Ahriman

See also: Ahrimán

English

Alternative forms

  • Ariman, Ahirman, Ahrimen, Ahrimanes

Etymology

From Persian اهریمن‎ (ahriman), from Middle Persian 𐭠𐭧𐭫𐭬𐭭𐭩‎ (ʾḥlmny /ahreman/)[[Category:|AHRIMAN]], from Avestan 𐬀𐬢𐬭𐬀⸱𐬨𐬀𐬌𐬥𐬌𐬌𐬎‎ (aŋra.mainiiu), compound of 𐬀𐬢𐬭𐬀‎ (aŋra, “destruction, destructive”) and 𐬨𐬀𐬌𐬥𐬌𐬌𐬎‎ (mainiiu, “spirit, mind, essence, emanation etc.”). Definable through the antithetical 𐬀𐬨𐬆𐬱𐬀⸱𐬨𐬀𐬌𐬥𐬌𐬌𐬎‎ (aməša.mainiiu, “bounteous spirit”). Doublet of Angra Mainyu.

Proper noun

Ahriman

  1. The hypostasis of chaos, destruction, evil in Zoroastrianism.
    • 1879, Viktor Rydberg, “The Magic of the People and the Struggle of the Church against It”, in August Hjalmar Edgren, transl., The Magic of the Middle Ages: Translated from the Swedish, New York, N.Y.: Henry Holt and Company, →OCLC, page 201:
      [A]midst Ahriman and his hosts who had now established themselves in the Occident, and as heirs to the horns and tails of Pans and fauns, a crowd of native spirits moved; imps, giants, trolls, forest-spirits, elves and hobgoblins in and on the earth; nicks, river-sprites in the water, fiends in the air, and salamanders in the fire.

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