پری

Meaning: “witch”

From Middle Persian [script needed] (plyk' /⁠parīg⁠/, “witch”), ultimately from Old Persian *parikā. Compare Manichaean Middle Persian 𐫛𐫡𐫏𐫃 (pryg), Avestan 𐬞𐬀𐬌𐬭𐬌𐬐𐬁 (paⁱrikā, “sorceress, witch”), Sogdian [script needed] (pṛʿyk-, “female demoness”) and Old Armenian պարիկ (parik), an Iranian borrowing. Connections that have been proposed include Middle Irish airech (“concubine, wanton woman”), and from Indo-European root *pelē- ‘to fill,’ Latin plēnus ‘full.’ Middle Persian parīg, Khotanese [script needed] (palīkā), Latin parcae (“fates”), Ancient Greek Παλλάς (Pallás, “youth, maiden”), Sanskrit पारक्य (pārakya, “strange, alien”). Pokorny derives this from Proto-Indo-European *parīkā (“concubine”).