ETYMOLÓGIA MENA SIMARЬGLЪ A NIEKTORÉ IRÁNSKE PARALELY

The paper deals with the etymology of the Slavic theonym Simarьglъ. The name Simarьglъ may be derived from*Simorьglъ/*Simōrьglъ and is considered to be a compound of Persian Sīmurgh ‘mythical flying creature’ (in Avestan saēnō mereghō ‘the bird Saēna’, originally ‘eagle bird’), and Slavic *orьglъ ‘eagle’, which is an example of the Slavic taboo word, with an addition of a velar stop to orьlъ ‘eagle’ (cf. Lithuanian erẽlis ‘eagle’ and Latvian ḕ rglis ‘eagle’, or Old Czech noh ‘mythical eagle’ and Slovak *knoh (later knoch-ta) ‘mythical eagle’). Simarьglъ is then interpreted as a mythical bird and as a God, as Iranian Sīmurgh is in the Farid al-Din ‘Attar’s Conference of the Birds. This is the tale of mystical journey of birds in search of their mythical king, Sīmurgh, a cosmic bird of ancient Iranian lore, and the theme of journey of the birds had been used long before ‘Attar as a symbol for the soul’s attempt to approach God.