“Parvāneh” as a Governmental Term in Persian Literary and Historical Texts (Up to the End of the Eighth Century AH)

IRAN's governmental and administration system has changed throughout the history. Some of the jobs and government positions have been disappeared in this procedure, as well as some administrative terminology used in certain periods that are no longer common. Perhaps even, some of these terms have transformed semantically, and today their exact definition and application is unclear to us. Using these terms in their literary and historical texts, the Iranian authors (writers or poets) have occasionally created fantastic interpretations and combinations. Searching for the main meanings of such words/terms used in ancient texts and paying attention to the meanings the writers or the poets intended to transfer can provide a more accurate understanding of the past administrative organization. "Parvāneh" is one of the above mentioned governmental terms had been used in both ancient Persian and Arabic texts and has been semantically transformed. The use of this term, its related interpretation and idiomatic combinations have been studied, in present research, focusing on some outstanding literary and historical texts created up to 8th century AH, and it has been tried to find its accurate meaning and position in the past government agencies. On the basis of the results the meanings are: commandment, permission, bill or document, seal, courier, servant and chamberlain.