Khosrow is a male given name of Iranian origin, most notably held by Khosrow I of Sassanid Persia, but also by other people in various locations and languages. In some times and places, the word has come to mean "king" or "ruler", and in some cases has been used as a dynastic name. Khosrow is the Modern Persianvariant. The word ultimately comes from Proto-Iranian *Hu-sravah, itself ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁su- + *ḱléwos. The name has been attested in Avesta as Haosrauuaŋha and Haosrauuah, as the name of the legendary Iranian king Kay Khosrow. This is the oldest attestation. The name was used by various rulers of Parthian Empire. It has been attested in Parthian-language inscriptions as "hwsrw", which may be variously transcribed and pronounced. The Latin form was Osroes or Osdroes. The Old Armenian form was Khosrov, derived from Parthian, and was held by several rulers of the Arsacid dynasty of Armenia. The name is still used in modern Armenian. Notable as to the use of Khosrow as a title is the father of Mirian III of Iberia who was known as k'asre. This led to confusion, as some historians thought that Mirian III must therefore be the son of a Sasanian ruler, and not a Parthian one. The name was notably used by several rulers of Sassanian Empire. In their native language, Middle Persian, the name has been spelt variously as hwslwb, hwslwb', hwsrwb, hwslwd, and hwsrwd' in Pahlavi scripts. The name has been variously transliterated as follows: Husrō, Husrōy, Xusro, Khusro, Husrav, Husraw, Khusrau, Khusraw, Khusrav, Xusraw, Xusrow, Xosrow, Xosro.* The Greek form was Khosróēs and the Latin form was Chosroes and Cosroe. The MiddlePersian word also means "famous" or "of good repute". The New Persian variant is, kisrā became a strong byword for tyrannical pagan kingship, and is used as a general shorthand for Sassanian rulers, as pharaoh is used for pre-Islamic Egyptian rulers. The Turkish variant is Hüsrev, derived from Ottoman Turkish, itself from New Persian.
