Parasang

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /ˈpaɹəsaÅ‹/

Origin

From Latin parasanga, from Ancient Greek παρασάγγης, from unattested Old Persian (indigenously attested only in Middle Iranian languages onwards); compare Middle Persian plsng (frasang, "frasang (4 Roman miles)") (>

Persian فرسنگ).

Full definition of parasang

Noun

1. A historical Iranian peoples unit of itinerant distance used throughout the Western Mediterranean and the Middle East in antiquity. Functionally comparable to the , and presumed to have varied between two and four miles.
• 1621, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, New York Review of Books 2001, p. 66:To see so much difference betwixt words and deeds, so many parasangs betwixt tongue and heart ....