What is "aryan"

Aryan \Ar"yan\ ([aum]r"yan or [a^]r"[i^]*an), a. Of or pertaining to the people called Aryans; Indo-European; Indo-Germanic; as, the Aryan stock, the Aryan languages.

Aryan \Ar"yan\ ([aum]r"yan or [a^]r"[i^]*an), n. [Skr. [=a]rya excellent, honorable; akin to the name of the country Iran, and perh. to Erin, Ireland, and the early name of this people, at least in Asia.]

1. One of a primitive people supposed to have lived in prehistoric times, in Central Asia, east of the Caspian Sea, and north of the Hindu Kush and Paropamisan Mountains, and to have been the stock from which sprang the Hindu, Persian, Greek, Latin, Celtic, Teutonic, Slavonic, and other races; one of that ethnological division of mankind called also Indo-European or Indo-Germanic.

2. The language of the original Aryans. [Written also Arian.]

3. (Nazism) a non-Jewish caucasian of Nordic stock; -- a classification used by Nazis, having no anthropological basis. [Written also Arian.]

c.1600, as a term in classical history, from Latin Arianus, Ariana, from Greek Aria, Areia, names applied in classical times to the eastern part of ancient Persia and to its inhabitants. Ancient Persians used the name in reference to themselves (Old Persian ariya-), hence Iran. Ultimately from Sanskrit arya- "compatriot;" in later language "noble, of good family."\n

\nAlso the name Sanskrit-speaking invaders of India gave themselves in the ancient texts, from which early 19c. European philologists (Friedrich Schlegel, 1819, who linked the word with German Ehre "honor") applied it to the ancient people we now call Indo-Europeans (suspecting that this is what they called themselves); this use is attested in English from 1851. The term fell into the hands of racists, and in German from 1845 it was specifically contrasted to Semitic (Lassen).\n

\nGerman philologist Max Müller (1823-1900) popularized the term in his writings on comparative linguistics, recommending it as the name (replacing Indo-European, Indo-Germanic, Caucasian, Jshortened) for the group of related, inflected languages connected with these peoples, mostly found in Europe but also including Sanskrit and Persian. Arian was used in this sense from 1839 (and is more philologically correct), but this spelling caused confusion with Arian, the term in ecclesiastical history.\n

\nGradually replaced in comparative linguistics c.1900 by Indo-European, except when used to distinguish Indo-European languages of India from non-Indo-European ones. Used in Nazi ideology to mean "member of a Caucasian Gentile race of Nordic type." As an ethnic designation, however, it is properly limited to Indo-Iranians (most justly to the latter) and has fallen from general academic use since the Nazi era.

Aryan may refer to:

"Aryan" is a term meaning "noble" which was used as a self-designation by Indo-Iranian people. The word was used by the Indic people of the Vedic period in India as an ethnic label for themselves, as well as to refer to the noble class and geographic location known as Āryāvarta where Indo-Aryan culture was based. The closely related Iranian people also used the term as an ethnic label for themselves in the Avesta scriptures, and the word forms the etymological source of the country Iran. It was believed in the 19th century that it was also a self-designation used by all Proto-Indo-Europeans, a theory that has now been abandoned. Scholars point out that, even in ancient times, the idea of being an "Aryan" was religious, cultural and linguistic, not racial.

Drawing on misinterpreted references in the Rig Veda by Western Scholars in the 19th century, the term "Aryan" was adopted as a racial category through the work of Arthur de Gobineau, whose ideology of race was based on an idea of blonde northern European "Aryans" who had migrated across the world and founded all major civilizations, before being degraded through racial mixture with local populations. Through Houston Stewart Chamberlain, Gobineau's ideas later influenced the Nazi racial ideology, which also saw "Aryan peoples" as innately superior to other putative racial groups. The atrocities committed in the name of this racial aryanism caused the term to be abandoned by most academics; and, in present-day academia, the term "Aryan" has been replaced in most cases by the terms " Indo-Iranian" and " Indo-European", and "Aryan" is now mostly limited to its appearance in the term of the " Indo-Aryan languages".

Pan Parag Ravi Aryan (born 14 October 1974) is an Indian film actor.

Aryan is a 1988 Indian malayalam crime drama film directed by Priyadarshan, starring Mohanlal, Ramya Krishnan, Sharat Saxena, Shobana, Sreenivasan, Gavin Packard, M. G. Soman and Goga Kapoor. Aryan tells the tale of underworld battle and emotional family bonds. It was remade in Tamil as Dravidan (1989 film) and unofficially in Telugu as Ashoka Chakravarthy. The film was also dubbed in Hindi as Aaryan Mera Naam. Sharat Saxena played as the villain in all three versions.

Aryan is a 2014 Kannada Indian sports drama film. Initially directed by Late D. Rajendra Babu, who died while filming half-way, the responsibility of directing the film went to Chi Guru Dutt. The film was produced by Dhruv Das under the banner Dreamweaver Entertainment and stars Shivarajkumar and Ramya in the lead roles.

The movie is based on the life of Aryan (acted by Shivrajkumar), who is an athletics coach. His protégé, a sprint queen (acted by Ramya) goes on win a major athletics event. Against this backdrop, there is a love story between the two.

The first look and music of the film are released on 9 June 2014.