# Persian: Peshawar



## Necsus

Hi everybody!

Could you kindly tell me where the tonic accent is in the pronunciation of 'Peshawar' ? Is it Pesh*à*war (first A), or Peshaw*à*r (second A)?

Thank you very much!


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## HKK

"Peshawar" is Persian, so this isn't really the right place. Since it's spelled in Urdu as پشاور, I'm inclined to say yes, the accent is on the second syllable. But don't take my word for it


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## Necsus

Thank you, HKK! 
Elroy has moved the thread.


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## linguist786

Yes, it's on the second syllable - Pe_shaa_war.


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## Necsus

Thanks a lot, linguist786!
Ah, just another question: the W is pronounced like the W in English, or more like a V?


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## eskandar

In Afghani Persian it would be like the English 'w', but in Tehrani Persian it would be 'v'. Also note that the first 'a' is long (tense), but the second is short (lax).


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## Necsus

Thank you very much, eskandar! And welcome to the WRF!


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## panjabigator

eskandar said:


> In Afghani Persian it would be like the English 'w', but in Tehrani Persian it would be 'v'. Also note that the first 'a' is long (tense), but the second is short (lax).



From Pakistanis, I have heard both pronunciations.  Are you referring to the Pakistani city?

And I agree with Linguist on the pronunciation


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## linguist786

The "v" and "w" difference doesn't matter at all. When I say them both, they both sound as valid as each other.


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## Necsus

Okay, I've got it. Thank you again!


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## MOST-WANTED

I am afghan.
And we Dari-farsi speaking people pronounce it like.
Peshaawor or peshawoer.
And pashto speaking people pronounce it like Pekhaawor.
W = W not V
wor in wore(2nd form of wear)


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## Necsus

Thanks again, MW!


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## Alijsh

In Persian, with exception to a few cojunctions and adverbs, the stress position is fixed. It's on the last syllable. However, in some tenses, the stress falls on the verbal prefix and there are also enclitics (that as their name suggests, don't change the stress position). 

So the stress is on the last syllable: Pishâ*var* / Pēshâ*war*


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## Necsus

Thank you, Alijsh!


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## marrish

The following entry from Platts' Urdu dictionary sheds light on its components and etymology, as well as meaning. It hints towards the most common pronunciation, which is worth mentioning since this was the focus of the thread. I thought without this information the thread would have remained incomplete.

H پيشور _peshaur_ (P. _pesh_+_āwar_), s.m. Name of a city on the north-west frontier of India (_lit._ 'an advanced post'; it was built by the emperor Akbar).
(Please note that the dictionary was published in 1884, the city is located in modern Pakistan).


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## Cilquiestsuens

I don't know for sure the etymology of Peshawar, but the one you quote is clearly wrong since the city with its actual name predates Akbar by centuries if not millenia. The first known name of this city was पुरुषपुर *(Purusha-pura), *a Vedic Hindu settlement, which became later the capital city of the Kushans. It is highly likely that Peshawar is an altered form of this name.

The Pashto forms of this city,  پېښور  hints at the *Purusha-pura* origin. It is pronounced *Pekhawor* in Eastern Pashto (the Peshawar-Jalalabad axis) and *Peshawor* in Western Pashto (Quetta-Kandahar).

The *sh* sound in *Purusha-pura* (ष) is a retroflex one, which often changes to *kh* (ख) from Sanskrit to Prakrit and then Modern Indo-aryan languages. An example of this, the word *purkha* (पुरखा / پرکھا) (meaning 'forefather') that is derived from *purusha* ('man') itself. After that, the *kh* ( کھ /ख  )  to *kh *( خ / ख़ ) shift that follows is obvious and well documented and is characteristic of Eastern Pashto as opposed to Indo-aryan languages.

Although there is no conclusive historical record of the shift, the theory that _Peshawar_ comes from Persian is pretty much invalidated by the above evidence. 

Now the fact that the name of this city as been preserved as پشاور  (*Peshaawar*) in Urdu, might be a Persian influence on that language, but that is another story.


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