Aziz

Aziz (عزيز, , ʕaziːz) was originally a Northwest Semitic Phoenician-Aramaic-Hebrew-Arabic word, but is now much more commonly (but not exclusively) known as a Central Semitic Arabic male name. The feminine form of both the adjective and the given name is Aziza. Aziz in Arabic is derived from the root ʕ-z-z with a meaning of "strong, powerful" and the adjective has acquired its meaning of "dear, darling, precious". It is a cognate of Hebrew oz עוז meaning "might, strength, power". The Semitic word refers to the "power and glory" of deities and kings. In the Latinised form "Azizus" it is attested as the name of one of the Priest-Kings who ruled Emesa (the modern Homs, Syria) as clients of the Roman Empire. In ancient Levantine mythology, Azizos or Aziz is the Palmyran Arab god of the morning star. Al-Aziz is one of the names of God in Islam, and the word is also used as a royal title borne by the high nobles of Egypt, being a title borne by the prophet Joseph in the Quranic Surah-e-Yusuf, and also by the Biblical Potiphar, referred to in the Quran as Aziz. It is used in existing Semitic languages such as Arabic, Assyrian Neo Aramaic, Mandic, Hebrew, and also in non-Semitic languages like Turkish, Kurdish, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Persian, Urdu, Pashtu, Dari, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Turkmen, Uzbek, Uyghur, Balochi, Bengali, Somali, Indonesian, and Malaysian. Aziz is a common masculine given name, especially in the Muslim world but it has also continued to be used by indigenous non-Muslim peoples in the Middle East, e.g. Assyrians, and Mandeans.