دولت

In medieval sources, it most commonly means "fortune" or "stroke of good fortune," especially associated with the ruling monarch. The word now means "state; government" due to metonymy: "the royal fortune" > "the king's dominion" > "the government of the king". Up to the nineteenth century, the ruling state was most often called (dowlat-e âliyye, literally “the sublime fortune [of the king]”).

Pronunciation edit

(Classical Persian) IPA^(key): [daw.ˈlat]

(Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [d̪äw.lǽt̪]
- (Kabuli) IPA^(key): [d̪äw.lǽt̪]
- (Hazaragi) IPA^(key): [d̪äw.lǽt̪]

(Iran, formal) IPA^(key): [d̪ow.lǽt̪]
- (Tehrani) IPA^(key): [d̪oː.lǽt̪]

(Tajik, formal) IPA^(key): [d̪äw.lǽt̪]

Readings
Classical reading^?	dawlat
Dari reading^?	dawlat
Iranian reading^?	dowlat
Tajik reading^?	davlat

Audio (Iran): (file)

Noun edit


Dari	دَوْلَت
Iranian Persian	دُوْلَت
Tajik	давлат

دُوْلَت • (dowlat) (plural دولت‌ها (dowlat-hâ))

state, government
― kârmand-e dowlat ― government employee

majles-e šowrâ-ye eslâmi dar irân vazife-ye qânun-gozâri va nazârat bar dowlat râ dârad.
The Islamic Consultative Assembly in Iran has the duties of lawmaking and supervision of the government.
dominion, rulership
(dated, literary) fortune, good fortune
- early 1000s, ʿUnṣurī, “Panegyric 3”, in دیوان عنصری‎^[2]:
  گفتم او را چه خواهم از ایزد
  گفت عمر دراز و دولت شاب
  guftam ō rā či xwāham az ēzad
  guft umr-i darāz u dawlat-i šāb
  I said to him, "What do you desire from God?"
  He said, "A long life and the fortune of a youth!"
  (Classical romanization)
- c. 1390, Shams-ud-Dīn Muḥammad Ḥāfiẓ, “Ghazal 392”, in دیوان حافظ [The Divān of Ḥāfiẓ]‎^[3]:
  دانی که چیست دولت؟ دیدار یار دیدن
  در کوی او گدایی بر خسروی گزیدن
  dānī ki čē-st dawlat? dīdār-i yār dīdan
  dar kōy-i ō gadāyē bar xusrawē guzīdan
  Do you know what fortune is? To see the beloved's face,
  To prefer a beggar in her street to a king of kings.
  (Classical Persian transliteration)
(dated, literary) wealth, (monetary) fortune, prosperity

Usage notes edit

In contemporary Iranian contexts, the word (dowlat, “government”) refers to that section of the government presided by the (ra'is-jomhur, “President”) and his cabinet. The word (hokumat, “state”) refers to the entirety of the governmental apparatus under the supervision of the (rahbar, “Supreme Leader”).

Note that this usage is quite the opposite of the respective etyma دَوْلة (dawla) and حُكُومة (ḥukūma) in contemporary Arabic.

Descendants edit

→ Assamese: দৌলত (doulot)
→ Azerbaijani: dövlət
→ Bengali: দৌলত (dōulot)
→ Georgian: დოვლათი (dovlati)
→ Gujarati: દોલત (dolat)
Gujarati: دولت (daulat) — Lisan ud-Dawat
→ Hindustani:
Hindi: दौलत (daulat)

Urdu: دَولَت (daulat)
→ Kannada: ದೌಲತ್ತು (daulattu)
→ Kazakh: дәулет (däulet)
→ Kyrgyz: дөөлөт (döölöt)
→ Maithili: daulti
Devanagari script: दौलति

Tirhuta script: 𑒠𑒾𑒪𑒞𑒱
→ Malayalam: ദൌലത്ത് (daulattŭ)
→ Marathi: दौलत (daulat)
→ Marwari: दौलत (daulat)
→ Nepali: दौलत (daulat)
→ Odia: ଦୌଲତ (dôulôtô)
→ Punjabi:
Gurmukhi script: ਦੌਲਤ (daulat)

Shahmukhi script: دَولَت (daulat)
→ Sindhi:
Arabic script: دَوْلَتَ

Devanagari script: दौलत
→ Telugu: దౌలత్తు (daulattu)
→ Turkmen: döwlet
→ Uzbek: davlat