In this study, I have sought to analyze the Avestan term “ātar-”, alongside its etymology and conceptual history, from a Proto-Aryan and Indo-European perspective, adhering strictly to historical and comparative linguistic criteria. These findings have been published in the Kurdish peer-reviewed journal “Manthra-n” as well as on the platform academia.edu.
The present study demonstrates that the Avestan words “ātar-” = ‘fire’, “xᵛāϑra-” = ‘place of good breath, well-being’, and “āϑrauuan-/aϑaurun-” = ‘priest’ emerged from a common Proto-Aryan semantic field. This field arose through the phonological and semantic contamination of two Proto-Indo-European roots: “*h₂eh₁-tér-” = ‘warmth’ (belonging to the root “*h₂eh₁-” = ‘to be hot’) and “*h₂n̥h₁-tér-” = ‘heart ← breather’ (belonging to the root “*h₂enh₁-” = ‘to breathe’). Consequently, even as early as Proto-Aryan, fire was understood not merely as a physical element, but as a living, spiritual force whose warmth and breath express a metaphysical presence. In the Avesta, this unity unfolds completely: “ātar-” appears as the divine son of Ahura Mazda, acting as a purifying and cosmic entity; “xᵛāϑra-” denotes paradisiacal bliss, the locus of the holy breath that animates mind and soul; and “āϑrauuan-” is the priest (associated with the root “*h₂et-h₂-” = ‘to go, wander’), whose designation was analogically adapted to “ātar-” because he functions as the bearer and guardian of the divine fire. Thus, fire, breath, and the office of the “āϑrauuan-” constitute an integrated spiritual system that was already configured in Proto-Aryan and reaches its spiritual and theological consummation in the Avesta.
Article link:
https://independent.academia.edu/Beyhan%C3%AESah%C3%AEn
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