Geography

Write for The Iranian Editorial policy

Origins of Farur
The toponymy of a Persian Gulf island

October 11, 2001
The Iranian

Twenty miles south of the Persian Gulf port of Moghu lies an elliptical island called Farur. At a distance of some 10 miles southwest of this island there is a smaller one that was once called Nabi Farur. The larger one is mostly covered with rocks and dark volcanic hills, and its coastline consists of rocky cliffs some 35 feet high. In contrast, the surface of lesser Farur is sandy, except for a section on the east side which is rocky. In the light of day, the mariner who would approach Nabi Farur would be dazzled by the circular islet shimmering like a crystalline ball bobbing in the waves.

How the name Farur came to apply to these islands is anyone's guess and naught is lost by venturing one here. There are three guiding principles for this exercise. Given the proximity and association of these islands with the Persian coast, first we may assume that their earliest known names would have been Persian, if not from Persian origin. Second, in the Arabic language the sound P is often replaced by B, such as when the English "petrol," meaning gasoline, becomes "betrol" in Arabic, or by F, such as turning Pars to Fars, Piruz to Firuz. Third, a mariner's name for an island is often a reflection of his physical encounter or cerebral experience with the island.

In the itinerary of Alexander the Great's fleet in the Persian Gulf, Farur is given as Pylora. Exactly what this means is anyone's guess. I would venture to say that Pylora was probably a corruption of the Persian "polur" or "bolur," meaning crystal or crystal-rock, which would have been an apt designation for isles that appeared shinning from a distance due to their light colored sandy beaches and glittering cliff and rock formations. However, even if Pylora was not the Greek rendition of "polur" or "bolur," it mattered not because Pylora itself may have been corrupted eventually to become "bolur" and "folur" and then Farur.

In Claudius Ptolemy's geography an island is shown off the coast of ancient Kerman called Polla. This is in all likelihood the same as the aforementioned Pylora. But by the eleventh century the P in Pylora was changed to B, whereby in Ibn Balkhi's work the island is called Belur. However, in Hamdallah Mustawfi's elaborate itinerary the island seems to have been referred to as Anashak, if at all. At the time of the Portuguese sixteenth century dominion in the Persian Gulf, the island was called Firol, while the contemporary Spanish name for it was Firror (and you thought that the Japanese confuse R with L), and some referred to it as Guolar (how confused were these guys!). The Iberian name for the island had come to substitute F for P in Pylora, a change that would have been acceptable if not already originating in Arabic and Persian.

By the time of Carsten Niebuhr's late eighteenth century voyage to the Persian Gulf the larger Farur was depicted on the maps, particularly English and French maps, by its Persian (per Ibn Balkhi) name of Belior, as well as Paloro, and Pollior. The lesser Farur was marked on the maps as F'rur and Nobfleur. Niebuhr identified the larger island as Belior and the smaller one as Farur. However, his Arabic/Persian orthography for Farur could be pronounced as "farvar", which could be taken to have a connection with the Persian "parvar", which could have referred to the practice of sending goats and sheep to the island for pasturage in the hope that they fatten up. It is more likely however that the name Farvar could have come from Farvardeen, the first month of spring, when the pasturage on the Farurs would be best for the quadruped to be sent there to graze.

A statement must be added here with respect to the significance of the term "Nabi" that some sources used in their reference to the smaller Farur. Interestingly, similar-sounding terms at times have accompanied the name for Little Tonb, such as in Lorimer's Tunb Nabiyu and Tunb Nabi. In Persian and Arabic the tern "nabi" relates to the word "prophet," not very likely to have any significant relation to Farur. But the word "nabin" in Arabic could stand for something that is repugnant, distasteful, or overall useless and ugly. By all accounts this label could have applied to Little Farur, a tiny island with no amenity to speak off. The same could have applied to Little Tonb.

With respect to Little Tonb we know that its eighteenth century appellations included names such as Nabgion, Nabgian, Nabejou, and Namiu. This last name was written by Niebuhr in a manner that a Persian could read it rightly as "nameeveh," meaning fruitless, barren. But what if Niebuhr's "nameeveh" was intended to be read "nabiou," as the Persian/Arabic orthography of the name certainly could support. In that case, "nabiou" would have been akin to if not an outright corruption of "Nabejou," in which a Persian could discern a reference to a state of waterlessness or impossibility of finding water on the island (n+ab+jou), but an Arab would see utter meaninglessness.

Author

Guive Mirfendereski is a professorial lecturer in international relations and law and practices law in Massachusetts.

Comment for The Iranian letters section Comment to the writer Guive Mirfendereski