Word journey
The word paradise
a walled garden; the Garden of Eden; the abode of the blessed
The journey
| Form | Language | Date | Sense |
|---|---|---|---|
| *paridayjah | Proto-Iranian (reconstructed) | undated | walled enclosure ("around" + "wall"); reconstructed, not attested |
| pairi-daēza | Avestan · Zoroastrianism | 500 BCE | walled enclosure |
| paridaida | Old Persian · Zoroastrianism | 500 BCE | walled royal estate, park |
| pardesu | Akkadian (Late Babylonian) · Mesopotamian Religion | 500 BCE | domain, estate |
| pardēs | Biblical Hebrew · Judaism | 400 BCE | orchard (Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, Nehemiah) |
| parádeisos | Ancient Greek · Ancient Greek Religion | 370 BCE | Persian game park (Xenophon, Anabasis) |
| parádeisos | Koine Greek (Septuagint) · Judaism | 250 BCE | the garden of Eden (translating Hebrew gan, "garden") |
| firdaws | Arabic · Islam | 632 CE | paradise, the highest garden (Quran) |
| paradīsus | Late Latin · Christianity | 400 CE | the garden of Eden; heaven |
| paradīs | Old English · Christianity | 1000 CE | the garden of Eden (later reinforced by Old French paradis) |
What is certain and what is not
The Iranian compound means "around-wall"; the Avestan date rests on the composition of the texts, which survive only in much later manuscripts. Arabic firdaws plainly belongs to the family, but whether it came through Aramaic or Greek is not settled in the sources used, so it is left unlinked.