Cohen kohan
What's the relationship between the Jewish name "Cohen" and the Persian word "kohan"?

Farhad M.
April 26, 2005
iranian.com

The traditional Jewish Passover feast was celebrated last Sunday by Jews in Iran, once the largest community outside Israel and yet the largest community in the Middle East even today.

Passover marks the anniversary of withdrawal of the Israeli clan from Egypt and their heading towards Jerusalem starting on the 15th day of the month of Neisan of the 5765th year of the world creation, coinciding with April 24, 2005. On this day, Moses was commissioned by the Lord to lead the Israelis from Egypt towards Jerusalem. It is usually referred to as the Exodus from Egypt.

I am not Jewish. But as an Iranian who has a keen interest in the etymology of the words we use, I've often asked myself : What's the relationship between the Jewish name "Cohen" and the Persian word "kohan" which means "ancient" or more precisely "From immemorial times"? And as a coincidence Ahron Cohen, the first of the line of Cohens, had lived in the time of the Exodus from Egypt, from which the Passeover feast originates.

Here are some thoughts to build upon:

"Cohen" in Hebrew means "the one who is in the service of the Lord" or simply put "Priest". There are even some Greek etymologists who dare to say that this words meaning comes from a Greek influence (see grecoreport.com).

Lately I've read about a Jewish scientist who tried to answer the following question: Could the Cohen line have been maintained since Sinai, and throughout the long exile of the Jewish people? To answer this question, this scientist has used DNA tests and ended up with a collection of markers which has come to be known as the Cohen Modal Haplotype (CMH)--the standard genetic signature of the Jewish priestly family (see cohen- levi.org).

Jewish tradition, based on the Torah, is that all Kohanim are direct descendants of Aharon, the original Kohen. The line of the Kohanim is patrilineal: it has been passed from father to son without interruption from Aharon, for 3,300 years, or more than 100 generations, the approximate time of the Exodus from Egypt, the lifetime of Aharon Kohen.

The word "Kohan" in Persian has a derivative such as "Kaahen" meaning "the one who can see into the future". Both words are also related to the word "Kaahenaat" which in modern Persian is pronounced "Kaa'enaat", a word which is plural in nature and could be translated into "the timeless universes of beingness".

According to modern Persian grammar "Kaahenaat" could be the plural of "Kohan", and may have found its pronunciation and meaning transformed (somewhat expanded) in time. In fact the word "Kaahenat" or "Kahenat" had been even transferred from Persian to some Christian Churches such as the Ethiopian Church where it also meant "Priest" (see here). Again a deformation of the original meaning of the word (from a Persian standpoint).

Kaahenaat, Kohan and Kaahen are Persian words that refer to the underlying fabrics of beingness which are timeless (Kaaenaat), which in terms of the human consciousness are translated into "Ancient" (Kohan), and because of its timeless nature, can see into what the human mind perceives as the future (Kaahen).

The fact that the meaning of the word Cohen has turned with time into "priest" or "the one who is in the service of the Lord" is more related to the social position of those who were named Cohen in the community. But that does not indicate the meaning of the word itself. It relates more to the fact that in any community ancients or ancient families usually gave guidance to the rest of the community.