Brad DeLong informs us that:
“Paradise” is derived from the Old Persian word for the wall around an enclosed, irrigated garden. Xenophon mistook the word for the enclosing wall for the word for the garden-park itself, and here we are.
I don’t see that explicitly in the OED; but it’s too delightful. Oh, and I agree that the New York Times better tear down their garden wall if they want to remain the paper of record.
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According to the Real Academia de la Lengua de España: Paraíso (Del lat. paradīsus, este del gr. παράδεισος, y este del avéstico pairidaēza, cercado circular, aplicado a los jardines reales).
i.e. Paradise: from latin paradisus, this coming from greek παράδεισος (parodeisos) and this one from Persian pairidaeza, circular wall, which applied to Royal gardens.
Other nice link explaining it:
http://www.canuck.com/Esalon/Pattern2.html
Fascinating thinkings open just from tracking the petaphore, similar to the ones I got when I realized that the concept of identity and the one of limit are in such a deep relation.
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