گواه

گواه

Persian

Etymology

From Middle Persian gwk’dy (gugāy). From Proto-Indo-European *wi (“apart”) + *kʷeḱ- (“to see”); literally meaning “to see apart, differentiate”. Compare Old Armenian վկայ (vkay), an Iranian borrowing.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Persian): IPA^(key): /ɡuwɑːh/

• (Dari): IPA^(key): /ɡʊwɒːh/

• (Iranian Persian): IPA^(key): /ɡovɒːh/
• (Tajik): IPA^(key): /ɡuvɔːh/

Noun

گواه • (govâh) (plural گواهان‎ (govâhân) or گواه‌ها‎ (govâh-hâ))

1. witness

   Synonym: شاهد‎ (šâhed)

   • 1705, Guru Gobind Singh, “verse 13”, in ظفرنامه [Zafarnama]:

     ‏مرا اعتباری برین قسم نیست
     که ایزد گواه است و یزدان یکیست‎

     ma-râ e'tebâri bar in qasam nist
     ke izad govâh ast o yazdan yaki-st

     For me, there is no credit in this oath [of yours], that God is [your] witness and the Lord is One.

2. evidence

   Synonyms: شاهد‎ (šâhed), مدرک‎ (madrak)

   • c. 1260s, Jalāl ad-Dīn Mohammad Rūmī, Reynold A. Nicholson, transl., مثنوی معنوی‎ [Masnavi-ye-Ma'navi], volume III, verse 2710:

     ‏قوم گفتند ای گروه مدعی
     کو گواه علم طب و نافعی‎

     qowm goftand ey goruh-e modda'i
     ku govâh-e 'elm-e tebb o nâfe'i

     The people said, "O ye company of impostors, where is the evidence of [your] knowledge of medicine and [your] usefulness?"

Related terms

• گواه آوردن‎ (govâh âvardan)
• گواه گرفتن‎ (govâh gereftan)
• گواهی‎ (govâhi, gavâhi)
• گواهی‌نامه‎ (govâhi-nâme)

 

Descendants

• → Hindustani: gavāh

  Hindi: गवाह

  Urdu: گواه‎

• → Kazakh: куә (kuä)

References

• Steingass, Francis Joseph (1892), “گواه”, in A Comprehensive Persian–English dictionary, London: Routledge & K. Paul
• MacKenzie, D. N. (1971), “gwk’dy”, in A concise Pahlavi dictionary, London, New York, Toronto: Oxford University Press, page 38
• Nourai, Ali (2011) An Etymological Dictionary of Persian, English and other Indo-European Languages, page 523