The origin of the name 'zafiris'


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Posted by zafiris on November 08, 2001 at 13:15:09:

In Reply to: meaning of 'zafiris' posted by wassili on April 13, 2000 at 16:57:04:

Dear "ZAFIRIS" friend,

Having this name myself, I can explain it to you.
The word ZAFIRIS comes for the Greek word for Sapphire but it means "person with green-hazel eyes". If someone had blue eyes, his nickname (paratsoukli) would be GALANOS. If someone had that undefined honey-green or blue-brown color, his nickname would be "Sapphire" to indicate the colors of his eyes. Sapphires come in a variety of colors. Some of them have that blue-brown color. Eventually nicknames became first or last names and here I am.
In the Middle East or East, the word Zafir (or Zaphar or Zapher) means Victory. It is used (rarely) as a name there that is equivalent to the western "Victor".

The original sound of the word Sapphire comes from the Sanskrit Saph - feer. The Saph is a word associated with Saturn, the god of the underworld. The feer is close to the meaning "friend". The pheer root (you Sanskrit experts excuse my spelling please) derived the words "friend" and "free" (free as opposed to "slave"). Due to social structures of the ancient times free people would associate with each other but not with slaves.

This is what my research has unveiled so far. If you have some more information or ideas, please let me know.




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