# Persian-Urdu: پري parii-Fairy or Jinn?



## Qureshpor

I hope this topic has n't been discussed before.

One often comes across Jinns and Pariis in Urdu literature meant for children. I always thought a "parii" (a fairy) was a seperate being altogether from a Jinn. But, in one piece of Classical Persian literature I am sure the word "parii" is being used for "Jinns". Is this the case in general in Persian or is this an old usage?


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## searcher123

However one of the meanings of پري is جن, but in modern Persian these two are used in different meanings. جن is used in the meaning of "jinn" and پري is used in the meaning of "nice girl".


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## JaiHind

In Hindi Parii परी and Jinn जिन्न are not the same. Parii परी is essentially female while Jinn जिन्न can be both may be but mostly used for males. As such in Hinduism, souls don't have any gender but when souls are stuck without taking rebirth, hence called Atma आत्मा, Jinn जिन्न or Pret, or things like that, a gender is used to describe such souls. Yet in truest form a soul doesn't have any particular gender in Hinduism.

परी
जिन्न
आत्मा


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## Qureshpor

searcher123 said:


> However one of the meanings of پري is جن, but in modern Persian these two are used in different meanings. جن is used in the meaning of "jinn" and پري is used in the meaning of "nice girl".



Thank you Morteza for confirming what I had asked. Does this word have the meaning of "sharaab" too in Persian (and Urdu)?. I say this because in the following Urdu couplet it is stated the word "parii" means "sharaab".

xabar-i-taHayyur-i-3ishq sun, naa junuuN rahii nah parii rahii
nah tuu rahaa, nah maiN rahaa, jo rahii so be-xabarii rahii

Sayyid Sirajuddin Siraj Aurangabadi


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## searcher123

QURESHPOR said:


> (...)Does this word have the meaning of "sharaab" too in Persian (...)


You are welcome. I have not heard it to now. I took a look in فرهنگ معين and فرهنگ دهخدا too. But I didn't find any meaning as شراب to it.


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## Faylasoof

QURESHPOR said:


> I hope this topic has n't been discussed before.
> 
> One often comes across Jinns and Pariis in Urdu literature meant for children. I always thought a "parii" (a fairy) was a seperate being altogether from a Jinn. But, in one piece of Classical Persian literature I am sure the word "parii" is being used for "Jinns". Is this the case in general in Persian or is this an old usage?


 In Urdu we do distinguish between the two but yes, earlier in Persian this distinction wasn't there. However, the word _parii _can be used to describe the manner / style of males too, be they, say a war horse, or a male person and be it Urdu or Persian poetry. Here is Anis’ description of the grace and beauty of a war horse:

آہو کی جست شیر کی آمد پری کی چال
اك دو قدم میں  بھول گئے چوكھڑی عزال
انیس

_aahuu kii jast sher kii aamad parii kii chaal_
_ik do qadam meN bhuul ga’e chaukhaRii Ghizaal_

… and here is Amir Khusrau using _parii_ in a descriptive compound word (_parii paikar_ پری پیکر) in his Persian poetry:

پری پیکر ، نگار سروقدے، ماه رخسارے
سراپا آفت دل بود ، شب جایی که من بودم
خدا خود میر مجلس بود اندر لامکان خسرو
محمد شمع محفل بود ، شب جایی که من بودم

     اميرخسرو دهلوي

Incidentally, پری  _parii_ makes quite few compounds, here and here.  We use these in Urdu as well!


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## Faylasoof

QURESHPOR said:


> Thank you Morteza for confirming what I had asked. _Does this word have the meaning of "sharaab" too in Persian (and Urdu)?_. I say this because in the following Urdu couplet it is stated the word "parii" means "sharaab".
> .....


 _QP SaaHib, I haven't come across this usage so far in either Urdu or Persian!_ Do you by chance have an example in mind?


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## tonyspeed

QURESHPOR said:


> I hope this topic has n't been discussed before.
> 
> One often comes across Jinns and Pariis in Urdu literature meant for children. I always thought a "parii" (a fairy) was a seperate being altogether from a Jinn. But, in one piece of Classical Persian literature I am sure the word "parii" is being used for "Jinns". Is this the case in general in Persian or is this an old usage?



In English culture a fairy is just a flying, usually feminine, magical creature. It Urdu literature is a parii the same or somewhat different?


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## Phosphorus

The same significance as English "fairy" stands for Persian "pari" and Kurdish "peri" as well: feminine and magical (maybe also flying). If I am not mistaken they are etymological cognates too.

According to the book, The God of the Witches, English "fairy" and Iranian "pari" imply same realities: indicating uncivilized humans who were well-versed in magic arts and are later, since 14th century on, assimilated into civilized societies-which they were living in the wilderness at their very vicinity.


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## Qureshpor

Faylasoof said:


> _QP SaaHib, I haven't come across this usage so far in either Urdu or Persian!_ Do you by chance have an example in mind?



Please take a look at post 15 of the link below (by Zafar SaaHib).

https://groups.google.com/group/alt...971ef?lnk=gst&q=pari+sharaab#18d0377c111971ef


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## Qureshpor

Faylasoof said:


> _QP SaaHib, I haven't come across this usage so far in either Urdu or Persian!_ Do you by chance have an example in mind?



Ghaafil tuu kidhar bahke hai, Tuk dil kii xabar le
shiishah jo baGhal meN hai, usii meN to parii hai

Dard


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## Faylasoof

QURESHPOR said:


> Originally Posted by *Faylasoof*
> _QP SaaHib, I haven't come across this usage so far in either Urdu or Persian!_ Do you by chance have an example in mind?
> 
> 
> 
> Ghaafil tuu kidhar bahke hai, Tuk dil kii xabar le
> shiishah jo baGhal meN hai, usii meN to parii hai
> 
> Dard
Click to expand...

 We are of course wondering whether _parii _in this context means _sharaab_? I somehow doubt it. I think here the meaning of _parii_ inside a _shiishah_ means that you've captured your beautiful beloved or what you desired most that is lovely.

Edit: I just wonder if the poet is referring to the heart when he says “_shiishah_”. Normally the heart is placed in the chest and not the armpit (_baGhal_)! But you never know the oblique meanings that poets get up to. A _shiishah_ can be broken and smashed, just like the heart.


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## Qureshpor

Faylasoof said:


> We are of course wondering whether _parii _in this context means _sharaab_? I somehow doubt it. I think here the meaning of _parii_ inside a _shiishah_ means that you've captured your beautiful beloved or what you desired most that is lovely.
> 
> Edit: I just wonder if the poet is referring to the heart when he says “_shiishah_”. Normally the heart is placed in the chest and not the armpit (_baGhal_)! But you never know the oblique meanings that poets get up to. A _shiishah_ can be broken and smashed, just like the heart.



I think it is even more explicit in the "daaGh" shi3r below.

yih shiishah nahiiN kih vuh jis meN parii hai
faqat dil meN Hasrat hii Hasrat bharii hai


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## Qureshpor

Qureshpor said:


> I think it is even more explicit in the "daaGh" shi3r below.
> 
> yih shiishah nahiiN kih vuh jis meN parii hai
> faqat dil meN Hasrat hii Hasrat bharii hai


Another shi3r that I've just come across where "parii" seems to mean wine/sharaab.

jaam meN apnaa hii chihraah nazar aayaa ham ko
ham to samjhe the yahaaN laal parii rahtii hai

Muhammad Alvi


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## Faylasoof

Qureshpor said:


> Another shi3r that I've just come across where "parii" seems to mean wine/sharaab.
> 
> jaam meN apnaa hii chihraah nazar aayaa ham ko
> ham to samjhe the yahaaN laal parii rahtii hai
> 
> Muhammad Alvi


 You mean to say he is not merely comparing an intoxicant, i.e. here wine (most likely red wine) and the beauty of a (red) fairy which too he considers to be beautiful, hence intoxicating, though he is looking at his own face! He is just so intoxicated!


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## Dib

I also think, this particular example is an imagery. Interesting parallel in English "green fairy" for absinthe.


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## Wolverine9

Phosphorus said:


> The same significance as English "fairy" stands for Persian "pari" and Kurdish "peri" as well: feminine and magical (maybe also flying). If I am not mistaken they are etymological cognates too.



No, they are not cognates.  Persian _parī _is from Middle Persian _parīk_, _parīg_, which is borrowed from Avestan _pairikā_.  In Avestan it meant a malicious female spirit, like a witch.  In Modern Persian it usually has a positive connotation.  The Avestan word is not a cognate of English _fairy_, which ultimately derives from Latin _fāta _'the Fates' (goddesses of Greek & Roman mythology).



> Another shi3r that I've just come across where "parii" seems to mean wine/sharaab.



This is certainly possible.  I know _lāl parī _can be used metaphorically for wine (I guess red wine).


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## Faylasoof

Wolverine9 said:


> This is certainly possible.  I know _lāl parī _can be used metaphorically for wine (I guess red wine).


 This has already been answered in posts # 15 and # 16.


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## Qureshpor

So, what does the word "parii" mean in the couplet that I quoted earlier in # post3?

xabar-i-taHayyur-i-3ishq sun, naa junuuN rahaa nah parii rahii
nah tuu rahaa, nah maiN rahaa, jo rahii so be-xabarii rahii

Sayyid Sirajuddin Siraj Aurangabadi


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## Faylasoof

Qureshpor said:


> So, what does the word "parii" mean in the couplet that I quoted earlier in # post3?
> 
> xabar-i-taHayyur-i-3ishq sun, naa junuuN rahaa nah parii rahii
> nah tuu rahaa, nah maiN rahaa, jo rahii so be-xabarii rahii
> 
> Sayyid Sirajuddin Siraj Aurangabadi


 Again, _parii_ here is just used as a symbol for an object of intense desire - one's beloved, in this case. 

After all, in Urdu we have a way of praising a beautiful woman by referring to her as _parii_:  

_uske /  unke_ (polite form) _Husn kaa kyaa kahnaa, kohistaan kii parii zahr khaa le! 
What to say of her beauty, the "parii" of Kohistaan would take poison! _<-- Literal and weird sounding translation!
_Her’s is a beauty to die for _<– A thoroughly non-literal, idiomatic and better translation of course. 

Use of _parii _to describe etherial / out of this world beauty is not uncommon in our literature.

.. and the _junuuN_ above refers to this intense desire of an awe-struck lover for the beloved. Unfortunately, the male pronoun comes in the second line though the poet is a  male himself, but this is just following a tradition which many of us have now left behind for the better.


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## Cilquiestsuens

I would like to say that this is one my favorite threads ever in this forum.

And also that the dictionary of the Urdu encyclopedia does indeed list the meaning of _*sharaab*_ as one of the possible (figurative) meanings of *parii*. (HERE, meaning # 4).


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## colognial

Wolverine9 said:


> No, they are not cognates.  Persian _parī _is from Middle Persian _parīk_, _parīg_, which is borrowed from Avestan _pairikā_.  In Avestan it meant a malicious female spirit, like a witch.  In Modern Persian it usually has a positive connotation.  The Avestan word is not a cognate of English _fairy_, which ultimately derives from Latin _fāta _'the Fates' (goddesses of Greek & Roman mythology).
> 
> 
> 
> This is certainly possible.  I know _lāl parī _can be used metaphorically for wine (I guess red wine).



Hi, Wolverine9. Your definition of "a malicious female spirit" is  corroborated by the Persian verb noun 'pari-khaani', which denotes an  exorcism of a kind, a sort of an invocation, where the 'pari' is called  upon to leave the body and mind of the person. I had better mention that  the word, as it is used now, does not refer to a religious or folkloric  ritual as such; the original ceremoniousness has probably eroded with  time, so that the word is nowadays used in a figurative sense, or at  least this is how I've seen it applied in a modern context.


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## marrish

Wolverine9 said:


> This is certainly possible.  I know _lāl parī _can be used metaphorically for wine (I guess red wine).


While I think I can agree with posts 15 and 16, yes, it is a kind of imagery or metaphor, I have a hunch about the way it took پری _parii_ to stand for مے مَی _mae_.

Faylasoof SaaHib very rightly has described the usage of _parii_ in Urdu, like that for a beautiful woman; but also other things can be parii(fairy)-natured, that is good, charming and beautiful. Courtesans (tawaa'if) used to be called "_parii_" too so it is also a way to explore.

Now in the couplet by Muhammad Alvi (b. 1927, Hyderabad) which Qureshpor SaaHib quoted, it is precisely "*laal* parii (*red* ~fairy) which you mentioned. This _parii_ (~fairy; charming, enamouring and enslaving being/object).

This all seen in fact of Urdu's using also *sabz* parii (green ~fairy), which leaving the obvious "green fairy; a beautiful woman in green" aside, for cannabis (بھنگ، بنگ bhaNg, baNg). Wine was usually manufactured from *red* grapes. It could be contained in a bottle (almost like a jinn!) and it was laal parii. *sabz parii* being *green* started to be used for cannabis.

I don't remember anything about any parii of another colour, perhaps *sufaid parii*, *surx parii* should be there if there is laal parii, I'm wondering about other colours.


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## NA65

Pari, in Persian, thus in Kurdish and Turkish languages as well, means fairy. And it is generally used to refer to beautiful women. Such as Parii Royai (woman of the dreams) or Parii Daryaai (fairy of the seas; i.e. a Mermaid), etc.


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