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Help[Facts] The name Aprasion.
Hello everyone,
I recently came across an archaic Georgian masculine given name, Aprasion (აფრასიონ), which I would gladly like to find out more about. :)
Various Georgian sources state that Aprasion is of Persian origin, but only one of them actually provided a meaning for it. They used the Georgian word მრისხანე (mriskhane) to give the meaning with, and according to Wiktionary, mriskhane means the following: "ferocious, redoubtable, truculent, wrathful." In case it may help, here is the direct link to the Wiktionary article for mriskhane:
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E1%83%9B%E1%83%A0%E1%83%98%E1%83%A1%E1%83%AE%E1%83%90%E1%83%9C%E1%83%94
Google Translate translates mriskhane as "terrible".
I cannot find the Persian equivalents of these meanings on Wiktionary, so I can't check if one of their Persian equivalents resembles the name Aprasion. I do have "A concise Pahlavi dictionary" by D. N. MacKenzie, however. Pahlavi is the same as Middle Persian, which is older than modern Persian (of course), but it's still Persian, so that dictionary is still relevant and useful. The closest to the aforementioned meanings I could find in the dictionary, are the following:
āhr = "dread, fury"
aryand = "horrible"
bīmgĕn = "fearful, terrible" (ultimately from bīm meaning "fear, terror")
sahmgĕn = "terrible" (ultimately from sahm meaning "terror")
sturg = "fierce"
xĕšm = "wrath"
(The other meanings aren't listed in the dictionary, so I tried to find synonyms of them instead.)
Clearly, none of these Middle Persian words even closely resemble the given name Aprasion. So far, then, there is no way to tell that even if Aprasion is indeed of Persian origin, the mriskhane meaning provided is correct.
I'm very much inclined to believe that Aprasion is of Persian origin, though. For that, I point to an other archaic Georgian masculine given name, Apridon (the more modern Georgian form is Pridon). Apridon is the old Georgian form of Afrīdōn (also found spelled as Afrīdūn), which is the arabized form of the Persian name Fereydūn (see Fereydoun). Also compare the Middle Persian form of Fereydūn, which is Frēdōn.
Aprasion and Apridon look fairly alike, so that's why I am inclined to believe that Aprasion is indeed of Persian origin. Given how the -f- in Afrīdōn became a -p- in Georgian (as Apridon), it's possible that the same happened with Aprasion. The original Persian name would then have been something that looks like Afrasion. I must say that quite reminds me of Afrasiab, which is the name of a character in the 11th-century epic poem "Shahnameh" written by the Persian poet Ferdowsi. I have no idea whether that name is related to Afrasion/Aprasion, though. For more information about Afrasiab, please see this Wikipedia article dedicated to him, which also includes other forms of his name:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afrasiab
Afrasiab is said to mean "beyond the black river", as is mentioned in the Wikipedia article for Afrasiyab, an ancient site of northern Samarkand (Uzbekistan):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afrasiyab_%28Samarkand%29
Further, in my Pahlavi dictionary, I was able to find some words that resemble Aprasion/Afrasion (this time, I went looking for physical resemblance, instead of looking for meanings):
abrāstan = "to lift, to raise"
abrāz / afrāz = "acclivity"
abrēšom = "silk"
āfrāh = "teaching, doctrine"
afrasāwand = "imperishable"
āfrīdan = "to praise, to bless, to create" (ultimately from āfrīn meaning "praise, blessing")
ahrāftan = "to raise, to lead up"
I can't say for certain whether any of these words are related to Aprasion/Afrasion, however.
Lastly, there is the possibility that I have to consider that Aprasion isn't of Persian origin at all - but rather, of Greek origin (which is logical, since -ion is a common suffix in Greek names). In that case, it would probably be derived from (or related to) Greek ἀπρασία (aprasia) "want of purchasers, no sale" or Greek ἀπραγία (apragia) "inaction" (ultimately from Greek ἀπραγέω (aprageō) "to do nothing, to remain quiet"). Other possibilities are Greek ἀφραδία (aphradia) "folly, thoughtlessness" (ultimately from Greek ἀφραδέω (aphradeō) "to be senseless, behave thoughtlessly") and Greek ἀφράζω (aphrazō) (meaning not provided, or uncertain). I found all of these words on Perseus Digital Library of Tufts University.
I'm not inclined to put much stock in the Greek origin option, though. The possible Greek meanings are rather negative and therefore it seems unlikely any new parents were ever inspired to derive their son's name from any of these Greek words. It's not impossible, of course - but it seems unlikely to me.
This is all that I was able to dig up for Aprasion/Afrasion, I'm afraid.
I would be very interested to hear if any of you have additional information regarding the etymology of Aprasion: it would be much appreciated, and I thank you kindly in advance. :)
Sincerely,
Lucille
I recently came across an archaic Georgian masculine given name, Aprasion (აფრასიონ), which I would gladly like to find out more about. :)
Various Georgian sources state that Aprasion is of Persian origin, but only one of them actually provided a meaning for it. They used the Georgian word მრისხანე (mriskhane) to give the meaning with, and according to Wiktionary, mriskhane means the following: "ferocious, redoubtable, truculent, wrathful." In case it may help, here is the direct link to the Wiktionary article for mriskhane:
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E1%83%9B%E1%83%A0%E1%83%98%E1%83%A1%E1%83%AE%E1%83%90%E1%83%9C%E1%83%94
Google Translate translates mriskhane as "terrible".
I cannot find the Persian equivalents of these meanings on Wiktionary, so I can't check if one of their Persian equivalents resembles the name Aprasion. I do have "A concise Pahlavi dictionary" by D. N. MacKenzie, however. Pahlavi is the same as Middle Persian, which is older than modern Persian (of course), but it's still Persian, so that dictionary is still relevant and useful. The closest to the aforementioned meanings I could find in the dictionary, are the following:
āhr = "dread, fury"
aryand = "horrible"
bīmgĕn = "fearful, terrible" (ultimately from bīm meaning "fear, terror")
sahmgĕn = "terrible" (ultimately from sahm meaning "terror")
sturg = "fierce"
xĕšm = "wrath"
(The other meanings aren't listed in the dictionary, so I tried to find synonyms of them instead.)
Clearly, none of these Middle Persian words even closely resemble the given name Aprasion. So far, then, there is no way to tell that even if Aprasion is indeed of Persian origin, the mriskhane meaning provided is correct.
I'm very much inclined to believe that Aprasion is of Persian origin, though. For that, I point to an other archaic Georgian masculine given name, Apridon (the more modern Georgian form is Pridon). Apridon is the old Georgian form of Afrīdōn (also found spelled as Afrīdūn), which is the arabized form of the Persian name Fereydūn (see Fereydoun). Also compare the Middle Persian form of Fereydūn, which is Frēdōn.
Aprasion and Apridon look fairly alike, so that's why I am inclined to believe that Aprasion is indeed of Persian origin. Given how the -f- in Afrīdōn became a -p- in Georgian (as Apridon), it's possible that the same happened with Aprasion. The original Persian name would then have been something that looks like Afrasion. I must say that quite reminds me of Afrasiab, which is the name of a character in the 11th-century epic poem "Shahnameh" written by the Persian poet Ferdowsi. I have no idea whether that name is related to Afrasion/Aprasion, though. For more information about Afrasiab, please see this Wikipedia article dedicated to him, which also includes other forms of his name:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afrasiab
Afrasiab is said to mean "beyond the black river", as is mentioned in the Wikipedia article for Afrasiyab, an ancient site of northern Samarkand (Uzbekistan):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afrasiyab_%28Samarkand%29
Further, in my Pahlavi dictionary, I was able to find some words that resemble Aprasion/Afrasion (this time, I went looking for physical resemblance, instead of looking for meanings):
abrāstan = "to lift, to raise"
abrāz / afrāz = "acclivity"
abrēšom = "silk"
āfrāh = "teaching, doctrine"
afrasāwand = "imperishable"
āfrīdan = "to praise, to bless, to create" (ultimately from āfrīn meaning "praise, blessing")
ahrāftan = "to raise, to lead up"
I can't say for certain whether any of these words are related to Aprasion/Afrasion, however.
Lastly, there is the possibility that I have to consider that Aprasion isn't of Persian origin at all - but rather, of Greek origin (which is logical, since -ion is a common suffix in Greek names). In that case, it would probably be derived from (or related to) Greek ἀπρασία (aprasia) "want of purchasers, no sale" or Greek ἀπραγία (apragia) "inaction" (ultimately from Greek ἀπραγέω (aprageō) "to do nothing, to remain quiet"). Other possibilities are Greek ἀφραδία (aphradia) "folly, thoughtlessness" (ultimately from Greek ἀφραδέω (aphradeō) "to be senseless, behave thoughtlessly") and Greek ἀφράζω (aphrazō) (meaning not provided, or uncertain). I found all of these words on Perseus Digital Library of Tufts University.
I'm not inclined to put much stock in the Greek origin option, though. The possible Greek meanings are rather negative and therefore it seems unlikely any new parents were ever inspired to derive their son's name from any of these Greek words. It's not impossible, of course - but it seems unlikely to me.
This is all that I was able to dig up for Aprasion/Afrasion, I'm afraid.
I would be very interested to hear if any of you have additional information regarding the etymology of Aprasion: it would be much appreciated, and I thank you kindly in advance. :)
Sincerely,
Lucille
This message was edited 6/25/2013, 3:35 AM
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