19 SEPTEMBER 1941, Page 13

Sut,—The name of Persia for Iran has been accepted in

Europe through many centuries, and was good enough for Cicero, Pliny, Chardin, Burton, Curzon and the British Government. Nor was it rejected even by the followers of Zoroaster. The language of the country is still called Farm. The etymology of Jamshid suggested by your correspondent is impossible. Ajam is an Arabic vord, de- noting non-Arab, barbarian, and especially Persian. The true deriva- tion is probably to be found in the Avestan Yima Khshaeta. To date the reign of Jamshid by reference to the Great Flood is on a level with the suggestion that Alexander the Great, born in 356 s.c., could have destroyed Persepolis about the year goo.—Yours obediently, The Rectory, Monk Sherborne, Basingstoke. E. J. Bouts.