Sunday, September 29, 2013

Ezad II

Recently I did a post on the word Ezad, a Persian name of God unfamiliar to most of us that is found at the end of Meher Baba's Universal Prayer. There I explained its meaning and derivation.

Here I wish to say how to pronounce it, after asking a few people. I think it is hard to determine, for you really need to hear it from the mouth of an Iranian Zoroastrian – for whom the word is familiar.

It is a form of Yezdan. And a Persian will pronounce it in a way that is hard to put down on paper, but I will do my best.

It is something close to Ee'-zat. Accent on the first syllable. Ee as in "free" and zad as something between "had" and "hat," where the "d" is very sharp, almost like a "t", and the "a" is short. If it helps, think of "EE GADS !" (pun swiped from the wit of Talat Halman).

Sources:
  • Spoken in person to me, Mehernoush McPherson. 
  • Through text email: Fereshteh Azad, communicated to me via Dr. Talat Halman, Associate Professor of religion at Central Michigan University specializing in Islamic studies. 
  • Kendra Crossen Burroughs, well-known editor of religious books.


Thinking up my two cents
But if anyone wants my two-cents, I think the way we have said it in America all these years is even cooler, and sounds even more foreign and mysterious.

Ee-Zod'

Ee as in free, Zod as in sod, accent on zod.

You are named Ezad – the only One worthy of worship.

2 comments:

  1. From your research into this matter, I find great "Ezad" knowing I am pronouncing this Divine Name correctly. ;-)

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  2. Pete Townshend pronounces it your way, in "O Parvardigar" on his album "Who Came First"... splendid impersonation above of ol' Lee van Cleef taking aim at Clint Eastwood, incidentally! Cheers, Frankie

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