One of my favourite things in the world, wine has always been an integral and intimate part of Iranian civilisation.…
تماشا / tamāšā
As the world watches the orange-coloured player of US and international politics strut and fret his hour upon the stage…
شاد / šād
Long time no posting. This time, my dear friend Leon Aslanov, a native speaker of Armenian and a fine linguist,…
دیوانه / dēvāna
دیوانه/dēvāna is a Persian word well-understood across the Persianate world. Its basic meaning is ‘mad’ (‘insane’, not the ‘mad’ in…
دین / dīn
For the Muslim majority – either practising or culturally Muslim – of the Persianate world, the word دین/dīn ‘religion’ needs…
گل / gul
Happy mid-spring! The second month of spring according to the Iranian Calendar is known as اردیبهشت/urdibihišt (in Iranian pronunciation, ordibehešt)…
قسمت / qismat
When it comes to determinism, the Eurasian world describes it basically in two ways: either materially as a share allotted…
جان / jān
In the Persianate cultural space, جان/jān ‘soul’ is ubiquitous. It is a quintessential Persianate word. With the first person singular…
ناز / nāz
For a long time, I have been wondering how to define ‘Persianate’ cultural traits. If there is a distinct culture…
نماز / namāz
When Arabic-speaking Muslims perform صلاة/ṣalāt, Persianate Muslims do نماز/namāz – or actually, ‘read’ namāz. Among Chinese-speaking Muslims (Hui, or Dungan),…
واژهباز / vājabāz 