Note 51 — Kyros

The name Zohâk is a mutilation of the original Zend expression Ashi-dahaka [Azis-dahaka], meaning pernicious serpent. (See “The Myth of Feridun in India and Iran,” by Dr. R. Roth, in the Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, II, p. 216.) To the Iranese Feridum corresponds the Hindoo Trita, whose Avestian double is Thraetaona. The last named form is the most predominantly authenticated; from it was formed, by transition of the aspirated sounds, first Phreduna, then Frêdûn or Afrêdun; Feridun is a more recent corruption. Compare F. Spiegel’s “Eranische Altertumskunde,” I, p. 537 et seq.