Native Word Formation
Persian is very powerful in word building and versatile in ways a word can be built from combining affixes, stems, nouns and adjectives. Having many affixes to form new words (over a hundred), and the ability to build affixes and specially prefixes from nouns, Persian language is also claimed to be and demonstrated as an agglutinative language since it also frequently uses derivational agglutination to form new words from nouns, adjectives, and verbal stems. New words are also extensively formed by compounding – two existing words combining into a new one, as is common in German, Sanskrit and hence most of the Indian languages. Professor Mahmoud Hessaby demonstrated that Persian can derive more than 226 million words.
An example set of words derived from a present stem combined with some of available affixes:
| Persian | Components | English | Word class |
|---|---|---|---|
| dān دان | dān دان | Present stem of dānestan (to know) | Verbal stem |
| dāneš دانش | dān + -eš دان + ش | knowledge | Noun |
| dānešmand دانشمند | dān + -eš + -mand دان + ش + مند | Scientist | Noun |
| dānešgâh دانشگاه | dān + -eš + -gâh دان + ش + گاه | university | Noun |
| dānešgâhi دانشگاهی | dān + -eš + -gāh + -i دان + ش + گاه + ی | pertaining to university; scholar; scholarly | Adjective |
| hamdānešgāhi هم‌دانشگاهی | ham- + dān + -eš + -gāh + -i هم + دان + ش + گاه + ی | university-mate | Noun |
| dāneškade دانشکده | dān + -eš + -kade دان + ش + کده | faculty | Noun |
| dānā دانا | dān + -ā دان + ا | wise, learned | Adjective |
| dānāyi دانایی | dān + -ā + -i دان + ا + ی | wisdom | Noun |
| nādān نادان | nā- + dān نا + دان | ignorant; foolish | Adjective |
| nādāni نادانی | nā- + dān + -i نا + دان + ی | ignorance; foolishness | Noun |
| dānande داننده | dān + -ande دان + نده | one who knows | Adjective |
| dānandegi دانندگی | dān + -ande + -i دان + نده + ی | knowing | Noun |
An example set of words derived from a past stem combined with some of available affixes:
| Persian | Components | English | Word class |
|---|---|---|---|
| did دید | did دید | Past stem of didan (to see) | Verbal stem |
| did دید | did دید | sight; vision | Noun |
| didan دیدن | did + -an دید + ن | to see | Infinitive |
| didani دیدنی | did + -an + -i دید + ن + ی | worth seeing | Adjective |
| didār دیدار | did + -ār دید + ار | visit; act of meeting | Noun |
| didāri دیداری | did + -ār + -i دید + ار + ی | visional, of the sense of sight | Adjective |
| dide دیده | did + -e دید + ه | seen; what seen | Past participle; Noun |
| nādide ندیده | nâ- + did + -e ن + دید + ه | what unseen | Noun |
| didgāh دیدگاه | did + -gâh دید + گاه | point of view | Noun |
| didebān دیدبان | dide + -bān دید + بان | watchman | Noun |
| didebāni دیدبانی | dide + -bān + -i دید + بان + ی | watchman-ship | Noun |
Read more about this topic: Persian Vocabulary
Famous quotes containing the words native, word and/or formation:
“Would it not be worth while to discover nature in Milton? be native to the universe? I, too, love Concord best, but I am glad when I discover, in oceans and wildernesses far away, the material of a million Concords: indeed, I am lost, unless I discover them.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“You were created of your name, the word
Is that of which you were the personage.
There is no life except in the word of it.”
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)
“The formation of an oppositional world view is necessary for feminist struggle. This means that the world we have most intimately known, the world in which we feel “safe” ... must be radically changed. Perhaps it is the knowledge that everyone must change, not just those we label enemies or oppressors, that has so far served to check our revolutionary impulses.”
—Bell (c. 1955)