ܓܙܺܝܪܳܐ [†] gzyrʾ gzirā, ܓܙܝܼܪܵܝܵܐ gzyryʾ gzirāyā lictor
Usually this word is considered to be a loanword from Iranian, together with Talm. Aram. gzyrpṭʾ collector, lictor, gzyrʾ, gzyryʾ lictor; ryš gzyryʾ head of the policemen, Md. gzyrʾyʾ id. (Telegdi 237, 44): all these Semitic words are normally connected to MP wizīr [wcyl] decision, judgement (CPD 93; Nyberg 210 f.), NP vazīr a vizier, counsellor of state, minister (Steingass 1466; Horn 242) and NP gazīr a vazīr, the superintendent or collector of revenue; a hero, a champion (Steingass 1089; Horn 242). However, Weryho 1972, 312 f. claims that Syr. gzyrʾ is not a loanword from Ir. into Syr., but, on the contrary, from Syr. gzyrʾ into NP gazīr, following an hypothesis already put forward by Mohammad Moʿīn, Farhang-i fārsī, s.v. In its turn, Syr. gzyrʾ would derive from the Semitic root GZR to cut or hew stone; to tear; to circumcise; to determine, decree. Weryho, ibid., concludes that the formal similarity between NP gazīr and NP vazīr is only accidental: NP gazīr is a loanword from Syr. gzyrʾ (< Semitic root GZR), whereas NP vazīr (and MP wizīr, Arm. LW včiṙ decree, judgement, sentence, see Hübschmann AG 248, no. 627) is an outcome of the OIr. verbal stem *vi-car- to move, to get on, to get through, to perform (for details see wzyrʾ). Consequently, we have to suppose that Syr. gzyrʾ is different from Syr. wzyrʾ wazirā vizier (see s.v.), which is actually a loanword from MP wizīr decision, judgement. Nevertheless, the formal resemblance between the two forms seems to give rise to several semantic calques: note, for instance, that the last meaning of the Semitic (and Syr.) root GZR, namely "to determine, decree", does not seem completely consistent with the other meanings of the root, and could depend on an unetymological confluence with MP wizīr, Syr. wzyrʾ ● Chr ed 146, 18; MP 15, 15; 10, 12 = am 2, 609u; 628, 6; am 4, 178, 3 ◆ LS 113a; Hoffmann 1880, 62 n. 542; Hübschmann 1895, 105