AboutMojtaba Parsa Expertise As you may know, Persian culture is one of the most ancient cultures in the world. This enormous volume of antiquity has always been affected by different cultures through the passage of history: National beliefs, language, religion, borders, etc. I can answer you about Persian culture before and after Islam - which is known as a milestone in Iranian history, and also about the various languages spoken by Iranians, and give you translations in today's Iran's official language, Farsi (Persian).
Podemos compartir los textos de español y persa y traducirlos para otra cada, también.
Mojtaba
Experience I am an Iranian and have studied general history about Iran. I am absolutely familiar with the culture and language of my own country.
Education/Credentials My education is strengthened about civil engineering.
First of all, how do you write “Mojtaba” in Persian and what does it mean, please? Is it a man's name or a woman's name or both? (Here in Turkey many names can be used for both men and women, but perhaps this is not the case in Iran.)
Anyway, I wish to ask about two words, often used as surnames, دهخودا and دهقان. The first one is particularly strange to me as it literally seems to mean “village god”, and I know that the overwhelming majority of Iranians are monotheists. What exactly does it mean, please? Is it still used in Modern Persian?
دهقان is glossed as “peasant, farmer” in my dictionary – what does the suffix قان mean, please? Is دهقان the usual word for peasant, farmer? If not, what word do you usually use?
And finally, a linked question: what is the usual word you use in Modern Persian for villagers, i.e. the people you encounter when you visit a village?
All the best, and many thanks,
Simon
Answer Hi Simon,
"Mojtaba" is written like "مجتبی" in Persian. Though it's not originally a Persian name since it is Arabic, Iranian people sometimes use this name for their children - Mojtaba is the epithet of "Imam Hassan" who is the second primate leader of the Shia Moslems. It means "one who is chosen and picked, elite". This name is used only to name men in Iran.
دهخدا, as you correctly dissected, is a combination of two words: ده and خدا which mean "village" and "god". It somehow means "god of village". But the word "god", here doesn't mean the creator whom we worship. "خدا" in many cases in Persian, means the headman or boss of something. For example, "ناخدا" was "ناوخدا" in the past which means "god of ship". We know that ship doesn't have any god except the time "god" means "headman" or "boss". So "ناخدا" means the headman of the ship which is the same as "sailor" and "shipmaster". Everything is the same in the case "دهخدا" which means "sheriff and chief of a village".
The word "خدا" has had various meanings through the passage of time. Of course this word isn't used to express "headman of something" in Modern Persian. But its effects on a lot of today's words have still remained.
Another usage of this word in Modern Persian is limited to conversational and informal Persian which exaggeratedly is used to state a very high level of something. For example "او خدای معلومات است" is a way to express: "His knowledge is incredibly high".
دهقان was دهگان before Arabians influence it. There are a lot of words that the Arab people changed them to be pronounced easily by themselves after they attacked Persia. دهگان is an example. دهگان by itself means pertaining to village. It used to be used for Iranians who had a lot of farms in the past. The suffix قان which is گان, here, is to make belonging to ده. But today, the meaning has been changed somehow since it means peasant and rustic.
And yes, in many cases دهقان is still used. It's important to say that "peasant" and "rustic" associate with a light impoliteness and contempt, where دهقان does not.
To call a villager, you can use دهقان. But there are some other words. For example روستایی is more common. When writing your memories in a village, you can write: "هنگام ورود به ده، چند روستایی را دیدم که مشغول عبور از جاده بودند" (Arriving the village, I saw several peasants who were crossing the road). There are some other words you can use. دهاتی, داهاتی, etc. The two recent ones have a little contempt and disrespect.
