Mordad meaningless

Kurosh Niknam who represents the Zoroastrian community in the Majlis presented a proposal to the Iranian parliament to officially change the name of the fifth month in the Iranian calendar year (July 23-August 22) from Mordad to Amordad, notes an e-mail missive by Dara Acidwalla.

Since Iranians always cared about life, striving, development and productivity, they named the middle month of summer Amordad which means life and eternity in the Avestan language. Over the years many people in Iran mispronounced the word Amordad as Mordad which means death and nothingness, pointed out Niknam.

According to Article 15 of the Constitution, Persian (Farsi) has been designated as Iran’s official language and script, and all documents, correspondence and educational books must be written in Persian. Most of the current Persian words have their roots in the ancient languages of Pahlavi (a form of middle Persian) and Avestan, noted Niknam, adding how names of the Iranian months are very meaningful and derived from ancient Iranian languages.