Whit Rodmena means

In ilka-day Persian, rūd (رود) is a river. Classical Persian uses the wird as weel for the string o a lute, for a sang, an for a bairn. Steingass’s Persian-English dictionary leets “a son or daughter; a comely and amiable youth”, an the Persian dictionaries o Dehkhoda, Moein an Amid define it as a bairn, son or dochter.^[1][2]

The same word names Rudāba (رودابه), princess o Kabul in Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh, the Persian epic completit aroond 1010. She mairit Zāl and becam the mither o Rostam, the epic’s greatest hero. Her name is read as rūd, “child”, and āb, “radiance”: the shinin child.^[4]

Set side bi side, the twa wirds read as ane eemage o a cherished bairn unner the azure hieven. That eemage is the literal meanin o Rodmena.

As a gien name, Rudmina (رودمینا) kythes in Iranian leets o lassies’ names wi the meanin “princess”, shāhzādeh. Acause the leets are a popular namin tradeetion an cite nae dictionary, we gie that meanin as the tradeetion gies it. Its echo in leeterature is Rudāba, the shinin bairn wha wis a princess o Kabul.^[4]

The Greeks caa'd the Iranians Persai. Herodotus tells hou they cam by the name: Perseus mairit Andromeda, their son wis Perses, and "it wis frae this Perses that the Persians tuik their name". He forby records that the Persians caa'd themsels Artaei.^[5]

The story is a Greek legend. The name comes frae Pārsa, the Auld Persie name o the fowk o Cyrus the Great and o their hameland in the sooth-wast, the day's province o Fārs.^[6]

Iranians hae aye cried their kintra Iran (ایران), frae the Middle Persie Ērān, biggit on the auncient name Iranians uised for themsels. In 1935 the govrenment speirt foreign govrenments tae uise “Iran” in offeecial correspondence, and in 1959 it confirmed that baith names may be uised.^[6]

Owre this site we say Iran and Iranian for the kintra and its fowk, the names they uise for thairsels, and Persian for the leid, Fārsi, and its leiterature.