US-Israel-Iran War: The tension between Iran and Israel is increasing in the Middle East and America also seems to be involved in it. There is a war going on between America, Israel and Iran. Its flame has reached many countries. In such a situation, the names of these three countries are in the headlines, but very few people know how many interesting stories are hidden behind their names. Let us understand how the names of Iran, Israel and America came into existence and what is their real meaning?
Iran: Name derived from ‘Land of Aryans’
What we call Iran today was earlier known by most people as Persia, but the actual name Iran is much older. This word comes from the ancient Aryan, which means the land of the Aryans or the country of the Aryan people. In 1935, the ruler of that time, Reza Shah Pahlavi, told the world that it should no longer be called Persia, but Iran.
Their aim was to bring out the ancient cultural identity of the country. In fact, the local people called it Iran for thousands of years, but in the western world the name Persia was more popular. The name Iran is from the land of Aryans.
The word Iran (Īrān) comes from the Middle Persian Ērān which was in use since the third century AD. Initially it meant the land of the Aryans or the Aryans. It is derived from the Old Iranian language arya (Arya), which was the self-name of the ancient Indo-Iranian people.
In the Avesta, the ancient book of Zoroastrian religion, Airya or Airyānām has been used for the land of the Aryans. Ariya is mentioned in the inscription of Kaldara I of the Achaemenid period where the king called himself Aryan. In the third century The first clear use of Ērān, which means Aryans, is found in the Naqsh-e-Rustam inscription of Ardashir I during the Sassanid period.
Decision to change name in 1935
Reza Shah Pahlavi wrote a letter to foreign ambassadors on March 21, 1935, saying that now Iran should be used officially instead of Persia. The purpose of which was to strengthen the ancient cultural identity of the country and to bring forward the old roots of the entire nation, Aryan/Iranian, instead of Persia which was related to only one region (Parsa).
Local people had called it Iran for thousands of years, but due to Graeme and Roman influence in the Western world, Persia This change was recorded in British and other foreign documents in 1935. Books and articles by historians such as History Hit, Far Horizons and the Wikipedia Pahlavi Iran page clearly state that this was part of cultural nationalism.
There are some rumors that it was influenced by Nazi Germany because of the word Aryan, but mainstream historians reject this.
The story of Israel’s name is related to the Bible
The whole story of Israel’s name is related to the Bible and it is quite interesting. There was a man named Jacob in the Bible. He was the grandson of Abraham and Isaac. The name Yakub already meant one who catches the heel or a deceiver/one who snatches a place.
He was clever since childhood. He had been cheated by his brother Esau at the time of his birth and even after growing up, he played tricks on him many times. One night Jacob was on the banks of the river. There he wrestles all night with an unknown man who is described in the Bible as a man, but later turns out to be an angel of God or God himself.
When the morning came, the man said, let me go, because it is morning, but Yakub said, “No, bless me first.” Then the man asked, “What is your name?” On this Yakub told his name. Then he said that now your name will no longer be Jacob, but will be Israel because you have struggled with God and with humans and you have won. This incident is in Genesis (Genesis 35) where God himself gives this name to Jacob.
What does the name mean?
In the Hebrew language, Israel (Yisra’el) is made up of two parts. Yisra or Sara which means to struggle, fight, try, grapple and El here means God. So it directly means the one who struggles with God or is going to struggle with God. In many places it is also called the one who conquers with God or the one who strives with God. It is said in the Bible itself that you struggled with God and won.
Why was the name of the modern country Israel in 1948?
When the Jews created their new country in 1948, there was a lot of debate in choosing the name. David Ben-Gurion announced it on May 14. Some people wanted Judea, Zion, Eretz Israel or The State of the Jews, but ultimately State of Israel was chosen because this name was directly linked to the Bible and reflected the entire Jewish history and identity from the twelve tribes of Israel descended from Jacob.
It was not just the name of a small area like Judea, but covered the entire tradition, old stories and roots of the Jewish people. The decision was taken by voting in a small committee. Ben-Gurion suggested Israel and it passed. It was written in the declaration that the state of the Jews would be in Eretz-Israel, which would be called the State of Israel.
So overall the name Israel came from the Biblical night of wrestling where Jacob wrestled with God and got a new name – the one who struggles with God. When the country was formed in 1948, the name was kept on the basis of this old, religious and historical root, so that the entire Jewish identity (twelve tribes, children of Jacob) came to the fore. This was not a new name, but a bringing back of thousands of years old tradition.
Named after the discoverer of Italy
America is not named after any king, god or ancient civilization, but after an Italian explorer. This fact is mentioned in the books of many historians including Library of Congress, Encyclopedia Britannica.
How did America get its name?
There was an Italian explorer named Amerigo Vespucci in 1454-1512 AD. He traveled to the New World on ships to Spain and Portugal in 1499 and 1501-1502. He wrote that the places discovered by Columbus were not Asia, but a new continent.
His letters became very popular in Europe. In 1507, a German map maker cartographer named Martin Waldseemüller made a large world map. This map is called Universalis Cosmographia. In this map, for the first time, the new continent was shown separately and the name America was written on it because Waldseemüller, influenced by Vespucci’s discoveries and letters, thought that this place had been discovered by Vespucci, hence it should be named in Latin as a female name like Americus→ America.
This map is today kept in the Library of Congress and it is called the birth certificate of America. Initially the name was applied only to South America, but later on the entire new continent. Spread on North + South.
USA: How was the United States of America formed?
When they gained independence from Britain in 1776, the colonies were first called United Colonies. On September 9, 1776, the Second Continental Congress decided that now its name would be United States of America. This name was used by Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence and it shows the union of several states.
Already as early as 1776, United States of America was being written in some letters. Its information is available in National Archives, Constitution Center and US history records etc. Overall, the name America came from the Waldseemüller Map of 1507, named after Amerigo Vespucci.
A German map maker named it in honor of Vespucci’s discoveries. This was not a planned name, but was written on a map and later became popular. When the country was formed in 1776, the full name was United States of America, which connects America with the USA.
