On Nayruz

his word is Persian. The Arabic form is Nayruz when speaking of a specific Islamic festival, but is still Nawruz when speaking of the Iranian New Year, which is still celebrated by everyone in all the Iranian countries and some Turkic countries as well. This might only be an adaptation to make a phonetically possible Arabic word. The next question is whether the Coptic etymology for their Nayruz is just a mistaken guess. Then the question is what the original Coptic name might have been. Then the question is why the Copts interpret the name in a way that fits its meaning in Persian.

The word Nayruz is used in Coptic with a Christian meaning, but it is still the Arabic word which itself is adapted from Persian. The Arabic word Nayruz refers to a Shi’ite (I think) Islamic festival at about the date of the Persian New Year. The form Nawruz is the original Persian form. This word is used in Iran to this day, because the Persian New Year is still observed. (The folk observances associated with the Jewish New Year six months later, such as writing sins down on paper and putting it in water preferably with fish in to be blotted out, and so on, are lifted straight from Persian observance).

The question remains, what was the Christian festival called before the native Coptic word was replaced by the Arabic word?