Cyrus


Cyrus is a male given name. It is the given name of a number of Persian kings. Most notably it refers to Cyrus the Great. Cyrus is also the name of Cyrus I of Anshan, King of Persia the grandfather of Cyrus the Great; and Cyrus the Younger, brother to the Persian King Artaxerxes II of Persia.

Etymology

Cyrus, as a word in English, is the Latinized form of the Greek, Kȳros, from Old Persian Kuraš, Babylonian Ku-raš/-ra-áš and Imperial Aramaic kwrš. The modern Persian form of the name is Kourosh.
The etymology of Cyrus has been and continues to be a topic of discussion amongst historians, linguists, and scholars of Iranology. The Old Persian name "kuruš" has been interpreted in various forms from "the Sun", "like Sun", "young", "hero" to "humiliator of the enemy in verbal contest" and the Elamite "kuraš" has been translated as one "who bestows care".
The name has appeared on many monuments and inscriptions in Old Persian. There is also the record of a small inscription in Morghab on which there is the sentence in Old Persian meaning. After a questionable proposal by the German linguist F. H. Weissbach that Darius the Great was the first to inscribe in Persian, it had previously been concluded by some scholars that the inscription in Morghab refers to Cyrus the Younger. This proposal was the result of a false interpretation of a passage in paragraph 70 of Behistun inscription by Darius the Great. Based on many arguments, the accepted theory among modern scholars is that the inscription does belong to Cyrus the Great.
There are interpretations of name of Cyrus by classical authors identifying with or referring to the Persian word for “Sun”. The Historian Plutarch states that "the sun, which, in the Persian language, is called Cyrus". Also the Physician Ctesias who served in the court of the Persian king Artaxerxes II of Persia writes in his book Persica as summarized by Photios that the name Cyrus is from Persian word "Khur". These are, however, not accepted by modern scholars.
Regarding the etymology of Old Persian kuruš, linguists have proposed various etymologies based on Iranian languages as well as non-Indo-European ones. According to Tavernier, the name kuraš, attested in Elamite texts, is likely "the original form" as there is no Elamite or Babylonian spelling ku-ru-uš in the transcriptions of Old Persian ku-u-r-u-š. That is, according to Tavernier, kuraš is an Elamite name and means "to bestow care". Others, such as Schmitt, Hoffmann maintain that the Persian Kuruš, which according to Skalmowsky, may be connected to the IE Kúru- from Old Indic can give an etymology of the Elamite kuraš. In this regard the Old Persian kuruš is considered with the following etymologies: One proposal is discussed by the linguist Janos Harmatta that refers to the common Iranian root "kur-" of many words in Old, middle, and new Iranian languages. Accordingly, the name Kūruš means "young, youth...". Other Iranian etymologies have been proposed. The Indian proposal of Skalmowsky goes down to "to do, accomplish". Another theory is the suggestion of Karl Hoffmann that kuruš goes down to a -ru derivation from the IE root *kau meaning "to humiliate" and accordingly "kuruš" means "humiliator ".
People and fictional characters named Cyrus include:

People

Given name

Ancient world