Paradise: The Garden They Stole
The Most Important Word You Never Questioned Where do good people go when they die? Paradise. The word rolls off the tongue. Christians use it. Muslims use it. Secular people use it. "It was paradise" means the best possible place or experience. But where does this word come from? Not Hebrew. Not Greek. Not Latin. Persian. The word "paradise" is pairidaēza — Old Persian for "walled garden." And its journey from Persian gardens to Christian heaven tells the entire story of religious theft in a single word.
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The Most Important Word You Never Questioned Where do good people go when they die? Paradise. The word rolls off the tongue. Christians use it. Muslims use it. Secular people use it. "It was paradise" means the best possible place or experience. But where does this word come from? Not Hebrew. Not Greek. Not Latin. Persian. The word "paradise" is pairidaēza — Old Persian for "walled garden." And its journey from Persian gardens to Christian heaven tells the entire story of religious theft in a single word. The Etymology The Original Persian: Pairidaēza In Old Persian: pairi = around daēza = wall, enclosure A pairidaēza was literally an "around-wall" — an enclosed garden. Persian kings created these gardens as royal retreats — carefully cultivated green spaces in the arid landscape, walled to protect them from the desert.
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Hebrew Bible · Quran