# Persian: خواهشاً



## Ali Smith

سلام

What does خواهشاً mean and why does it have an Arabic ending? My guess is that it’s an attempt to replace the Arabic loanword لطفاً as part of the ongoing secularization of Persian.

Here’s where I read it:

خواهشاً از پخش و فرستادن پیام‌های بدون منبع و اسرائیلیات پرهیز نمایید

Thanks!


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## mannoushka

Salaam! I expect this particular instance of extending an appropriate rule of grammar to the wrong word, an error of over-application common among toddlers in the process of learning to speak, is not politically motivated. Maybe someone said the word in jest at some point, others picked it up and propagated it as a handy though rather vulgar substitute, and before long the hybrid was being widely accepted and used in earnest. For that matter, I am not sure that لطفاً hasn’t come about in exactly the same manner, but of course I am no authority when it comes to Arabic or neologisms in general.


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## Ali Smith

As has been discussed at length, Persian is currently undergoing a process of de-Arabization as part of a broader effort to distance Iranian culture from its Islamic heritage. I would not be surprised if the effort to substitute لطفًا with خواهشًا were part of this agenda.


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## mannoushka

The _tanvin_ (ً) just happens to be a convenient device for adverb construction. We seem to have adopted it purely for this reason. This, as far as I can gather, is why concoctions such as _khaaheshan_, _gaahan_, and even _telefonan_ have stuck, so far merely as colloquialisms.


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## Alfaaz

Relevant quotes from other threads: 

Persian: Adjectives vs Adverbs With "an"


			
				PersoLatin said:
			
		

> This _an/اً _is an Arabic suffix (as you may well know). As adjectives turn to adverbs automatically in Persian, there's no need for this suffix on even Arabic words, as you can always use the adjective form of the word e.g. for دقیقا use دقیق. But when used on established Arabic words (and some invented ones) it is used correctly as an adverb (based on Arabic rules). In day-to-day speech it adds emphasis e.g. اصلا/at all, کاملا/completely etc.
> 
> * _an/اً _is sometimes used on Persian words with is wrong e.g. ‏دوما ‏/dovvoman -secondly or سوما/sevvoman -thirdly etc, also some really silly new ones e.g. on خواهش etc.


 Persian: لطفاً


			
				marrish said:
			
		

> aaqaa-ye-aryamp.
> 
> Are you 100% sure that those words are only of Arabic origins? At least in Urdu we use andaaz-an which is Persian. Are you aware of other Persian nouns like this one that can be made into adverbs? We also use fareb-an.





			
				Aryamp said:
			
		

> I'm sorry maybe I should have said more accurately "it _must _only be used" . Obviously you can use a grammar rule with any word! Just like I can say "computer-ha / computer-i" applying the grammar rules to loan words is very common and happens in every language.
> 
> Many loan words come with a bit of grammar from the original language though , just like the word "computer" which comes with the suffix "er" now Persian linguistics believe it's wrong to extract the grammar from the loan words and apply it to Persian words.
> 
> So the use of a word like "تلفناً " is totally justifiable in Arabic language however in Persian it's not right_ (even though many people wrongly use it )_ since we can use Persian grammar and say تلفنی
> 
> No doubt one can apply Arabic grammar to any word but in Persian it would be a mistake to use Arabic grammar for non-Arabic words.





			
				puya said:
			
		

> Marrish, In our highschool Farsi book we were strongly discouraged agains using arabic constructs on farsi words. Tanvin for non-arabic words is a good example: however there were fairly common before 20th century but now words like
> گاها, تلفنا
> are seriously frown upon hence they're on the way to extinction.
> There is also a tendency to use use simple ن instead of tanvin. So now you see more and more:
> قبلن, فعلن, کتبن, لطفن


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## PersoLatin

Ali Smith said:


> My guess is that it’s an attempt to replace the Arabic loanword لطفاً as part of the ongoing secularization of Persian.


That’s not true, this is just a case of faddism & laziness, all you need these days is for someone in media to use it once & that’s it.

I am an advocate of using Persian words & of replacing Arabic words with Persian equivalents, especially when those equivalents have been around for 100s of years, but I would always use ‘lotfan’ or ‘sânian’ over xâhešan & dovvoman (the latter is fairly well established in spoken Persian)

There’s also an unspoken convention, or maybe it is spoken, at least in Persian, that you naturally apply Persian grammar rules to borrowed words but you don’t apply the grammar rules of the lending language to Persian words, there are however rare exceptions.


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## mannoushka

In my personal view, even if the _khaaheshan_ fad doesn’t fade out, the coinage will most likely end up having a different connotation to that of the plain _lotfan_. It may, for instance, always sound a bit mannered, producing the same effect as “please, with a cherry on top”. If a new word enriches the language in a useful or beautiful way, it will endure.


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## Qureshpor

PersoLatin said:


> That’s not true, this is just a case of faddism & laziness, all you need these days is for someone in media to use it once & that’s it.
> 
> I am an advocate of using Persian words & of replacing Arabic words with Persian equivalents, especially when those equivalents have been around for 100s of years, but I would always use ‘lotfan’ or ‘sânian’ over xâhešan & dovvoman (the latter is fairly well established in spoken Persian)
> 
> There’s also an unspoken convention, or maybe it is spoken, at least in Persian, that you naturally apply Persian grammar rules to borrowed words but you don’t apply the grammar rules of the lending language to Persian words, there are however rare exceptions.


Regarding your first paragraph, PersoLatin, I concur with your sentiments. I thought "dovomm" on its own meant "second" and "secondly" and therefore there is no deed for a tanviin".

Second paragraph, very interesting comment. I would like to see a separate thread on this if possible.


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## Qureshpor

Ali Smith said:


> As has been discussed at length, Persian is currently undergoing a process of de-Arabization as part of a broader effort to distance Iranian culture from its Islamic heritage. I would not be surprised if the effort to substitute لطفًا with خواهشًا were part of this agenda.


I have n't read this thread and there is no harm whatsoever in using Perisan words that have been used for hundreds of years in place of or along with Arabic words. Having said this, I can not imagine two thirds of the country's name being replaced through this process, namely "Jumhuri-i-Islami-i-"


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## PersoLatin

Qureshpor said:


> two thirds of the country's name being replaced through this process, namely "Jumhuri-i-Islami-i-"


Maybe two fifth, if you count the two /-i/'s


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## PersoLatin

Qureshpor said:


> I would like to see a separate thread on this if possible.


We will all 'see' it when you've created it


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## Ali Smith

I will create it!


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## payrooehafez

Ali Smith said:


> سلام
> 
> What does خواهشاً mean and why does it have an Arabic ending? My guess is that it’s an attempt to replace the Arabic loanword لطفاً as part of the ongoing secularization of Persian.
> 
> Here’s where I read it:
> 
> خواهشاً از پخش و فرستادن پیام‌های بدون منبع و اسرائیلیات پرهیز نمایید
> 
> Thanks!



خواهش
 means please/request , you might say something like خواهش می کنم meaning you're welcome or please. It is of middle persian origin but both are used commonly.

 The sentence is "Please refrain from sending and spreading around messages that are unsourced or of Israeli origin."


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## Qureshpor

payrooehafez said:


> خواهش
> 
> means please/request , you might say something like خواهش می کنم meaning you're welcome or please. It is of middle persian origin but both are used commonly.
> 
> The sentence is "Please refrain from sending and spreading around messages that are unsourced or of Israeli origin."


If the word  لطفاً had been used, what would have been the difference in meaning?


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## payrooehafez

Qureshpor said:


> If the word  لطفاً had been used, what would have been the difference in meaning?



خواهش is a noun while لطفاً is an interjection and adverb.


The phrase  "خواهشاً از [...] پرهیز نمایید" is somewhat common and means basically "I request you to refrain/abstain from [...]."

An example of this phrase can be found here: "آقای جهانپور شما اظهارات صادقانه و درستی در رابطه با بیماری و چین فرمودید که متاسفانه دستگاه دیپلماسی به صورت ذلیلانه در مقابل سفیر چین رفتار نمود. با این حال ضمن تشکر از آن اظهارات *خواهشا از اظهارات سیاسی این‌ چنینی پرهیز نمایید *چرا که شایسته شما نیست."


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## PersoLatin

Qureshpor said:


> If the word لطفاً had been used, what would have been the difference in meaning?


There’s no difference between  خواهش میکنم or more relevant in this case با خواهش, same goes for خواهش...ا.


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## PersoLatin

Ali Smith said:


> خواهشاً از پخش و فرستادن پیام‌های بدون منبع و اسرائیلیات پرهیز نمایید


I know what they are getting at but what sort of word is اسرائیلیات? Maybe it is  ‘Israelite’


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## payrooehafez

PersoLatin said:


> I know what they are getting at but what sort of word is اسرائیلیات?



It's an Islamic reference, it means narrations from before and outside of Islam, especially from the nation of Israel/Jewish people. In this context it would mean a message of dubious reliability. I would amend my previous translation to 
 "Please refrain from sending and spreading around messages that are unsourced or of unreliable/foreign origin."


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