[XeTeX] [Off-topic] Persian versus Farsi

[Joel C. Salomon]

On 06/11/2011 05:32 AM, Vafa Khalighi wrote:
> So Iranians from the first day called their country Eran or Iran and
> Greeks and West world called it Persia. There is no disagreement between
> Iranians for the English version of the language. All Iranians believe
> that the language should be called Persian in English.

The Biblical books that deal with Persia call it "Paras"; the Talmud
(written in nearby Babylonia c. 500 CE) refers to someone who comes from
there as a "Parsi".

There may have also been a distinction between the name for the region
as opposed to the name of the empire, making the situation somewhat less
clear.

--Joel