Zend
(zɛnd)
Also Zand, Zund.
[a. F. zend (used as the name of the language by Anquetil du Perron, 1771): see Zend-Avesta.]
1. = Zend-Avesta.
In T. Hyde Hist. Relig. Vet. Pers., 1700, it is usually designated liber Zend, but it is also referred to as Zendavestâ, Vestâvazend, Avesta, Vesta, Avestak, etc.
| 1715 Prideaux O. & N. Test. i. (1718) 176 This book is called Zendavesta, and by contraction Zend, the vulgar pronounce it Zundavestow, and Zund. Ibid., In their language they call a righteous action Zend-aver, i.e. what the book Zend allows. 1789 Sir W. Jones Disc. Persians Wks. 1799 I. 79 Besides the Pársì and Pahlavì, a very ancient and abstruse tongue was known to the priests and philosophers, called the language of the Zend. 1790 Francklin Obs. Tour Bengal to Persia 29 Their sacred book, the Zend, which is said to have been written by their celebrated prophet Zerdusht. |
2. The language of the Avesta (see Zend-Avesta): also called Old Bactrian, forming with Old Persian the Iranian group of the Indo-European languages. Also attrib.
In early use, attrib. use of sense 1, = pertaining to or used in the Zend-Avesta.
| 1700 T. Hyde Hist. Relig. Vet. Pers. xxvi. 338 Literæ..quæ..apud incolas vulgò audiunt Literæ Zundicæ, seu Character Zundicus, vel si Anglicè loquimur, the Zund Character. 1788 Asiatick Researches I. 45 note, The Zend Letters. 1789 Sir W. Jones Disc. Persians Wks. 1799 I. 83 M. Anquetil..has exhibited in his work, entitled Zendávestà, two vocabularies in Zend and Pahlavì. 1815 Elphinstone Acc. Caubul (1842) I. 251 Some of this very class [of words] belong to the Zend and Pehlevee. 1842 (title) The Vandidad Sád{iacu} of the Párs{iacu}s in the Zand Language. 1878 G. Smith Life John Wilson vii. 213 He was the first English scholar to master the original Zand texts. |
Hence ˈZendic a. [cf. mod.L. Zundicus, T. Hyde, 1700], belonging to Zend; so ˈZendish a. (also as n. = Zend); ˈZendist, one versed in Zend.
| 1813 Q. Rev. Oct. 266 In ancient Media, Zendish was the language of the northern, and Pehlvi, or Parthian, of the southern parts. 1842 W. C. Taylor Anc. Hist. App. ii. (ed. 3) 581 The Zendic and Pehlvi dialects of Persia. 1893 Nation (N.Y.) 22 June 457/2 That persons professing to be specialists in Zend should be able to read the Pahlavi language..in MS.—an accomplishment which..very few professed Zendists possess. |