does it seem at all likely that the now familiar name will ever be
surrendered for the more correct one. Who speaks of Cassius Dio,
though we are told that Dio Cassius is wrong? Nor do we feel at all
convinced that the name of Avesta Zend is the original and only
correct name. According to the Parsis, Avesta means sacred text, Zend
its Pehlevi translation. But in the Pehlevi translations themselves,
the original work of Zoroaster is spoken of as Avesta Zend. Why it is
so called by the Pehlevi translators, we are nowhere told by
themselves, and many conjectures have, in consequence, been started by
almost every Zend scholar. Dr. Haug supposes that the earliest
portions of the Zend-Avesta ought to be called Avesta, the later
portions Zend--Zend meaning, according to him, commentary,
explanation, gloss. Neither the word Avesta nor Zend, however, occurs
in the original Zend texts, and though Avesta seems to be the Sanskrit
avastha, the Pehlevi apestak, in the sense of 'authorised text,' the
etymology of Zend, as derived from a supposed zanti, Sanskrit _gn_ati,
knowledge, is not free from serious objections. Avesta Zend was most
likely a traditional name, hardly understood even at the time of the
Pehlevi translators, who retained it in their writings. It was
possibly misinterpreted by them, as many other Zend words have been at
their hands, and may have been originally the Sanskrit word
_k_handas,[46] which is applied by the Brahmans to the sacred hymns of
the Veda. Certainty on such a point is impossible; but as it is but
fair to give a preference to the conjectures of those who are most
familiar with the subject, we quote the following explanation of Dr.
Haug:

'The meaning of the term "Zend" varied at different periods.
Originally it meant the interpretation of the sacred texts
descended from Zarathustra and his disciples by the
successors of the prophet. In the course of time, these
interpretations being regarded as equally sacred with the
original texts, both were then called Avesta. Both having
become unintelligible to the majority of the Zoroastrians,
in consequence of their language having died out, they
required a Zend or explanation again. This new Zend was
furnished by the most learned priests of the Sassanian
period in the shape of a translation into the vernacular
language of Persia (Pehlevi) in those days, which
translation being the only sourc