A study of the neglected meaning of the word "E'tedad" considering Persian Proses

The greatest frequency of occurrence among loan words in Persian is that of words borrowed from Arabic. Most of such loan words have preserved their primary meanings in Persian but in certain other cases, they have undergone semantic change and extension and have found new meanings; in other words, speakers of Persian have changed the meanings of such words according to their own needs. Finding out these new meanings and entering them into the lexicon is a necessary step in helping researchers of Persian language and literature with their research works, more specificity in the area of critical edition and revision of classical texts. One of these loan words borrowed from Arabic which has been semantically changed specifically in so-called "technical" style of classical prose texts is "e'tedad". In addition to common usages already known, it has also used in the senses of "joy" and "being joyful". This neglected meaning has totally been overlooked by both lexicographers and text commentators. The present paper deals with this new different meaning through exploring the technical style in such texts as 'Kelileh va demneh', 'Atbat-ol-Katbah', 'Alttavassol-ela-Al-ttarassol', 'Letters of Rashid Vatvat', 'Qurrat-al-Alfaz va Nozhat-al-Alhaz', etc. The research method adopted is based on seeking and extracting evidence from the said above classical texts followed by analyzing and drawing conclusions on the data. The finding of the paper indicates that the loan word 'e'tedad' has frequently been employed as synonymous with such words as 'ehtezaz', 'tabjah', 'estebshar', 'behjat', 'ertiah', etc., meaning 'joy' and 'being joyful'.