Rakhsh or Dakhsh? (The study of the record of a word in Shahnameh)

In the past few decades one of the difficulties and questions in the field of philology of Shahnameh is the ambiguity concerning the record of either “Rakhsh” or “Dakhsh” used in the phrasal verb “to rakkhsh/Dakhsh with the meaning of “to darken “in four couplets of Shahnameh. The majority of shahnameh manuscripts in this regard is “Rakhsh” and the choice of most editions and authentic emendations except for the text edited by Dr Khaleghi Motlagh and his colleagues is “Dakhsh”. The word “dakhsh” which means “dark” apparently was first recorded in Jahangiri Dictionary compiled (1017 H.G) with reference from Shahnameh and then was repeated in other Dictionaries. The author of this article based on certain documents assumes that the latter form if genuine is more accurate and is more superior to Rakhsh. Moreover it is likely that in Shahnameh manuscripts it would have been altered to a more familiar and simple form of Rakhsh. Rakhsh and “to Rakhsh” with the meaning of “to darken” is not seen in Farsi Dictionaries and texts and the etymology of this word is also completely opposite of this meaning, however the suggested etymologies for Dakhsh confirms the meaning of “blackness” for it.