User:Xashaiar/Name of Cyrus

Cyrus is the given name of a number of Persian kings. Most notably it refers to Cyrus the Great. Cyrus, as a word, is derived, via Latin, from Ancient Greek: κνρος, from Old Persian:𐎤𐎢𐎽𐎢𐏁 (, Kūruš) ,

The name has appeared on many monuments and inscriptions in old Persian. There is also a small inscription of Murghab on which there is the sentence (adam kūruš xšāyaƟiya haxāmanišiya) in Old Persian meaning (I am Cyrus the Achaemenian King). After a questionable proposal by the German linguist F. H. Weissbach that Darius the Great was the first to inscribe in Persian, it had previously been concluded by some scholars that the inscription in Murghab refers to Cyrus the Younger. However the accepted theory is that the inscription does belong to Cyrus the Great. .

Etymology of Cyrus has been a topic of discussion amongst scholars. One proposal is discussed by the linguist Janos Harmatta and others that refers to the common root "kur-" (be born) of many words in Old, middle, and new Iranian languages. Accordingly the name Kūruš means "young, youth,..". There are also interpretations by classical authors identifying with or refering to the Persian word for “sun”. The Historian Plutarch (46 - 120) states that "the sun, which, in the Persian language, is called Cyrus" Also the Physician Ctesias who served in the court of the Persian king Artaxerxes II of Persia writes in his book Persica as summarized by Photios that the name Cyrus is from Persian word "Khur" (the sun).

Other Iranian etymologies have been proposed and prefered. One accepted theory is the suggestion of Karl Hoffmann that "Cyrus" means "humiliator of the enemy in verbal contest".

Cyrus is also the name of Cyrus I of Anshan (ca. 650 BC), King of Persia the grandfather of Cyrus the Great; and Cyrus the Younger (died 401 BC), brother to the Persian King Artaxerxes II of Persia.