The Pazand Words in Farhang ī Ōīm

The common definition for Pazand is “rewriting of the Zand (translation and interpretation of Avesta) in Avestan alphabet”, while in Pahlavi, Persian and Arabic texts, this term is used as interpretation and exegesis of Avesta. It seems that unlike the recent and common meaning of Pazand, writing a Pahlavi word in the Avestan script is an old tradition and in some Pahlavi books e.g. Bundahišn and Denkard, we can find many learned words or proper nouns which are written in the Avestan alphabet. The subject matter of this article is the study of Pazand words in Farhang ī Oim, the oldest bilingual Iranian Lexicon. In Farhang ī Oim, there are some pazand words which can only be found in Zand and not in any other Zoroastrian Pahlavi texts. It seems that these Pazand words show the pronunciation of Pahlavi translation of the Avestan words.