Word: Aryan Part of Speech: noun Etymology: Originally from Sanskrit आर्य (ā́rya, “noble; noble one”) and + -n. The Sanskrit word is an autonym originally from Proto-Indo-Iranian *áryas (see there for more). Borrowed into English in the 19th century, at first as a term for the Indo-Iranian languages, and later partly extended to the Indo-European languages and peoples following a theory by Friedrich Schlegel that connected the Indo-Iranian words arya/ā́rya with German Ehre (“honor”) and some older Germanic names, thus assuming that it was the original Indo-European autonym meaning "the honorable people". The original meaning of the Indo-Iranian autonym and its possible Indo-European origin/cognates are disputed (see the Wikipedia article for further details). The same Proto-Indo-Iranian root is the ultimate source of the country name Iran. Also the doublet of Arya. Pronunciation: /ˈɛəɹi.ən/, /ˈɛəjən/, /ˈɑːɹi.ən/, /ˈɑːjən/, /ˈɛɹi.ən/ 1. in reference to a pseudoscientific historical race theory: Labels: informal Example: This short sketch of the changes that take place among those races that are only the depositories of a culture also furnishes a picture of the development and the activity and the disappearance of those who are the true founders of culture on this earth, namely the Aryans themselves. Example: One transmission advantage may have been that espousing Aryan-supremacist and overtly Nazi ideology could have been a roundabout way of announcing, […] 2. in reference to a pseudoscientific historical race theory: Labels: US, broadly, euphemistic, informal Example: Cal tried to think of words that would convey Wolfgang Stahl to the ears and hands of a woman who’d never seen him and never, until now, had to imagine him. […] ‘Why not . . . why not think of your chap as a type? Tell me what type you’d sort of put him into.’ ‘Sort of?’ ‘You know . . . roughly.’ ‘He’s an Aryan.’ ‘Ah, one of those, eh? Odd when you think about it. I mean. How did they arrive at blue-eyed blonds as a racial type? Hitler’s short and dark and looks like Charlie Chaplin. Goebbels is short and ugly and looks like a rat. And as for Goering – well is that what Billy Bunter grew up to be?’ 3. in reference to a pseudoscientific historical race theory: Labels: broadly, dated Example: 1905, Rossiter Johnson, LL.D., chief editor, The Great Events by Famous Historians, volume IV We have seen that when the Goths first entered Roman territory they were driven on by a vast migration of the Asiatic Huns. These wild and hideous tribes then […] appeared upon the Rhine, and in enormous numbers penetrated Gaul. No people had yet understood them, none had even checked their career. The white races seemed helpless against this "yellow peril", this "Scourge of God", as Attila was called. Goths and Romans and all the varied tribes which were ranging in perturbed whirl through unhappy Gaul laid aside their lesser enmities and met in common cause against this terrible invader. The battle of Châlons, 451, was the most tremendous struggle in which Turanian was ever matched against Aryan, the one huge bid of the stagnant, unprogressive races, for earth’s mastery. 4. in reference to a pseudoscientific historical race theory: Labels: dated Example: [The] Caucasian race includes two sub-races, — the Xantho-chroic and Melanochroic of Huxley. The seat of this race is Europe, northern Africa, and southwestern Asia, its linguistic division being into Aryans, Semites, and Hamites. Example: The surest principle of classification is based on language, but the results must be tested by a study of the physical characteristics of the various races. According to this method of classification, the races of the world may be divided as follows: Aryan, Semitic, Hamitic, Turanian, Negroid. The name Caucasian is generally applied to the first three divisions, — Aryans, Semites, and Hamites. Aryan. — This includes the ancient Hindus […] the Persians, Greeks, Italians, Celts, Teutons, and Slavs. 5. Synonym of Indo-Iranian (“member of any peoples speaking an Indo-Iranian language.”) Labels: dated, historical 6. Synonym of Indo-Iranian (“member of any peoples speaking an Indo-Iranian language.”) Labels: broadly, dated, historical Example: The theories of advocates of an autochthonous origin of the Indo-Aryans (always called "Aryans") range from (1) a mild version, insisting on the origin of the Ṛgvedic Indo-Aryans in the Panjab, the "autochthonous" or indigenous school…