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
Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh is a compilation of selected tablets and extracts from tablets by Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith. Shoghi Effendi, Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith from 1921 to 1957, made the selection and performed the translation, which was first published 1935. The work consists of "a selection of the most characteristic and hitherto unpublished passages from the outstanding works of the Author of the Bahá'í Revelation," according to Shoghi Effendi. The passages come from the whole range of Bahá'u'lláh's writings, dated from about 1853 to 1892. The book