Khuda
Encyclopedia
Khuda or Khoda is the Pashto word for "guide" (from the Pashto verb "khodal" which means, to lead, or to guide) and has come to be used as "Lord" or "(monotheistic) God
" in both Pashto and Persian
. Formerly used for Ahura Mazda
, today mostly of God in Islam
by not just Pashto and Persian
speakers, but also by Urdu
speakers as well. The term appears to have evolved in to an honorific.
kwdy, Middle Persian
kwdy, Sogdian
kwdy, etc.). It is the Middle Iranian reflex of Avestan xva-dhata- "self-defined; autocrat", an epithet of Ahura Mazda
.. The Pashto
cognate is Khwdai (خدای).
Prosaic usage is found for example in the Sassanid title katak-xvatay to denote the head of a clan or extended household, or in the title of the 6th century Khwaday Namag "Book of lords", from which the tales of Kayanian kings
as found in the Shahnameh
("Book of kings") derive.
of the long dominion", as found in the Menog-i Khirad. The fourth and eighty-sixth entry of the Pazand prayer titled Sad-o-yak nam-i-khoda ("101 Names of God"), reading, Harvesp-Khoda "Lord of All" and Khudawand "Lord of the Universe", respectively, are compounds involving Khuda.
Application of khuda as "the Lord" (Ahura Mazda
) is represented in the first entry in the medieval Frahang-i Pahlavig
.
, paralleling the Arabic name of God Al-Malik "King, Lord, Master".
The phrase Khuda Hafiz
(meaning May God be your Guardian) is a parting phrase
commonly used in Persian
, Urdu
, and Kurdish
, as well as amongst Pakistan
is, Afghans and Iranians.
It also exists as a loanword
, used for God
by Muslims in Urdu, although the Arabic
word Allah
is becoming more common.
movies, in non-religious context.
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
" in both Pashto and Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
. Formerly used for Ahura Mazda
Ahura Mazda
Ahura Mazdā is the Avestan name for a divinity of the Old Iranian religion who was proclaimed the uncreated God by Zoroaster, the founder of Zoroastrianism...
, today mostly of God in Islam
God in Islam
In Islamic theology, God is the all-powerful and all-knowing creator, sustainer, ordainer, and judge of the universe. Islam puts a heavy emphasis on the conceptualization of God as strictly singular . God is unique and inherently One , all-merciful and omnipotent. According to the Islamic...
by not just Pashto and Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
speakers, but also by Urdu
Urdu
Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...
speakers as well. The term appears to have evolved in to an honorific.
Etymology
The term derives from Middle Iranian xvatay, xwadag meaning "lord", "ruler", "master" (written as ParthianParthian language
The Parthian language, also known as Arsacid Pahlavi and Pahlavanik, is a now-extinct ancient Northwestern Iranian language spoken in Parthia, a region of northeastern ancient Persia during the rule of the Parthian empire....
kwdy, Middle Persian
Middle Persian
Middle Persian , indigenously known as "Pârsig" sometimes referred to as Pahlavi or Pehlevi, is the Middle Iranian language/ethnolect of Southwestern Iran that during Sassanid times became a prestige dialect and so came to be spoken in other regions as well. Middle Persian is classified as a...
kwdy, Sogdian
Sogdian
Sogdian may refer to* anything pertaining to Sogdiana, an ancient civilization of Iranian peoplesand in particular to* the Sogdian language* or the Sogdian people...
kwdy, etc.). It is the Middle Iranian reflex of Avestan xva-dhata- "self-defined; autocrat", an epithet of Ahura Mazda
Ahura Mazda
Ahura Mazdā is the Avestan name for a divinity of the Old Iranian religion who was proclaimed the uncreated God by Zoroaster, the founder of Zoroastrianism...
.. The Pashto
Pashto language
Pashto , known as Afghani in Persian and Pathani in Punjabi , is the native language of the indigenous Pashtun people or Afghan people who are found primarily between an area south of the Amu Darya in Afghanistan and...
cognate is Khwdai (خدای).
Prosaic usage is found for example in the Sassanid title katak-xvatay to denote the head of a clan or extended household, or in the title of the 6th century Khwaday Namag "Book of lords", from which the tales of Kayanian kings
Kayanian dynasty
The Kayanian, also Kays or Kayanids or Kaianids, are a dynasty of Greater Iranian tradition and folklore. Considered collectively, the Kayanian kings are the heroes of the Avesta, the sacred texts of Zoroastrianism, and of the Shahnameh, Iran's national epic.As an epithet of kings and the reason...
as found in the Shahnameh
Shahnameh
The Shahnameh or Shah-nama is a long epic poem written by the Persian poet Ferdowsi between c.977 and 1010 AD and is the national epic of Iran and related societies...
("Book of kings") derive.
Zoroastrianism
Semi-religious usage appears for example in the epithet zaman-i derang xvatay "timeZurvanism
Zurvanism is a now-extinct branch of Zoroastrianism that had the divinity Zurvan as its First Principle . Zurvanism is also known as Zurvanite Zoroastrianism....
of the long dominion", as found in the Menog-i Khirad. The fourth and eighty-sixth entry of the Pazand prayer titled Sad-o-yak nam-i-khoda ("101 Names of God"), reading, Harvesp-Khoda "Lord of All" and Khudawand "Lord of the Universe", respectively, are compounds involving Khuda.
Application of khuda as "the Lord" (Ahura Mazda
Ahura Mazda
Ahura Mazdā is the Avestan name for a divinity of the Old Iranian religion who was proclaimed the uncreated God by Zoroaster, the founder of Zoroastrianism...
) is represented in the first entry in the medieval Frahang-i Pahlavig
Frahang-i Pahlavig
Frahang-i Pahlavig is a dictionary of Aramaic language ideograms with Middle Persian translations and transliterations...
.
Islamic usage
In Islamic times the term came to be used for God in IslamGod in Islam
In Islamic theology, God is the all-powerful and all-knowing creator, sustainer, ordainer, and judge of the universe. Islam puts a heavy emphasis on the conceptualization of God as strictly singular . God is unique and inherently One , all-merciful and omnipotent. According to the Islamic...
, paralleling the Arabic name of God Al-Malik "King, Lord, Master".
The phrase Khuda Hafiz
Khuda Hafiz
Khuda Hafiz , usually shortened to Khodafez in Persian, is a parting phrase traditionally used in Persia, Kurdistan, and the Indian subcontinent...
(meaning May God be your Guardian) is a parting phrase
Parting phrase
Parting phrases are elements of parting traditions, phrases used to acknowledge the parting of individuals or groups of people from each other....
commonly used in Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
, Urdu
Urdu
Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...
, and Kurdish
Kurdish language
Kurdish is a dialect continuum spoken by the Kurds in western Asia. It is part of the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian group of Indo-European languages....
, as well as amongst Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
is, Afghans and Iranians.
It also exists as a loanword
Loanword
A loanword is a word borrowed from a donor language and incorporated into a recipient language. By contrast, a calque or loan translation is a related concept where the meaning or idiom is borrowed rather than the lexical item itself. The word loanword is itself a calque of the German Lehnwort,...
, used for God
God in Islam
In Islamic theology, God is the all-powerful and all-knowing creator, sustainer, ordainer, and judge of the universe. Islam puts a heavy emphasis on the conceptualization of God as strictly singular . God is unique and inherently One , all-merciful and omnipotent. According to the Islamic...
by Muslims in Urdu, although the Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
word Allah
Allah
Allah is a word for God used in the context of Islam. In Arabic, the word means simply "God". It is used primarily by Muslims and Bahá'ís, and often, albeit not exclusively, used by Arabic-speaking Eastern Catholic Christians, Maltese Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox Christians, Mizrahi Jews and...
is becoming more common.
Bollywood usage
The word is frequently used, in songs in BollywoodBollywood
Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...
movies, in non-religious context.