Word: Aryan Part of Speech: adj 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. Pertaining, in racial theories, to the (alleged) Aryan master race. Example: Look at the ravages from which our people are suffering daily as a result of being contaminated with Jewish blood. Bear in mind the fact that this poisonous contamination can be eliminated from the national body only after centuries, or perhaps never. Think further of how the process of racial decomposition is debasing and in some cases even destroying the fundamental Aryan qualities of our German people, so that our cultural creativeness as a nation is gradually becoming impotent and we are running the danger, at least in our great cities, of falling to the level where Southern Italy is to-day. 2. Pertaining to the Caucasian ethnicity. Labels: informal Example: Neo-Nazis use Nordic religions to fashion a more noble Aryan past and a modern Pan-Aryan community. Symbols from and references to ancient spirituality pepper neo-Nazi literature. 3. Pertaining to Caucasian racists or their organisations, theories, etc. Labels: US, euphemistic, informal Example: Imagine our outrage if the foreign press depicted Aryan groups as representing mainstream Christianity. 4. Of or pertaining to Indo-Iranian peoples, cultures, and languages. Labels: dated Example: 1872-79: John Beames, A Comparative Grammar of the Modern Aryan Languages of India: to wit, Hindi, Panjabi, Sindhi, Gujarati, Marathi, Oriya and Bangall [W]ith all due deference to the opinions of scholars, it may be urged that much of this elaborate development arose in an age when the speech of the people had wandered very far away from the classical type. Even if it were not so, even if there ever were a time when the Aryan peasant used poly-syllabic desideratives, and was familiar with multiform aorists, it is clear that he began to satisfy himself with a simpler system at a very distant epoch, for the range of forms in Pali and the other Prakrits is far narrower than in classical Sanskrit. Example: She was very graceful with a very Aryan face, Ringa observed, and the red and white silk sari she was wearing blended exquisitely with her small daintiness. 5. Of or pertaining to Indo-European peoples, cultures and languages. Labels: dated Example: 1905, Rossiter Johnson, LL.D., chief editor, The Great Events by Famous Historians, volume IV Who were these Teutons? Rome knew them only vaguely as wild tribes dwelling in the gloom of the great forest wilderness. In reality they were but the vanguard of vast races of human beings who through ages had been slowly populating all Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. Beyond the Teutons were other Aryans, the Slavs. Beyond these were vague non-Aryan races like the Huns. […]