Khosrow is a male given name of

Iranian Iranian () may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Iran ** Iranian diaspora, Iranians living outside Iran ** Iranian architecture, architecture of Iran and parts of the rest of West Asia ** Iranian cuisine, cooking traditions and practic ...

origin, most notably held by

Khosrow I Khosrow I (also spelled Khosrau, Khusro or Chosroes; ), traditionally known by his epithet of Anushirvan ("the Immortal Soul"), was the Sasanian King of Kings of Iran from 531 to 579. He was the son and successor of Kavad I (). Inheriting a rei ...

Sassanid Persia The Sasanian Empire (), officially Eranshahr ( , "Empire of the Iranian peoples, Iranians"), was an List of monarchs of Iran, Iranian empire that was founded and ruled by the House of Sasan from 224 to 651. Enduring for over four centuries, th ...

, but also by other people in various locations and languages. In some times and places, and in some cases has been used as a dynastic name. ''Khosrow'' is the

Modern Persian New Persian (), also known as Modern Persian () is the current stage of the Persian language spoken since the 8th to 9th centuries until now in Greater Iran and surroundings. It is conventionally divided into three stages: Early New Persian (8th/ ...

variant. The word ultimately comes from

Proto-Iranian Proto-Iranian or Proto-Iranic is the reconstructed proto-language of the Iranian languages branch of Indo-European language family and thus the ancestor of the Iranian languages such as Persian, Pashto, Sogdian, Zazaki, Ossetian, Mazandara ...

*''Hu-sravah'' ("with good reputation"), itself ultimately from

Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. No direct record of Proto-Indo-European exists; its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-Euro ...

*''h₁su''- ("good") + *''ḱléwos'' ("fame"). The name has been attested in

Avesta The Avesta (, Book Pahlavi: (), Persian language, Persian: ()) is the text corpus of Zoroastrian literature, religious literature of Zoroastrianism. All its texts are composed in the Avestan language and written in the Avestan alphabet. Mod ...

as () and ''Haosrauuah'', as the name of the legendary Iranian king

Kay Khosrow Kay Khosrow () is a legendary king of Iran of Kayanian dynasty and a character in the Persian epic book ''Shahnameh''. He was the son of the Iranian prince Siavash who married princess Farangis of Turan while in exile. Before Kay Khosrow wa ...

. This is the oldest attestation. The name was used by various rulers of

Parthian Empire The Parthian Empire (), also known as the Arsacid Empire (), was a major Iranian political and cultural power centered in ancient Iran from 247 BC to 224 AD. Its latter name comes from its founder, Arsaces I, who led the Parni tribe ...

. It has been attested in

Parthian Parthian may refer to: Historical * Parthian people * A demonym "of Parthia", a region of north-eastern of Greater Iran * Parthian Empire (247 BC – 224 AD) * Parthian language, a now-extinct Middle Iranian language * Parthian shot, an archery sk ...

-language inscriptions as hwsrw (), which may be variously transcribed and pronounced. The

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

form was or . The

Old Armenian Classical Armenian (, , ; meaning "literary anguage; also Old Armenian or Liturgical Armenian) is the oldest attested form of the Armenian language. It was first written down at the beginning of the 5th century, and most Armenian literature fro ...

form was ''Khosrov'' (), derived from Parthian, and was held by several rulers of the

Arsacid dynasty of Armenia The Arsacid dynasty, called the Arshakuni () in Armenian, ruled the Kingdom of Armenia (with some interruptions) from 12 to 428 AD. The dynasty was a branch of the Arsacid dynasty of Parthia. Arsacid kings reigned intermittently throughout the ...

. The name is still used in modern Armenian. Notable as to the use of ''Khosrow'' as a title is the father of

Mirian III of Iberia Mirian III ( ka, მირიან III) was a king ('' mepe'') of Iberia or Kartli (Georgia), contemporaneous to the Roman emperor Constantine the Great ( r. 306–337). He was the founder of the royal Chosroid dynasty. According to the ear ...

who was known as ''k'asre'' (

Old Georgian Old Georgian (ႤႬႠჂ ႵႠႰႧႭჃႪႨ, ''enay kartuli'') is a literary language of the Georgian monarchies attested from the 5th century. The language remains in use as the liturgical language of the Georgian Orthodox Church and for ...

). This led to confusion, as some historians thought that Mirian III must therefore be the son of a

Sasanian The Sasanian Empire (), officially Eranshahr ( , "Empire of the Iranians"), was an Iranian empire that was founded and ruled by the House of Sasan from 224 to 651. Enduring for over four centuries, the length of the Sasanian dynasty's reign ...

ruler, and not a

one. The name was notably used by several rulers of

Sassanian Empire The Sasanian Empire (), officially Eranshahr ( , "Empire of the Iranian peoples, Iranians"), was an List of monarchs of Iran, Iranian empire that was founded and ruled by the House of Sasan from 224 to 651. Enduring for over four centuries, th ...

. In their native language,

Middle Persian Middle Persian, also known by its endonym Pārsīk or Pārsīg ( Inscriptional Pahlavi script: , Manichaean script: , Avestan script: ) in its later form, is a Western Middle Iranian language which became the literary language of the Sasania ...

, the name has been spelt variously as hwslwb (

Book Pahlavi Book Pahlavi is the cursive variant of the Pahlavi scripts, Pahlavi script, which was derived from the Aramaic alphabet, Aramaic script during the Sasanian Empire, Sassanid period to write the Middle Persian, Middle Persian language. Book Pahlav ...

script: ), hwslwb', hwsrwb, hwslwd, and hwsrwd' in

Pahlavi scripts Pahlavi may refer to: Iranian royalty * Seven Parthian clans, ruling Parthian families during the Sasanian Empire * Pahlavi dynasty, the ruling house of Imperial State of Persia/Iran from 1925 until 1979 ** Reza Shah Pahlavi (1878–1944), Shah ...

. The name has been variously transliterated as follows: ''Husrō'', ''Husrōy'', ''Xusro'', ''Khusro'', ''Husrav'', ''Husraw'', ''Khusrau'', ''Khusraw'', ''Khusrav'', ''Xusraw'', ''Xusrow'', ''Xosrow'', ''Xosro''.* The

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

form was ''Khosróēs'' () and the

form was and . The Middle Persian word also means "famous" or "of good repute". The

New Persian New Persian (), also known as Modern Persian () is the current stage of the Persian language spoken since the 8th to 9th centuries until now in Greater Iran and surroundings. It is conventionally divided into three stages: Early New Persian (8th ...

variant is , which can be transliterated as ''Khusraw'', ''Khusrau'', ''Khusrav'', ''Khusru'' (based on the Classical Persian pronunciation ), or ''Khosrow'', ''Khosro'' (based on the modern

Iranian Persian Iranian Persian (), Western Persian or Western Farsi, natively simply known as Persian (), refers to the Variety (linguistics), varieties of the New Persian, Persian language spoken in Iran and by others in neighboring countries, as well as by ...

pronunciations and ). In New Persian the name also became a common noun meaning '(great) king'. The word was borrowed into

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

as ''Kisrā'' or ''Kasrā'' (), a variant which come to be used in

() as well. In

Islamic Persia The history of Iran (also known as Persia) is intertwined with Greater Iran, which is a socio-cultural region encompassing all of the areas that have witnessed significant settlement or influence exerted by the Iranian peoples and the Iranian ...

, ''kisrā'' became a strong byword for tyrannical pagan kingship, and is used as a general shorthand for Sassanian rulers (hence also ''Taq-e Kasra'', literally "Arc of Kasra"), as ''

pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian language, Egyptian: ''wikt:pr ꜥꜣ, pr ꜥꜣ''; Meroitic language, Meroitic: 𐦲𐦤𐦧, ; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') was the title of the monarch of ancient Egypt from the First Dynasty of Egypt, First Dynasty ( ...

'' is used for pre-Islamic Egyptian rulers. The Turkish variant is , derived from

Ottoman Turkish Ottoman Turkish (, ; ) was the standardized register of the Turkish language in the Ottoman Empire (14th to 20th centuries CE). It borrowed extensively, in all aspects, from Arabic and Persian. It was written in the Ottoman Turkish alphabet. ...

(), itself from

. The

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

variant of the word is .

References

{{Reflist Persian words and phrases Persian masculine given names Masculine given names Armenian masculine given names Azerbaijani masculine given names Royal titles Noble titles Titles of national or ethnic leadership

See also

References