Avesta people. The term "Avesta" is from the 9th/10th-century works of Zoroastrian tradition in which the word appears as Zoroastrian Middle Persian "abestāg", Book Pahlavi "ʾp(y)stʾkʼ". In that context, "abestāg" texts are portrayed as received knowledge, and are distinguished from the exegetical commentaries (the "zand") thereof. The literal meaning of the word "abestāg" is uncertain; it is generally acknowledged to be a learned borrowing from Avestan, but none of the suggested etymologies have been universally accepted. The widely repeated derivation from *"upa-stavaka" is from Christian Bartholomae ("Altiranisches Wörterbuch", 1904), who interpreted "abestāg" as a contraction of a hypothetical reconstructed Old Iranian
Avesta (locality) Avesta (locality) Avesta is a locality and the seat of Avesta Municipality in Dalarna County, Sweden, with 11,949 inhabitants in 2015. The name is first found in 1303 as "Aghastadhum". "Aghe" is of similar origin as the word å, meaning stream, in this case the Avestafors, a tributary of the river Dalälven. "Stadhum" was dative plural of a word of similar origin as stead, or farm. In the Scandinavian Middle Ages there was a blast furnace at the location. In 1636 the construction of a giant copper mine was initiated near the Avesta fors. The town Avesta received partial privileges