DERĀZ-DAST

 

DERĀZ-DAST (having long hands; OPers. *darga-dasta-; cf. Younger Av. darəγō.gava- “with long hands,” AirWb. col. 694), epithet of King Bahman-Ardašīr mentioned in the Persian sources (Mojmal, ed. Bahār, p. 30; Ebn al-Balḵī, p. 52; Tārīḵ-e gozīda, ed. Browne, p. 98), probably translating a Pahlavi form like dērang/d-dast. It is also recorded in the Arabic forms ṭawīl-al-yadayn (Bīrūnī, Āṯār, pp. 37, 111; Ebn al-ʿEbrī, pp. 87, 113) or ṭawīl-al-yad (Ebn al-Nadīm, ed. Tajaddod, p. 307). Another variant of this epithet is Arabic ṭawīl- al-bāʿ (Ṭabarī, I, p. 686; Ḥamza, 1961, p. 37; Bīrūnī, Āṯār, p. 105; Ḵᵛārazmī, p. 100), Persian derāz-bāzūg, literally “having long arms” (Gardīzī, ed. Ḥabībī, p. 15), derived from Pahlavi *drāz-bāzūg, Avestan darəgō.bāzav- (AirWb. col. 695). It is also recorded as derāz-angol, literally “having long fingers,” rendering Pahlavi dērand/g-angust (Ardā Wīrāz Nāmag, ed. Haug and West, chap. 4.19; ed. Vahman, p. 9 l. 3), Avestan darəγō.angušta- (AirWb. col. 694). The classical authors recorded the title of Artaxerxes I as Makrócheir in Greek (Plutarch, Artoxerxes 1.1) and Longimanus in Latin (Nöldeke, 1887, pp. 49-50; idem, 1920, p. 13 and n. 4).

Both the Greek and the Islamic authors had two explanations for this epithet. The old Greek authors like Dino took the word “hand” in its figurative sense of “power” (Nöldeke, 1887; idem, 1920). The same explanation is found in some Islamic sources (Ebn al-Balḵī, p. 52; Mojmal, ed. Bahār, p. 30, Bīrūnī, Āṯār, p. 37; Tārīḵ-e gozīda, ed. Browne, p. 98; Ṭabarī, I, p. 686; Ḥamza, 1961, p. 37; Meskawayh, pp.33 ff.). But the later Greek authors, like Plutarch (Artoxerxes 1.1) and Strabo (15.3.21), as well as some Islamic authors, interpreted it in a literal sense (e.g., Bīrunī, Āṯār, p. 111; Mojmal, ed. Bahār, p. 30; Šāh-nāma, ed. Moscow, VI, p. 320 v. 1668).

The first explanation seems preferable, for the word dast is used in a number of Iranian languages with the meaning “power, authority” (e.g., Man. Mid. Parth. dast “capable, able”; Pahl. dastwar “authority”; NPers. dast “power”). Furthermore, another, similar epithet of Bahman-Ardašīr, rēwand-dast “having prosperous hands” (Bīrūnī, 1355 /1936, p. 25), derived from *raēvas.dasta-/zasta- (cf. Av. raēvas.čiθra- “of rich descent,” AirWb. 1485; cf. Hinz, p. 196) may confirm such a supposition.

 

Bibliography:

(For cited works not found in this bibliography, see “Short References.”) Ardā Wīrāz Nāmag. The Book of Arda Viraf, ed. M. Haug and E. W. West, Bombay and London, 1872; ed. F. Vahman, London and Malmö, 1986.

Bīrūnī, Ketāb al-jamāher fī maʿrefat al-jawāher, Hyderabad, 1355/1936.

Ebn al-ʿEbrī, Taʾrīḵ, ed. A. Ṣāleḥānī, Beirut, 1890.

Abu’l-Ḥasan Ḥamza Eṣfahānī, Ketāb taʾrīḵ senī molūk al-arż wa’l-anbīāʾ, Beirut, 1961.

W. Hinz, Altiranisches Sprachgut, Wiesbaden, 1975.

Ḵᵛārazmī, Mafātīḥ al-ʿolūm, ed. G. van Vloten, Leiden, 1895.

Ṣ. Kīā, Aryāmehr, Tehran, 1346 Š./1967, pp. 142-46.

Meskawayh, Tajāreb, ed. A. Emāmī, I, Tehran, 1366 Š./1987.

M. Moʿīn, “Derāz-dast, derāz-angol, rīvand-dast,” Indo-Iranica 4/2-3, 1949-50, pp. 25-29; repr. in M. Moʿīn, Majmūʿa-ye maqālāt, ed. M. Moʿīn, II, 1367 Š./1988, pp. 331-35.

T. Nöldeke, Aufsätze zur persischen Geschichte, Leipzig, 1887.

Idem, Das iranische Nationalepos, 2nd ed., Berlin and Leipzig, 1920.

(Aḥmad Tafażżolī)

Originally Published: December 15, 1994

Last Updated: November 22, 2011

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Vol. VII, Fasc. 3, pp. 319-320