زندان

Ottoman Turkish

Etymology

Borrowed from Classical Persian زندان (zindān), itself from Middle Persian [Book Pahlavi needed] (zyndʾn' /⁠zēndān⁠/, “prison”).

Noun

زندان • (zindân or zındân) (definite accusative زندانی (zindânı, zındânı), plural زندانلر (zindânlar, zındânlar))

1. jail, prison, a place or institution for the confinement of persons held against their will in lawful custody or detention

   Synonyms: حبس (habs, habis), قفس (kafes)

2. dungeon, oubliette, an underground prison typically built underneath a castle and accessible through a trapdoor or hatch

   Synonym: دیماس (dimâs)

Derived terms

• باشه زندان اولمق (başa zindân olmak, “to be very disagreeable to one”, literally “to become a prison over one's head”)
• ترسانه زندانی (tersâne zindânı, “arsenal's prison”)
• زندان خاموشان (zindân hamuşan, “the grave”)
• زندان دلن (zindân delen, “coryphene”)
• زندان قپوسی (zindân kapusu, “a gate of Istanbul”)
• زندان كلی (zindân gülü, “gallows bird”, literally “prison's flower”)
• زندانبان (zindânbân, “jailer, turnkey”)
• زندانجی (zindâncı, “jailer, turnkey”)
• زندانلمق (zindânlamak, “to imprison”)
• زندانه آتمق (zindâna atmak, “to imprison”)
• زندانه قویمق (zindâna koymak, “to imprison”)
• زندانی (zindânî, “pertaining to a prison”)

Descendants

• Turkish: zindan
• → Albanian: zindan
• → Aromanian: zindáne, zundáne, zãndáne
• → Bulgarian: занда́н (zandán)
• → Macedonian: зандана (zandana)
• → Romanian: zandán
• → Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic script: зѝнда̄н

  Latin script: zìndān

Further reading

• Barbier de Meynard, Charles (1886), “زندان”, in Dictionnaire turc-français, volume II, Paris: E. Leroux, page 47
• Çağbayır, Yaşar (2007), “zindan”, in Ötüken Türkçe Sözlük (in Turkish), Istanbul: Ötüken Neşriyat, page 5487
• Devellioğlu, Ferit (1962), “zindân”, in Osmanlıca-Türkçe Ansiklopedik Lûgat‎‎ (in Turkish), Istanbul: Türk Dil Kurumu, page 1429
• Kélékian, Diran (1911), “زندان”, in Dictionnaire turc-français‎ (in French), Constantinople: Mihran, page 648
• Meninski, Franciszek à Mesgnien (1687), “Carcer”, in Complementum thesauri linguarum orientalium, seu onomasticum latino-turcico-arabico-persicum, simul idem index verborum lexici turcico-arabico-persici, quod latinâ, germanicâ, aliarumque linguarum adjectâ nomenclatione nuper in lucem editum‎, Vienna, column 153
• Meninski, Franciszek à Mesgnien (1680), “زندان”, in Thesaurus linguarum orientalium, Turcicae, Arabicae, Persicae, praecipuas earum opes à Turcis peculiariter usurpatas continens, nimirum Lexicon Turkico-Arabico-Persicum‎, Vienna, column 2473
• Nişanyan, Sevan (2002–), “zindan”, in Nişanyan Sözlük
• Redhouse, James W. (1890), “زندان”, in A Turkish and English Lexicon‎, Constantinople: A. H. Boyajian, page 1016

Persian

Etymology

From Middle Persian [Book Pahlavi needed] (zyndʾn' /⁠zēndān⁠/, “prison”). Ultimate origin uncertain. Perhaps originally "arsenal, armoury", from [Book Pahlavi needed] (zyn' /⁠zēn⁠/, “weapon, armour”) and [script needed] (-dʾn' /⁠-dān⁠/, “holder, container”).

Compare Old Armenian զնդան (zndan), Classical Syriac ܙܢܕܢܝܩ (zendānīq), Iranian borrowings.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Persian) IPA^(key): /zin.ˈdaːn/

 

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [zɪn̪.d̪ɑ́ːn]

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [zɪn̪.d̪ɑ́ːn]
  • (Kabuli) IPA^(key): [zɪn̪.d̪ɑ́ːn]
  • (Hazaragi) IPA^(key): [zin̪.d̪ɔ́ːn]

• (Iran, formal) IPA^(key): [zen̪.d̪ɒ́ːn]

• (Tajik, formal) IPA^(key): [zin̪.d̪ɔ́n]

Readings
Classical reading?	zindān
Dari reading?	zindān
Iranian reading?	zendân
Tajik reading?	zindon

• Rhymes: -ɑːn

Noun

Dari	زندان
Iranian Persian
Tajik	зиндон

زِندان • (zendân)

1. jail, prison

   آنها می‌خواستند زندان برای ما قبر باشد؛ اما خدا را شکر، زندان را به عبادتگاه و فرهنگستان تبدیل کردیم. ― ân-hâ mixâstand zendân barây-e mâ qabr bâšad; ammâ xodâ râ šokr, zendân râ be ebâdatgâh o farhangestân tabdil kardim. ― They wanted prison to be a grave for us, but, thank God, we turned the prison into sanctuaries of worship and academies for study.

Related terms

• زندانی (zendâni)
• زندانبان (zendânbân)

Descendants

• → Azerbaijani: zindan
• → Kazakh: зындан (zyndan)
• → Middle Armenian: զնտան (zntan)
• → Northern Kurdish: zindan, zîndan
• → Ossetian: зындон (zyndon), зиндонӕ (zindonæ), дзиндонӕ (ʒindonæ)
• → Ottoman Turkish: زندان (zindân, zındân)
  • Turkish: zindan
  • → Albanian: zindan
  • → Aromanian: zindáne, zundáne, zãndáne
  • → Bulgarian: занда́н (zandán)
  • → Macedonian: зандана (zandana)
  • → Romanian: zandán
  • → Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: зѝнда̄н

    Latin script: zìndān

• → Uyghur: زىندان (zindan)
• → Urdu: زِنْدَان (zindān)

Further reading

• Hübschmann, Heinrich (1897), Armenische Grammatik. 1. Theil: Armenische Etymologie (in German), Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, page 151
• Horn, Paul (1893), Grundriss der neupersischen Etymologie (in German), Strasbourg: K.J. Trübner, § 671, page 149