Hormuzd

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The supreme deity of Zoroastrianism, regarded as the creator and god of goodness, light and wisdom
2. In Persian religion, the name for the highest god who embodies truth, light and the forces of good
3. A variant name for Ahura Mazda, the wise lord of light who opposes darkness and evil in Zoroastrian belief

Etymology: Ahura Mazda, the supreme god of Zoroastrianism, is known in English mostly by the name "Ohrmazd" or "Hormuzd," and the second form is the older one in English writing. Its roots lie in Avestan, the sacred language of the Zoroastrian scriptures, where "Ahura" means "lord" and "Mazda" means "wisdom." The Persian form "Ohrmazd" descends from this name, and it reached English through nineteenth-century scholarship on Persian religion, which transcribed the Middle Persian spelling in various ways. The spelling "Hormuzd" is a Western transliteration that stuck in English travel writing and early Orientalist translations, and it shares a root with "Hormuz," the name of the strait and island in the Persian Gulf. That place name comes from the same Persian source, so readers meeting one form often encounter the other in older books. Modern scholars generally prefer "Ahura Mazda" to reflect the Avestan original.