# اختر
## Ottoman Turkish
### Etymology

Borrowed from Persian اختر (axtar, “star”).

### Noun

اختر • (ahter)
* (astronomy) star, a luminous celestial body made up of plasma
    Synonyms: ستاره (sitāre), نجم (necm), یلدز (yıldız)
* (figuratively) one's star, fortune, luck, chance, destiny
    Synonym: ستاره (sitāre)

#### Derived terms

* اخترسوخته (ahter-suhte, “unfortunate”)
* اخترشمر (ahter-şümer, “astrologer”)
* اخترشناس (ahter-şinas, “astrologer”)
* اختركو (ahter-gû, “astrologer”)
* بد اختر (bed ahter, “ill-fortuned”)
* نیك اختر (nik ahter, “lucky”)

#### Descendants

* Turkish: ahter

### Further reading

* Çağbayır, Yaşar (2007) “ahter”, in Ötüken Türkçe Sözlük (in Turkish), volume 1, Istanbul: Ötüken Neşriyat, page 158
* Kélékian, Diran (1911) “اختر”, in Dictionnaire turc-français‎, Constantinople: Mihran, page 59
* Meninski, Franciszek à Mesgnien (1687) “Stella”, 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 1595
* Meninski, Franciszek à Mesgnien (1680) “اختر”, in Thesaurus linguarum orientalium, Turcicae, Arabicae, Persicae, praecipuas earum opes à Turcis peculiariter usurpatas continens, nimirum Lexicon Turkico-Arabico-Persicum‎, Vienna, column 90
* Redhouse, James W. (1890) “اختر”, in A Turkish and English Lexicon‎, Constantinople: A. H. Boyajian, page 42

## Persian
### Etymology

From Middle Persian [Book Pahlavi needed] (ʾhtl /⁠axtar⁠/), an ancient backformation from [Book Pahlavi needed] (ʾpʾhtl /⁠abāxtar⁠/, “planet”), due to a mistaken folk etymology that the first element ab- was a negative suffix, since Zoroastrianism considers the planets to be nefarious "un-stars" due to their astronomically odd behavior.

### Pronunciation

* (Classical Persian) IPA: [ʔax.taɾ]
* (Dari, formal) IPA: [ʔäx.t̪ʰäɾ]
* (Dari, formal) IPA: [ʔäx.t̪ʰäɾ]
** (Kabuli) IPA: [ʔäx.t̪ʰäɾ]
** (Hazaragi) IPA: [ʔäx.t̪ʰäɾ]
* (Iran, formal) IPA: [ʔæx.t̪ʰæɹ]
* (Tajik, formal) IPA: [ʔäχ.t̪ʰäɾ]
* Audio (Iran):(file)

### Noun

اَخْتَر • (axtar)
* (astronomy or literary) star
    Synonyms: (usual word) سِتارِه (setâre), کُوْکَب (kowkab)
** c. 1390, Shams-ud-Dīn Muḥammad Ḥāfiẓ, “Ghazal 12”, in دیوان حافظ [The Divān of Ḥāfiẓ]‎:ای شهنشاه بلند اختر، خدا را همتی تا ببوسم همچو اختر خاک ایوان شماay šahinšāh-i buland axtar, xudā rā himmatē tā bibōsam hamčū axtar xāk-i ēwān-i šumāO King of Kings of soaring fortune [the Beloved], for God's sake just a little grace, So that I might kiss―as do the stars―the dust of your porch.(Classical Persian transliteration)
* (literary, figurative) fortune; luck
    Synonym: بَخْت (baxt)
    اختر نیک (literary) ― axtar-e nik ― good fortune
** c. 1390, Shams-ud-Dīn Muḥammad Ḥāfiẓ, “Ghazal 12”, in دیوان حافظ [The Divān of Ḥāfiẓ]‎:ای شهنشاه بلند اختر، خدا را همتی تا ببوسم همچو اختر خاک ایوان شماay šahinšāh-i buland axtar, xudā rā himmatē tā bibōsam hamčū axtar xāk-i ēwān-i šumāO King of Kings of soaring fortune [the Beloved], for God's sake just a little grace, So that I might kiss―as do the stars―the dust of your porch.(Classical Persian transliteration)
* (poetic, figurative) teardrop
    Synonyms: اشک (ašk), سرشک (serešk), ارس (ars), ستاره (setâre)
** c. 1911, Mohammad Hossein Âğuli Torki-ye Shirâzi, دیوان ترکی شیرازی‎:باز این منم که از غم روی چو ماه تو شب تا به صبح، دیدهٔ من پر ز اختر استbâz in man-am ke az ğam-e ru-ye ču mâh-e to šab tâ be sobh, dide-ye man por ze axtar astIt is me again whose eyes, out of love-sorrow for your moon-like face, Are full of starry tears from nightfall to dawn.

#### Related terms

* ابرنواختر (abar-now-axtar, “supernova”)
* اختر شمردن (axtar šomordan, “to stay up all night”, literally “to count stars”)
* اخترشناس (axtaršenâs, “astronomer”)
* اخترمار (axtarmâr, “astronomer”)
* اختری (axtari, “stellar”)
* بد اختر (bad axtar, “ill-fortuned”, literally “bad-star”)
* بلند اختر (boland axtar, “lucky; fortunate”, literally “high-star”)
* نواختر (now-axtar, “nova”)

### References

* ↑ Eilers, W. (2012 December 30) “AXTAR”, in Encyclopædia Iranica, volume III/2, page 123