From Ghahraman [Hero] to Pahlavan [Paladin]A Review of the Process of Semantic Change of theWord Ghahraman

Words’ forms and meanings change over time for different reasons such as the needs of people, death, birth and so on. Ignoring these changes when translating old texts can have detrimental effects. In the thirty-first letter of the Nahjolbalagha, the word " قهرمانۀ " in the phrase " المرأة ریحانۀ و لیست بقهرمانۀ ", is subject to the same changes. The word ghahraman is the arabicized form of the Persian word Kahraman (majordomo). Apparently, this word is one of the governmental idioms that entered the Arabic language in the early years of Arab rule and has preserved the original meaning in this language and also in Nahjolbalagha. But the meaning of this word in Persian has changed, and today this word means the hero, brave, and strong; equal to Batal in Arabic and hero in English. The present article attempts to find the roots of this word from Persian and Arabic dictionaries and ancient texts in both languages, and examines this word is used in Hadith and other contemporary Arabic and Persian books. It also tries to explain the process of semantic change of this word in these two languages. The uses of this word in texts show that majordomos have been a special class with characteristics and specific duties and had an effective role in the environment and their time. Presence and functioning of the famous majordomos in history makes this fact clear. The study and review of Persian and Arabic commentaries and translations of Nahjolbalagha, especially those that get the word Ghahraman as champion, is another important topic in this article. Arabic commentaries and translations of Nahjolbalagha have written the correct meaning of this word but in Persian commentaries and translations, some translators have not mentioned the correct and old meaning of this word and have noted just its modern meaning.