Why it's good to have a dad with a Persian dictionary
anaid_rabbit is looking through Behind the Name, and I thought that was a good place to learn what the kids at school are really called. Not very far into the Arabic names, I encountered Anwar, as in Gabrielle, and this made me happy.
"Hm," thought I, ever the obsessive, "I wonder if they have Iranian names as well, and if so, if Pasdar is in there."
Yes they did, and no, it wasn't. Nor was it in any of the lists of Iranian surnames I went to next.
Only one thing to be done. I called my dad. Bless his soul, he said right away, "Pasdaran are the Iranian revolutionary guards, I guess Pasdar is the singular of that."
"But what does it mean?" I asked.
"Let me go fetch a dictionary," he said.
And so he did. Dar he knew, it signifies a profession, but Pas caused some trouble until he realized it was in fact Pas (as in "park") = "guard". Pasdar = professional guard. Plural Pasdaran. (Gotta watch those understrikes.)
Let it be noted that he was very picky that I remember those understrikes, but he didn't at a single point wonder why I asked. I love my dad so much. Dork.
As a sidenote, Wikipedia claims that Pasdaran is also a district in Tehran.
ETA: It should be noted that Mom answered my call, and when I asked for Dad, she said, "Oh, so you don't want to talk to me? You're just like Anton. 'I wanna talk to grandpa!'" I had to do a bit of small talk with her before she let Dad through. So let it be noted that I love Mom too, and moments like that are a large part of why. :-)
"Hm," thought I, ever the obsessive, "I wonder if they have Iranian names as well, and if so, if Pasdar is in there."
Yes they did, and no, it wasn't. Nor was it in any of the lists of Iranian surnames I went to next.
Only one thing to be done. I called my dad. Bless his soul, he said right away, "Pasdaran are the Iranian revolutionary guards, I guess Pasdar is the singular of that."
"But what does it mean?" I asked.
"Let me go fetch a dictionary," he said.
And so he did. Dar he knew, it signifies a profession, but Pas caused some trouble until he realized it was in fact Pas (as in "park") = "guard". Pasdar = professional guard. Plural Pasdaran. (Gotta watch those understrikes.)
Let it be noted that he was very picky that I remember those understrikes, but he didn't at a single point wonder why I asked. I love my dad so much. Dork.
As a sidenote, Wikipedia claims that Pasdaran is also a district in Tehran.
ETA: It should be noted that Mom answered my call, and when I asked for Dad, she said, "Oh, so you don't want to talk to me? You're just like Anton. 'I wanna talk to grandpa!'" I had to do a bit of small talk with her before she let Dad through. So let it be noted that I love Mom too, and moments like that are a large part of why. :-)