Isfahan by Reza Sobhani
Via Flickr:
Isfahan is derived from Middle Persian Spahān, which is attested to by various Middle Persian seals and inscriptions, including that of the Zoroastrian magi Kartir. The present-day name is the Arabicized form of Ispahan (unlike Middle Persian, but similar to Spanish, New Persian does not allow initial consonant clusters such as sp). The region is denoted by the abbreviation GD (Southern Media) on Sasanian coins. In Ptolemy's Geographia, it appears as Aspadana , which translates to "place of gathering for the army". It is believed that Spahān derived from spādānām "the armies", the Old Persian plural of spāda, from which is derived spāh 'army' and spahi , 'soldier', literally 'of the army' in Central Persian. Some of the other ancient names include Gey, Jey (old form Zi) Park, and Judea.