Language Matters | The earthly, Persian origins of the word ‘paradise’, and where to find it in isolation

Its genesis – pairaida za, meaning enclosure – referred to the gardens, arbours and orchards of the Zoroastrian religion

Over time, the word has evolved and expanded in meaning, but it continues to conjure images of peace and tranquillity

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The desire for isolation desired during the COVIDovid-19 crisis is a pertinent reminder that paradise might reside be found as much in the walls that surround it as in the garden within. Illustration: Mario Riviera

Lisa Lim

Published: 5:00am, 25 May 2020Updated: 5:33am, 25 May 2020

Picture paradise – or google it – and the image is usually of a deserted beach fringed with palm trees and sapphire sea. In theology, paradise refers to the Garden of Eden, heaven, the abode of God and his angels, the final abode of the redeemed. For Muslims, during the month of Ramadan, the doors of Paradise are opened.

To fully appreciate paradise though, we must travel back to Persia. There, in the Old Iranian base of Avestan, the language of Zoroastrian scripture, we note the word pairaidaēza, meaning enclosure, composed of the Old Iranian pari (“around”) and daiz (“to heap up, build”).

The first element is cognate to the Greek peri-, found in English words such as perimeter. The second element has as its Proto-Indo-European root *dheigh- (“to form, build”), which is also the ultimate source of the English “dough”.

The ancient Persian Zoroastrian religion encouraged, even required, the planting of arbours, public gardens and orchards. The pairidaēza surrounding such gardens were observed and recorded by Xenophon of Athens, the ancient Greek historian, philosopher and mercenary soldier who fought in the Persian campaign, as the Greekparadeisos.

Notably, the Greek word referred not to the enclosing wall, but to the vast orchards and parks filled with wild animals that the Persian nobles hunted. Later, paradeisos was used in the Greek Old Testament, Septuagint, to mean the Garden of Eden, and in the New Testament to mean heaven, or place where the souls of the righteous departed await resurrection.