[Q] _nek_ in middle-Iranian

[mmaggi at sinergia.it]

> I would be very gratefule if someone could be so kind as to
>teach me the sense of this word "nek" in Middle-Iranian.
>
>Nobumi Iyanaga
>Tokyo,
>Japan
>

Middle Persian /neek/ (written <nywk'> in Zoroastrian MPe. and <nyk> in
Manichean MPe., cf. NPe. nik) is from Old Iranian *naiba-ka-, cf. Old
Persian naiba- 'beautiful, good', and means 'good, beautiful' (cf. D. N.
MacKenzie, A concise Pahlavi dictionary, repr. with corrections, London
1986, p. 58).

The word was borrowed into Sogdian as <nyk> /neek/ 'good' (see B. Gharib,
Sogdian dictionary: Sogdian, Persian, English, Tehran 1995, p. 251).

Best wishes,

Mauro Maggi
Rome