section_path: Etymology
section_name: Etymology
paragraph_text: Etymology
  
  The name Cyrus is a Latinized form derived from the Greek-language name Κῦρος (Kỹros), which itself was derived from the Old Persian name Kūruš. The name and its meaning have been recorded within ancient inscriptions in different languages. The ancient Greek historians Ctesias and Plutarch stated that Cyrus was named from the Sun (Kuros), a concept which has been interpreted as meaning "like the Sun" (Khurvash) by noting its relation to the Persian noun for Sun, khor, while using -vash as a suffix of likeness. Karl Hoffmann has suggested a translation based on the meaning of an Indo-European root "to humiliate", and accordingly, the name "Cyrus" means "humiliator of the enemy in verbal contest". Another possible Iranian derivation would mean "the young one, child", similar to Kurdish kur ("son, little boy") or Ossetian i-gur-un ("to be born") and kur (young bull). In the Persian language and especially in Iran, Cyrus' name is spelled as کوروش (Kūroš,). In the Bible, he is referred to in the Hebrew language as Koresh (כורש). Some pieces of evidence suggest that Cyrus is Kay Khosrow, a legendary Persian king of the Kayanian dynasty and a character in Shahnameh, a Persian epic.
  
  Some scholars, however, believe that neither Cyrus nor Cambyses were Iranian names, proposing that Cyrus was Elamite in origin and that the name meant "he who bestows care" in the extinct Elamite language. One reason is that, while Elamite names may end in -uš, no Elamite texts spell the name this way — only Kuraš. Meanwhile, Old Persian did not allow names to end in -aš, so it would make sense for Persian speakers to change an original Kuraš into the more grammatically correct form Kuruš. Elamite scribes, on the other hand, would not have had a reason to change an original Kuraš into Kuruš, since both forms were acceptable. Therefore, Kuraš probably represents the original form. Another scholarly opinion is that Kuruš was a name of Indo-Aryan origin, in honour of the Indo-Aryan Kuru and Kamboja mercenaries from eastern Afghanistan and Northwest India that helped in the conquest of the Middle East.