Also Zand, Zund. [a. F. zend (used as the name of the language by Anquetil du Perron, 1771): see ZEND-AVESTA.]
I. = ZEND-AVESTA.
In T. Hyde, Hist. Relig. Vet. Pers., 1700, it is usually designated liber Zend, but it is also referred to as Zendavestā, Vestâvazend, Avesta, Vesta, Avestak, etc.
1715. Prideaux, O. & N. Test., I. (1718), 176. This book is called Zendavesta, and by contraction Zend, the vulgar pronounce it Zundavestow, and Zund. Ibid. In their language they call a righteous action Zend-aver, i.e. what the book Zend allows.
1789. Sir W. Jones, Disc. Persians, Wks. 1799, I. 79. Besides the Pársi and Pahlavi, a very ancient and abstruse tongue was known to the priests and philosophers, called the language of the Zend.
1790. Francklin, Obs. Tour Bengal to Persia, 29. Their sacred book, the Zend, which is said to have been written by their celebrated prophet Zerdusht.
2. The language of the Avesta (see ZEND-AVESTA): also called Old Bactrian, forming with Old Persian the Iranian group of the Indo-European languages. Also attrib.
In early use, attrib. use of sense 1, = pertaining to or used in the Zend-Avesta.
1700. T. Hyde, Hist. Relig. Vet. Pers., xxvi. 338. Literæ … quæ … apud incolas vulgó audiunt Literæ Zundicæ, seu Character Zundicus, vel si Anglicè loquimur, the Zund Character.
1788. Asiatick Researches, I. 45, note. The Zend Letters.
1789. Sir W. Jones, Disc. Persians, Wks. 1799. I. 83. M. Anquetil … has exhibited in his work, entitled Zendavestà, two vocabularies in Zend and Pahlavi.
1815. Elphinstone, Acc. Caubul (1842), I. 251. Some of this very class [of words] belong to the Zend and Pehlevee.
1843. (title) The Vandidad Sádi of the Pársis in the Zand Language.
1878. G. Smith, Life John Wilson, vii. 213. He was the first English scholar to master the original Zand texts.
Hence Zendic a. [cf. mod.L. Zundicus, T. Hyde, 1700], belonging to Zend; so Zendish a. (also as sb. = Zend); Zendist, one versed in Zend.
1813. Q. Rev., Oct., 266. In ancient Media, Zendish was the language of the northern, and Pehlvi, or Parthian, of the southern parts.
1843. W. C. Taylor, Anc. Hist., App. II. (ed. 3), 581. The Zendic and Pehlvi dialects of Persia.
1893. Nation (N. Y.), 22 June, 457/2. That persons professing to be specialists in Zend should be able to read the Pahlavi language … in MS.—an accomplishment which, unfortunately, very few professed Zendists possess.
