Jamshid

[Toke Lindegaard Knudsen]

On 13 Jun 99, at 23:40, Lars Martin Fosse wrote:

> > I found something on the name Zarathustra.  David Frawley in his
> > book "Gods, Sages and Kings" writes (on page 223):
> > "The name of Zoroaster, the founder of the ancient Persian religion, is
> > traceable to Sanskrit Hari-dyut-astra, the beautiful light of the star."
> > Any comments on this?
> Yes. Frawley is not a reliable source, and his etymology of Zarathushtra
> is nonsense. The last part of the word is ushtra, which means camel.
> Unfortunately, I haven't got access to my "Iranian" books, and I don't
> remember what the first part of the word means, except that it is probably
> a verb.

I asked my wife about "Hari-dyut-astra" and "Zarathustra."  She
also failed to see the connection and made similar comments
about Frawley's etymology as you did.  Can the word "astra" even
be taken to mean "star" in Sanskrit?  "Astra" meaning "star"
seems Greek to me.  My wife said she had never seen any
connection where the word "astra" meant "star" in Sanskrit.  In
Sanskrit "astra" can be translated as "weapon."

Sincerely,
Toke Lindegaard Knudsen