Journal or Publication Title:

Բյուրականի աստղադիտարանի հաղորդումներ: Երևանի աստղադիտարանի բյուլետեն = Сообщения Бюраканской обсерватории. Бюллетень ереванской Астрономической обсерватории = Contributions from the Burakan observatory. Bulletin of the Erevan astronomical observatory

Date of publication:

2026

Volume:

73

Number:

1

ISSN:

2579-2276

Coverage:

160-166

Abstract:

Language is central to the survival of Iran’s astronomical heritage, yet scholarship often treats celestial names, literary imagery, calendrical terms, and ritual symbols as separate evidence. This review examines how Iranian engagements with the sky were preserved and transmitted through language and symbol. It brings together scholarship on Avestan, Middle Persian, New Persian, selected Iranian languages, Persian literature, calendrical traditions, festivals, and astronomical knowledge. The discussion compares established studies from two perspectives, linguistic evidence and culturally situated signification. A diachronic linguistic-semiotic approach traces lexical retention and semantic reanalysis, metaphorical conceptualisation, and calendrical-symbolic representation. Terms including Tiˇstrya, Haft¯orang, Parv¯ın, Bahr¯am, and N¯ah¯ıd illustrate the interaction of celestial reference with ritual authority and moral association. Solar and lunar imagery extends those associations into descriptions of beauty, sovereignty, fortune, and character. Month names and festivals place meanings within recurrent social time, although direct equations between ancient observances and modern equinoxes or solstices require historical caution. Iranian astronomical heritage emerges as a changing archive whose continuity depends on reinterpretation, translation, and use across periods.

Format:

pdf

Identifier:

oai:arar.sci.am:439359

General note:

Communications of the Byurakan Astrophysical Observatory (ComBAO) is a peer-reviewed scientific journal, which publishes research in observational and theoretical astronomy/astrophysics and presents recent advances in these fields. It is being published by the NAS RA V. Ambartsumian Byurakan Astrophysical Observatory (BAO) in English in electronic form. The journal publishes original papers, review papers, brief reports, book reviews, special communications, observational and theoretical results in various fields of astronomy and related sciences, and some editorial notes, including anniversaries and obituaries. Under the heading “Legacy”, the renewed magazine will republish some old articles of high value in English. The heading “Guest articles” will bring to the attention of readers the articles of researchers who are not employees of BAO. ComBAO was founded in 1946 and regularly published in 1946-1990. However, the publication was interrupted because of the economic situation after the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Location of original object:

ՀՀ ԳԱԱ Հիմնարար գիտական գրադարան