# اشنان
## Arabic
### Noun

اشنان • (transliteration needed) m
* Alternative spelling of أُشْنَان (ʔušnān)

## Persian
### Alternative forms

* شنان (šonân)

### Etymology

A saponin-containing “washing-herb”, a derivative of the root Proto-Iranian *snaH- (“to wash, swim”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)neh₂- (“to swim”). Borrowed from Middle Iranian also into Old Armenian աւշնան (awšnan) and Arabic أُشْنَان (ʔušnān). The preverb participating in the derivation is disputed. Old Armenian աւշնան (awšnan) points to *Habí-, whereas the Persian itself is more easily explainable from *uc-.
Related to Persian اشنه (ošne, “moss”), which is reflected as Classical Syriac ܫܢܬܐ (šanṯā, “moss, lichen”) and Arabic أُشْنَة (ʔušna, “moss, lichen”). شنان (šenân) supposedly means “horehound” as does شنار (šenâr). Note Arabic شَنَان (šanān, “raft”) and شَنّ (šann), شَنّة (šanna, “water-skin; dried herb”).

### Pronunciation

* (Classical Persian) IPA: [ʔuʃ.nɑːn]
* (Dari, formal) IPA: [ʔʊʃ.nɑːn]
* (Dari, formal) IPA: [ʔʊʃ.nɑːn]
** (Kabuli) IPA: [ʔʊʃ.nɑːn]
** (Hazaragi) IPA: [ʔuʃ.nɔːn]
* (Iran, formal) IPA: [ʔoʃ.nɒːn]
* (Tajik, formal) IPA: [ʔuʃ.nɔn]

### Noun

اشنان • (ošnân)
* saltwort

### References

* Bailey, H. W. (1967) Prolexis to the Book of Zambasta (Indo-Scythian Studies Being Khotanese Texts; 6), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, page 398
* Cheung, Johnny (2007) “*snaH”, in Etymological Dictionary of the Iranian Verb (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 2), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 348
* Edelʹman, D. I. (2022) “В копилку этимологий иранских языков [Adding to the databank of etymologies of Iranian languages]”, in Армянский гуманитарный вестник [Bulletin of Armenian Studies] (in Russian), volume 8, Moscow and Yerevan, →DOI, page 22 of 16–32
* Hassandoust, Mohammad (2002/2003) Bahman Sarkarati, editor, Farhang-e riše-šenâxti-ye zabân-e Farsi [An Etymological Dictionary of the Persian Language] (in Persian), volume I: Â-B, Tehran: Academy of Persian Language and Literature, →ISBN, pages 101–102
* Henning, W. B. (1977) Selected Papers (Acta Iranica; 14)‎, volume I, Tehran and Liège: Bibliothèque Pahlavi, pages 110–111
* Horn, Paul (1893) Grundriss der neupersischen Etymologie (in German), Strasbourg: K.J. Trübner, § 89, page 21
* Hübschmann, Heinrich (1895) Persische Studien [Persian Studies] (in German), Strasbourg: K.J. Trübner, § 89, page 15
* Hübschmann, Heinrich (1897) Armenische Grammatik. 1. Theil: Armenische Etymologie (in German), Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, pages 259, 515
* Hübschmann, Heinrich (1899) “Horn P.: Neupersische Schriftsprache”, in Indogermanische Forschungen. Anzeiger für indogermanische Sprach- und Altertumskunde. Beiblatt zu den Indogermanischen Forschungen (in German), volume 10, page 40 of 18–41
* Lagarde, Paul de (1868) Beitraege zur baktrischen Lexikographie (in German), Leipzig: B. G. Teubner, pages 28–29
* Lagarde, Paul de (1884) Persische Studien (Abhandlungen der Königlichen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften in Göttingen; 31) (in German), Göttingen, pages 73–74
* Löw, Immanuel (1928) Die Flora der Juden‎ (in German), volume 1, Wien und Leipzig: R. Löwit, page 649
* Moattar, Fariborz (1971) Ismāʻīl Ǧorǧānī und seine Bedeutung für die iranische Heilkunde, insbesondere Pharmazie, unter Berücksichtigung seiner Verdienste für die Gestaltung der neupersischen Sprache (in German), Marburg an der Lahn: Görich & Weiershäuser, § 9, pages 138–139, confuses "Armenian" with "Aramaic"
* Müller, Friedrich (1896) “Zu Artāi-Wīrāf nāmak. — Der Ausdruck ‚Awesta’. — Neupersische und armenische Etymologien”, in Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes (in German), volume 10, page 183 of 174–184
* Vullers, Johann August (1856–1864) “شنان”, in Lexicon Persico-Latinum etymologicum cum linguis maxime cognatis Sanscrita et Zendica et Pehlevica comparatum, e lexicis persice scriptis Borhâni Qâtiu, Haft Qulzum et Bahâri agam et persico-turcico Farhangi-Shuûrî confectum, adhibitis etiam Castelli, Meninski, Richardson et aliorum operibus et auctoritate scriptorum Persicorum adauctum‎ (in Latin), volume II, Gießen: J. Ricker, page 469a
* Vullers, Johann August (1855) “اشنان”, in Lexicon Persico-Latinum etymologicum cum linguis maxime cognatis Sanscrita et Zendica et Pehlevica comparatum, e lexicis persice scriptis Borhâni Qâtiu, Haft Qulzum et Bahâri agam et persico-turcico Farhangi-Shuûrî confectum, adhibitis etiam Castelli, Meninski, Richardson et aliorum operibus et auctoritate scriptorum Persicorum adauctum‎ (in Latin), volume I, Gießen: J. Ricker, pages 105b–106a