mazda....
 "sixteen perfect lands." It is considered the best of places, but on the other hand the Vendidad
Vendidad

The Vendidad or Videvdat is a collection of texts within the greater compendium of the Avesta. However, unlike the other texts of the Avesta, the Vendidad is an ecclesiastical code, not a liturgical manual....
/Videvdad 1 claims that there are two months of summer there and ten of winter. It suffers from flooding at the end of winter.

he Avestan language, airyan?m vaejah is formed from the plural genitive case of airya and the word vaejah (whose oft-used nominative case is vaejo).






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Airyan?m Vaejah, which approximately means "expanse of the Aryans," is a reference in the Zoroastrian Avesta
Avesta

The Avesta is the primary collection of sacred texts of Zoroastrianism, composed in the Avestan language....
 (Vendidad
Vendidad

The Vendidad or Videvdat is a collection of texts within the greater compendium of the Avesta. However, unlike the other texts of the Avesta, the Vendidad is an ecclesiastical code, not a liturgical manual....
, Farg. 1) to one of Ahura Mazda's
Ahura Mazda

Ahura Mazda is the Avestan language name for a divinity exalted by Zoroaster as the one uncreated Creator, hence God.The Zoroastrianism is described by its adherents as Mazdayasna, the worship of Mazda....
 "sixteen perfect lands." It is considered the best of places, but on the other hand the Vendidad
Vendidad

The Vendidad or Videvdat is a collection of texts within the greater compendium of the Avesta. However, unlike the other texts of the Avesta, the Vendidad is an ecclesiastical code, not a liturgical manual....
/Videvdad 1 claims that there are two months of summer there and ten of winter. It suffers from flooding at the end of winter.

Etymology and related words

In the Avestan language, airyan?m vaejah is formed from the plural genitive case of airya and the word vaejah (whose oft-used nominative case is vaejo). The meaning of vaejah is uncertain. It may be related to the Vedic
Vedic period

The Vedic Period is the period during which the Vedas, the oldest sacred texts of Indo-Iranians, were being composed. Scholars place the Vedic period in the 2nd millennium BCE and 1st millennium BCE millennia BCE continuing up to the 6th century BCE based on literary evidence....
 vej/vij, suggesting the region of a fast-flowing river. it has also been interpreted by some as "seed" or "germ". Avestan airya is etymologically related to the Old Persian ariya (see Aryans).

The term generated the Middle Persian
Middle Persian

Middle Persian is the Iranian languages language/ethnolect of Southwestern Iran that during Sassanid times became a prestige dialect and so came to be spoken in other regions as well....
 term Eranwez (which occurs during the rule of the Sassanian emperor Ardashir I
Ardashir I

Ardashir I, founder of the Sassanid dynasty, was ruler of Istakhr , subsequently Fars , and finally "King of Kings of Etymology of Iran" . The dynasty Ardashir founded would rule for four centuries until overthrown by the Rashidun Caliphate in 651....
), and the Persian
Persian language

name=Persian|nativename=|pronunciation=[f??r'si]|image=|caption=Farsi in Perso-Arabic script |states= Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Bahrain....
 term Iran-vez (forming the modern name of Iran
Iran

Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran and formerly known internationally as Persian Empire until 1935, is a country in Central Eurasia, located on the northeastern shore of the Persian Gulf and the southern shore of the Caspian Sea....
). It also occurs in a Sogdian phrase based on the Avesta.

Historical concepts

The historical location of Airyanem Vaejah is still uncertain. In the first chapter of the Vendidad
Vendidad

The Vendidad or Videvdat is a collection of texts within the greater compendium of the Avesta. However, unlike the other texts of the Avesta, the Vendidad is an ecclesiastical code, not a liturgical manual....
 is a listing of sixteen countries, and some scholars believe that Airyanem Vaejah lies to the north of all of these. Some experts (Bahram Farahvashi and Nasser Takmil Homayoun among others) suggest that Airyanem Vaejah was probably centered around Khwarazm, a region that is now split between several Central Asian republics. The University of Hawaii
University of Hawaii

The University of Hawaii System, formally the University of Hawaii and popularly known as UH, is a public, co-educational college and university system that confers associate, bachelor, master, doctoral and post-doctoral degrees through three university campuses, seven community college campuses, an employment training center, th...
 historian Elton L. Daniel
Elton L. Daniel

Elton L. Daniel, Ph.D., is a historian and Iranistics.A professor at the University of Hawaii, he received his PhD from UT Austin, and is an associate editor of Encyclopedia Iranica, and has conducted research and traveled extensively in Iran, Turkey, Syria, Egypt, France, and Great Britain....
 likewise believes Khwarazm to be the "most likely locale" corresponding to the original home of the Avestan people, and Dehkhoda once called Khwarazm "the cradle of the Arya
Arya

Arya is an ethnic epithet in the Achaemenid inscriptions and in the Zoroastrian Avestan tradition.Outside the Iranian world there is also evidence of non-single term "arya-"....
n tribe. However, Michael Witzel believes that Airyanem Vaejah was located, as summer pasture, in what are now the cool highlands of central Afghanistan
Afghanistan

Afghanistan , officially the Islamic republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country that is located approximately in the center of Asia....
 "with ten months of winter"."

See also

  • Vendidad
    Vendidad

    The Vendidad or Videvdat is a collection of texts within the greater compendium of the Avesta. However, unlike the other texts of the Avesta, the Vendidad is an ecclesiastical code, not a liturgical manual....
  • Ahura Mazda
    Ahura Mazda

    Ahura Mazda is the Avestan language name for a divinity exalted by Zoroaster as the one uncreated Creator, hence God.The Zoroastrianism is described by its adherents as Mazdayasna, the worship of Mazda....
  • Aryavarta
    Aryavarta

    Aryavarta is the ancient name for northern and central India, where the culture of the Indo-Aryans was based. It is erroneous to give this name to the whole of India, since the borders of Aryavarta have been described differently in sources from different times....
  • Iran
    Iran

    Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran and formerly known internationally as Persian Empire until 1935, is a country in Central Eurasia, located on the northeastern shore of the Persian Gulf and the southern shore of the Caspian Sea....
  • Indo-Iranians
    Indo-Iranians

    Indo-Iranian people consist of the Indo-Aryans, Iranian people, Dard people and Nuristani people, that is, speakers of Indo-Iranian languages....
  • Arya
    Arya

    Arya is an ethnic epithet in the Achaemenid inscriptions and in the Zoroastrian Avestan tradition.Outside the Iranian world there is also evidence of non-single term "arya-"....
  • Aryan
    Aryan

    Aryan is an English language loanword. As the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language states at the beginning of its definition, "[it] is one of the ironies of history that Aryan, a word nowadays referring to the blond-haired, blue-eyed physical ideal of Nazi Germany, originally referred to a people who looked vastly di...


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