# Persian: نیشاپور or نیشابور



## Qureshpor

Friends, I would like to know if the city in Iran where Omar Khayyam originated from is/was called نیشاپور or نیشابور ? It appears to be known by the latter name in Iran and by the former in the Subcontinent. Which is the correct original version?


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## persian135

Hello. This is my first comment.
well, both of these are true. نیشاپور is a Persian word with Persian pronunciations and نیشابور is a Persian word with Arabic pronunciation. in Arabic there are no letters پ،چ،گ، ژ.


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## fdb

In classical Persian prose texts the names of towns are virtually always cited in their Arabic form (Arabic being the language of administration), so in this case Naysābūr نيسابور with س. The personal name which appears in Arabic as سابور appears in Middle Persian as Šābuhr or Šāhpuhr. The correct Early New Persian form of the name of the town is probably Nēšābūr. The “Aryanised” form Nīšāpūr seems to have been invented in the 20th century.


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## Qureshpor

Thank you fdb for your response. So, it is Nēšābūr نیشابور (with a majhuul ی) and is بُور not because of absence of "p" in Arabic but because the original Persian sound is a "b".


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## PersoLatin

In Pahlavi, the MP script, the representation for /b/ & /p/ is the same, the same goes for /k/ & /g/ & some others.

In modern Persian, نیشابور is pronounced as Neišbur. It is said نیشابور was established by King Šahpur & was called نو شاهپور, that may explain the ‘ney’ sound in its modern Persian pronunciation.

Also note Afghani _neist_ for نیست which is made up of نه است/ _na_ _ast_.


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## Treaty

That would have still given نوشابور not نیشابور. The first component seems to be _nēv _(the root for نیک).


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## Derakhshan

Yes, _nēw-šābuhr_ = "Brave Šābuhr".

From the _Šahrestānīhā ī Ērānšahr_:

_šahrestān ī nēwšābuhr šābuhr ī *ardaxšīrān kard pad ān gāh kē-š pahlēzag [ī] tūr ōzad u-š pad ham-gyāg šahrestān framūd kardan_

"The city of Nēwšābuhr was built by Šābuhr the son of Ardaxšīr. At that time when he killed the Tūrānian Pahlīzag, he ordered to build the city in the same place."


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## PersoLatin

Derakhshan said:


> Yes, _nēw-šābuhr_ = "Brave Šābuhr".


So is nēw and the one Treaty mentioned the same word for brave? 

If so how did it change to نیک?


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## fdb

PersoLatin said:


> So is nēw and the one Treaty mentioned the same word for brave?
> 
> If so how did it change to نیک?



nēw-ak > nēk


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## PersoLatin

Is it correct to assume the version in نیشابور didn’t have the -ak element from the start? Otherwise did it just disappear with use?


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## Derakhshan

I read that OP *_naiba-ka-_ > MP _nēk_ (which had a transcription *[nywk']*), OP *_naiba_- > MP _nēw. _So there were two words; the one in نیشابور is _nēw_.

MP _nēw_ "brave" survives in NP _niv_ نیو with the same meaning.


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## PersoLatin

I see, found some examples:

یل *نیو* گفت آنکه بدخواه ماست
چنان باد بیچاره کآن اژدهاست
اسدی

ز پیش شهنشاه برخاست گیو
ابا لشکری گشن و مردان *نیو*
فردوسی


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## Qureshpor

PersoLatin said:


> Also note Afghani _neist_ for نیست which is made up of نه است/ _na_ _ast_.


Could "nest" be not composed of "ne" (a word for "not" along with "na") plus "ast"?


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## PersoLatin

Qureshpor said:


> Could "nest" be not composed of "ne" (a word for "not" along with "na") plus "ast"?


Yes, is "ne" common in Afghan Persian though? 

Of course "there's "est" for "ast" too, also less commonly "no" for "na" in north central parts of present Iran.


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## Qureshpor

PersoLatin said:


> Yes, is "ne" common in Afghan Persian though?


No, I had in mind "nest" in existence from CP times being a compound of ne +ast and continuing into modern era, as in Indo-Persian, Tajik, Dari and of course Urdu*

* nest-o-naa-buud karnaa = to annihilate


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## Derakhshan

In نزهة‌القلوب, a 14th century geographical treatise, it is spelled نیشاپور:


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## fdb

Derakhshan said:


> In نزهة‌القلوب, a 14th century geographical treatise, it is spelled نیشاپور:



Of course there is the question of whether the pointing is in the manuscript or was added by the editor.


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## Qureshpor

Derakhshan said:


> In نزهة‌القلوب, a 14th century geographical treatise, it is spelled نیشاپور:


Could you please provide the edition and page number. I wonder if a comparison with another edition may be helpful. fdb makes a very valid point.


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## Derakhshan

This is it, pg. 181: Nuzhat ul-Quloob - Hamdullah Mustawfi (Farsi) : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

The footnotes note differences between the various manuscripts - if we are to believe this then all the manuscripts say نیشاپور. Of course, we can't know for sure without seeing the manuscripts.


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## Qureshpor

Derakhshan said:


> This is it, pg. 181: Nuzhat ul-Quloob - Hamdullah Mustawfi (Farsi) : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
> 
> The footnotes note differences between the various manuscripts - if we are to believe this then all the manuscripts say نیشاپور. Of course, we can't know for sure without seeing the manuscripts.


Thank you. I have looked at another edition (see page 147 of the book) and here too the word is written نیشاپور. Both these books are published in Iran where نیشابور is the norm. This being so, why would the wordنیشاپور be included in a book if the normal or correct form is نیشابور?  ٰCould it be that it is نیشاپور in the original manuscript? Just a thought.

نزهة القلوب- حمدالله مستوفي قزويني.pdf


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