Ahriman

See also: Ahrimán

English

Alternative forms

  • Ariman, Ahirman, Ahrimen, Ahrimanes

Etymology

Derived from Classical Persian اَهْریمَن (ahrēman) or Iranian Persian اَهْریمَن (ahriman), from Middle Persian 𐭠𐭧𐭫𐭬𐭭𐭩 (ʾḥlmny /⁠ahreman⁠/), from Avestan 𐬀𐬢𐬭𐬀⸱𐬨𐬀𐬌𐬥𐬌𐬌𐬎 (aŋra.mainiiu), compound of 𐬀𐬢𐬭𐬀 (aŋra, destruction, destructive) and 𐬨𐬀𐬌𐬥𐬌𐬌𐬎 (mainiiu, spirit, mind, essence, emanation etc.). Definable through the antithetical 𐬀𐬨𐬆𐬱𐬀⸱𐬨𐬀𐬌𐬥𐬌𐬌𐬎 (aməša.mainiiu, bounteous spirit). Doublet of Angra Mainyu.

Proper noun

Ahriman

  1. The hypostasis of chaos, destruction, evil in Zoroastrianism.
    • 1879, Viktor Rydberg, “The Magic of the People and the Struggle of the Church against It”, in August Hjalmar Edgren, transl., The Magic of the Middle Ages: Translated from the Swedish, New York, N.Y.: Henry Holt and Company, →OCLC, page 201:
      [A]midst Ahriman and his hosts who had now established themselves in the Occident, and as heirs to the horns and tails of Pans and fauns, a crowd of native spirits moved; imps, giants, trolls, forest-spirits, elves and hobgoblins in and on the earth; nicks, river-sprites in the water, fiends in the air, and salamanders in the fire.

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