زندان

Ottoman Turkish

Etymology

From Classical Persian زندان (zindān).

Noun

زندان • (zından, zindan)

1. jail, prison, dungeon

   Synonyms: حبس (haps, hapis), قفس (kafes)

Descendants

• Turkish: zindan
• → Albanian: zindan
• → Aromanian: zindáne, zundáne, zãndáne
• → Bulgarian: занда́н (zandán)
• → Macedonian: зандана (zandana)
• → Romanian: zandán
• → Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic script: зѝнда̄н

  Latin script: zìndān

Persian

Etymology

From Middle Persian [Book Pahlavi needed] (zyndʾn' /⁠zēndān⁠/, “prison”). Ultimate origin uncertain. Perhaps originally "arsenal, armoury", from [Book Pahlavi needed] (zyn' /⁠zēn⁠/, “weapon, armour”) and [script needed] (-dʾn' /⁠-dān⁠/, “holder, container”).

Compare Old Armenian զնդան (zndan), Classical Syriac ܙܢܕܢܝܩ (zendānīq), Iranian borrowings.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Persian) IPA^(key): [zin.ˈdɑːn]

 

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [zɪn̪.d̪ɑ́ːn]

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [zɪn̪.d̪ɑ́ːn]
  • (Kabuli) IPA^(key): [zɪn̪.d̪ɑ́ːn]
  • (Hazaragi) IPA^(key): [zin̪.d̪ɔ́ːn]

• (Iran, formal) IPA^(key): [zen̪.d̪ɒ́ːn]

• (Tajik, formal) IPA^(key): [zin̪.d̪ɔ́n]

Readings
Classical reading?	zindān
Dari reading?	zindān
Iranian reading?	zendân
Tajik reading?	zindon

• Rhymes: -ɑːn

Noun

Dari	زندان
Iranian Persian
Tajik	зиндон

زِندان • (zendân)

1. jail, prison

   آنها می‌خواستند زندان برای ما قبر باشد؛ اما خدا را شکر، زندان را به عبادتگاه و فرهنگستان تبدیل کردیم. ― ân-hâ mixâstand zendân barây-e mâ qabr bâšad; ammâ xodâ râ šokr, zendân râ be ebâdatgâh o farhangestân tabdil kardim. ― They wanted prison to be a grave for us, but, thank God, we turned the prison into sanctuaries of worship and academies for study.

Related terms

• زندانی (zendâni)
• زندانبان (zendânbân)

Descendants

• → Azerbaijani: zindan
• → Kazakh: зындан (zyndan)
• → Middle Armenian: զնտան (zntan)
• → Northern Kurdish: zindan, zîndan
• → Ossetian: зындон (zyndon), зиндонӕ (zindonæ), дзиндонӕ (ʒindonæ)
• → Ottoman Turkish: زندان (zından, zindan)
  • Turkish: zindan
  • → Albanian: zindan
  • → Aromanian: zindáne, zundáne, zãndáne
  • → Bulgarian: занда́н (zandán)
  • → Macedonian: зандана (zandana)
  • → Romanian: zandán
  • → Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: зѝнда̄н

    Latin script: zìndān

• → Uyghur: زىندان (zindan)

Further reading

• Hübschmann, Heinrich (1897) Armenische Grammatik. 1. Theil: Armenische Etymologie (in German), Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, page 151
• Horn, Paul (1893) Grundriss der neupersischen Etymologie (in German), Strasbourg: K.J. Trübner, § 671, page 149

Urdu

Etymology

Borrowed from Classical Persian زِنْدَان (zindān).

Noun

زِندان • (zindān) m (Hindi spelling ज़िंदान)

1. dungeon, prison, jail