A Survey of Strange and Humorous Pen Names in Persian Poetry

One of the remarkable topics in the history of Persian poetry is »pen name« and choosing pen name. According to the remaining documents in the works of poets, the more we come from the fourth and fifth centuries (.A .H)  to the later centuries, the more the necessity of having a pen name among the poets becomes apparent; By mentioning this fact that as we approach the contemporary era, the repetition of pen names and also their function with a not very favorable semantic load is increasing. In this article, with the aim of a more detailed knowledge of the social contexts of Persian poetry, the introduction and examination of humorous, rare and sometimes derogatory pen name have been specially discussed. First, there is an introduction in the definition, background of the pen name, how and the criteria of its selection. Then, explanations and notes about strange and humorous pen name are presented, and in the continuation of it, thirty-eight cases of such pen name have been introduced. These poetic titles are often taken from the names of animals, emotional defects, physical defects, and the names of some foods. Thirteen of these cases are from the names of animals, such as »dog«, »cat«, »crow« and »jackal«; Eight examples of humiliating descriptions such as »idiot« and »scrap« have been selected. Six pen names are chosen from among physical defects such as »one-eyed«, »thin bearded« and »blind«. In three cases, they used the names of objects such as »basket« and »horn«. Two pen names are used from the names of plants, such as »beetroot« and »flixweed«, and in two cases, from the names of edibles, i.e. »dupiazeh« and »kaka«. A poet with the pen names »Jenn« is seen. Another poet's pen name is "Di-Dim-Dam" which is considered a kind of sound name. A poet called himself »Gharmand« (that is, a person who lives in a cave) and another person called himself »Appetite« because he wrote a poem about food. As a result, the pen names are mostly taken from the names of animals, and among the names of animals, the name of »dog« is seen more often. The historical range of such pen names is from the 9th to the 14th century, and geographically, the city of Isfahan has the largest share. Most of these poets have few names, and the examination of their brief biographies in the books of Tazkira shows that sometimes they deliberately put strange pen names on themselves, and in some cases, the people around the poet or the literary community labeled the poet with such pen names. The mind and language of many of these poets have been inclined to humor and sarcasm, and in the very few examples that remain of their poems, they have mentioned their strange pen names.