Expert: Behzad - 9/9/2009

Question
Greetings Behzad,

Many thanks for another excellent answer.

I have been wondering about the word پیکر for some time, partly because there is a girl called Peyker in my favourite Turkish TV series.

What exactly does it mean, please? Is it often used today? My dictionary gives a confusing number of meanings, but it seems to be similar to هیکل – or is that a misunderstanding on my part?

پیکر and پیکار (battle) would seem to have totally different meanings, but given the great similarity in pronunciation, could there be any connection between them at all?

All the best, and many thanks,

Simon

Answer
Hello Simon,

Different meanings are written for پیکر in Dehkhoda dictionary; it, in contemporary Persian, however, usually means body (هیکل), statue (مجسمه), or drawing of an animal or a person. This word is mostly used in formal writing. These are some of the compound nouns or adjectives with پیکر used formally nowadays: پیکرتراش= sculptor, پیکرنگار= one who draws pictures of animals or humans, پیل پیکر or کوه پیکر= having a massive body.
I could not find any etymological analysis showing that پیکر and پیکار are connected.

Best regards,
Behzad