Why do Iranians still call themselves Persian?
Iranians do not call themselves Persian in the Persian language.
Iranians call themselves Irani and if they are part of a minority group by that name as well (Azari, Lur, Kurd, Qashqaii, Balochi, Torkman, etc.)
If you mean Parsi, which is the word for Persian in the Persian language, that is also not used as a ethnic label in Iran. Unless you happen to be from the Pars region in Southern Iran.
The equivalent of Iranians calling themselves Parsi in the Persian language would be if Americans called themselves English after the name of the language.
Persian is an English word based off the Greek word Persis used to describe the language, culture, and empire of ancient Iran and its surrounding areas.
This is because Cyrus the Great, the 1st Iranic emperor, was born in the region of Pars in southern Iran. Therefore he called himself Parsa meaning Persian. He would come to also refer to his entire kingdom as Parsa at times, with his intention being that the Achaemenian family from Parsa created a Parsa Empire, Persian Empire.
Beyond the Achaemenian Persians, all other Iranian born dynasties referred to themselves as Aryayi (Aryan) or Irani (from the Land of Aryans) according to inscriptions.
Persian represents the heart, language, and culture of Iran. When Iranians move abroad many take on this label to attach themselves to Iran’s rich historical past rather than the dark present.
Why do Iranians still call themselves Persian?
I don’t see any Italians calling themselves Romans.
I think this was the hardest facepalm in my life.
Because the largest ethnic group in Iran are the Persian people - Wikipedia. Yes, Persians exist believe it or not. Iranians who are ethnic Persians will call themselves like that because that’s correct.
“Iranian” is a nationality, “Persian” is an ethnicity. Alas, don’t mix the two. An Iranian can be a Persian, an Azeri, a Kurd, a Lur, an Arab and so on. In terms of ethnic groups, you have the Persians, Azeris, Kurds etc. They are all Iranians by nationality, but aren’t Persians (except Persians themselves).
That’s the whole story.
BELOW: POSTES PERSANES - POST-E DOWLET-E ‘ALİYYE-E “IRAN” (with Arabic letters) -Kadjar era stamp
There are various reasons
As is it is known “Persia” toponym are used practically in many European languages but Persian were replaced with the goverment’s official request to international world in the year of 1935.
Please look at Germany’s and Arianism’s function in this replacement ….
Meanwhile i should underline the point that “Iran” was used even in offical documents before 1935 by the “Iran” governments. Please see the stamp above…
“Iranian” denotes citizens of Iran state (and some IE peoples other than Iran) In my opinion these two words have different meanings and associations but at the same time both can be replace by the other.
The issue, differences etc. of the two toponyms/ethnonyms is complex but easily can be accessed any papers on the Net
Yes there are a dichotomy concerning “Iran-ia-n” and “Pers-ia-n”…
Particularly patriotic ethnic Persians think that;
First, “Iran” and “Iranian” don’t reflect of glorious times of the ancient Persian Empires Achamenids, Sasanids…
Second, “Iran” and “Iranian” doesn’t reflect Persian heritage and facts concerning “Pers-ia/-n” like “Persian empire, Persian cat, Persian Rug, Persian gulf, Persian literature” etc.
Third, foreigners confuse “Ira-n” with “Ira-q” and think that Iran is an Arab country, of course due to ignorance …
I think that’s enough for now…
Actually Persia and Iran are used interchangeably and it is not a big deal at all!
First of all persian Empire did not end when Alexander conquered Persian! you should look at the history more carefully!, Sasanian Empire which is as well a Persian Empire was after Alexander invasion to Iran. Also if you don want to consider other Empires after Islam as Persian.
The Iranian people talk Persian and so they are called Persian people too. Actually Persian term is adopted by ancient Greeks and Romans to Iranian people. The name of Iran (ایران) is the modern Persian derivative from the porto-Iranian term Aryānā, meaning "Land of the Aryans", first attested in Zoroastrianism's Avesta tradition [1]
The "Parsa" tribe was one group of Aryan people emigrated to Iran land, and they have formed one of the primitive Emires of Iranians called "Parsa Empire" as the Persia name (La Perse, Persien, Perzië, etc.) comes from the Western world, mainly due to the writings of Greek historians who called Iran: Persis (Περσίς) [1] (Parsa talks in an ancient persian language and Persian is not only their language nowadays there are a lot of countries such as Tajikestan, Afghanestan, Iran, etc. who talk in Persian)
Actually, until 22 March 1935 Iran was officially known as Persia, till Reza Shah's Foreign Ministry changed it to "Iran"! So Persia and Iran are just the same!
------------------------
More Information:
[1] Iran
[2] Aryan race
[3] Persian people
[4] تاریخ ایرانی
I’m an Iranian and I don’t call myself Persian. Why others do is a very long story.
First, a little bit of history on the terms. Mohammad Lavaei’s answer is relatively accurate, but it misses some things out. The land that the Aryan tribes migrated to and later called “Iran” was not uninhabited. Before them were a people today referred to as the ancient Iranic people. The Aryan migrants and the ancient Iranic people integrated peacefully.
So far we have had 4 groups of people then: Persians, Medians, Parthians and the ancient Iranic people.
However, the Median Empire and later Achaemenid Persian Empire had a lot of neighbors with their own ethnic groups. There were the Assyrians, Babylonians and Semites (Jews), and later Egyptians. All of these would become part of this empire. Suddenly the amount of ethnic groups were much higher.
Then the most important detail left out of Mr.Lavaei’s answer is what happened after the Sassanid Empire’s fall; the Arabs invaded (Oh, and I missed Alexander’s Greek invasion too). Centuries later, a group of Turkish tribes migrated from the East and also integrated peacefully while helping the Iranians break off from Abbasid rule. Fast forward a couple of more centuries and Genghis Khan invaded with his Mongolian army, who also integrated into society after a few decades.
You can skip the rest of history and arrive to modern Iran. As you can see there have been many, many groups living in Iran and miscegenation has been bound to occur within them considering the land isn’t exactly that vast. Now remember that the Persians were only one of the four starting people and it becomes pretty obvious that there’s really no such thing as being “Persian”. At least unless you have a weirdly accurate family tree it makes no sense to make such a claim. You can be Iranian, you can’t really be Persian.
That’s why it’s inaccurate to call oneself Persian and why I personally don’t (It’s also a bit racist too). Now onto the bit more complicated issue of why some Iranians refuse to call themselves that and prefer Persian.
The reason is actually a very sad one. They do that to avoid being associated with Iran and its stereotypes.
Most people have a pretty good idea of Iran being an Islamic country in the middle east that’s going nuclear or something, that also has bad ties with the west. Meanwhile most people don’t know about Persia except it being this exotic land in the ancient times. That’s way cooler! Unfortunately Iranians have had an aversion to their own culture in the past few decades because of the geopolitics surrounding their country. They want to say they’re not part of it and have at times bent over backwards trying to appease whatever foreign people they meet (particularly Westerners), which the examples are plentiful in social media.
So that’s why Iranians (falsely) call themselves Persians. Note that I’ve skimmed past a lot of details in this answer for the sake of brevity.
P.S In case you are an Iranian or of Iranian descent, have no shame in calling yourself Iranian, it can go a long way in preserving your culture. If you don’t like how you’re being depicted in the media, then prove people wrong by being a decent human being and help kill the negative stereotypes instead of hiding from them.
The answer has to do with politics and race, and fitting into an English/Western categorization, more than history.
As most answers explained there are many groups/tribes in Iran. But most of them have some connection with the Persian identity historically. It’s like saying American versus African American in some way (not exactly, but close enough).
For example neighboring countries all know us as Persians, not as individual tribes. Just like someone from Georgia is Georgian even if he is Azeri or Armenian etc.
This is no problem in our Persian language as all the words are well understood. The problem is in English. Iran in the west was called Persia until a few decades ago when it was officially changed. In posters during that time you could see Iran (Persia) to make sure people got the connection.
So in English, “Persian” means both ‘from Iran’ historically as well as specifically “Fars” people (not of the other wonderful tribes).
Saying Persian is consistent with a cultural and national relationship, Persian language, Persian carpets, Persian gulf. From a word relation perspective it is consistent and positive having to do with culture and history.
Saying you are Azeri, not Persian, or Kurd, not Persian, is not really exact, in English, because of the dual use of the word Persian in English.
We can say separating us into tribes serves colonialist categorizations, not really our identity.
We are all a mix of histories, and peoples, and saying we are this, not that, is not exact either.
That is why people have the freedom to say they are Persian.
There may be some desire to distance oneself from modern politics, and that’s another reason people might like to say Persian instead of Iranian. But again this is only in English.
I know some Lebanese like to say they are Phoenicians, not Arabs, but that’s another story.
In Iran
I'm Iranian. I don't call myself Persian because I'm Kurd of Iran. Iran is land of all Iranians. Apparently Persians make up 60% of Iran. They can call themselves Persian (Fars) if they want but the rest don't.
Out of Iran
Historically Iran was known as Persia (Iran’s Greek name) in the West until 1935 when Shah of Iran requested foreigners to call Iran by its native name.
After 1979 Islamic revolution some Iranians inthe Western countries call themselves Persian to resist prejudice.
Technically, Persian is an ethnicity that falls under Iranian.
But in practice, the boundaries are very vague.
The reason a lot of Iranians call themselves Persian is twofold:
- It sounds foreign and fancy.
- A lot of people have no idea it’s the same, and the negative associations with Iran and sanctions and terrorism doesn’t pop up.
While I am Persian ethnically and can legitimately call myself Persian AND Iranian and be accurate I will tell you the real reasons for why everyone else who is Iranian but not technically Persian ethnically - call themselves Persian.
They do so mostly for politically expedient purposes.
They feel the “brand” Iranian has been ruined by the Islamic Republican Regime.
“Iranian” for many uneducated Westerners (especially in the United States) has become synonymous with terrorism and fanaticism.
By calling themselves “Persian” they are in effect “re-branding” themselves with an identity that connects them with a more glorious past…”The Persian Empire” and all its Glory.
“Persian” also sounds “cooler” or “sexier” they feel.
I personally disagree with this mentality as it is a defeatist mentality that has given the power of branding to this Criminal Regime.
Most however prefer to take the easier path and just “re-label” themselves as opposed to taking the time to educate the uneducated.
We need to take this power of “branding” of the identity “Iranian” back and this mentality is not helping that cause.
Speaking as a proud “Persian” and “Iranian” and having had this very discussion with many “non-Persian” “Iranians” I can tell you for a fact this is the true reason why they call themselves “Persian” as opposed to “Iranian”.
Hope this helps :)
Could be a few reasons. Some Iranians are Persians and are proud of their Persian identity more than anything. These people are a minority and are quite annoying.
Another reason is that some Iranians are Persians and out of habit say they are Persian as it is more recognizable to the western world.
Another reason could be what I said previously, in addition to a fear of judgement from others when hearing the title “Iranian” due to global politics. This judgment is a real lived experience and if the individual doesn’t feel confident responding effectively, they will resort to simply saying Persian, as it has a softer blow and conversation does carry out quite differently.
Last reason I can think of is the individual is Iranian, but isn’t even Persian, doesn’t want to get into details of what other type of Iranian they are, so they say they’re Persian, because it’s close enough, and a “who cares” goes through their mind.
https://www.quora.com/
Comments
Post a Comment