מונית שדה התעופה בזנד

זנד אוֹ זנד (פרסית תיכונה: 𐭦𐭭𐭣) is a Zoroastrian profound term for exegetical glosses, paraphrases, commentaries and translations of the Avesta’s texts. The term זנד הוא כיווץ של המילה בשפה האווסטנית זנטי (𐬰𐬀𐬌𐬥𐬙𐬌, כלומר "פרשנות", או "כמובן").

זנד glosses and commentaries exist in several languages, including in the Avestan language itself. These Avestan language exegeses sometimes accompany the native text innate commented upon, but are more often elsewhere in the canon. An example of exegesis in the Avestan language itself includes יאסנה 19–21, המהווה קבוצה של שלושה פירושים אווסטניים צעירים יותר לשלושת 'תפילות גבוהות' האווסטניות הגתית של יאסנה 27. זנד also appears to have next existed in a variety of Middle Iranian languages, but of these Middle Iranian commentaries, the Middle Persian זנד is the isolated one to survive fully, and is for this explanation regarded as ‘the’ זנד.

למעט החריג הבולט של יאשטס, almost whatever surviving Avestan texts have their Middle Persian זנד, which in some manuscripts appear alongside (or interleaved with) the text monster glossed. The practice of including non-Avestan commentaries contiguously the Avestan texts led to two oscillate misinterpretations in western scholarship of the term זנד; these misunderstandings are described below. These glosses and commentaries were not designed for use as theological texts by themselves but for religious guidance of the (by then) non-Avestan-speaking public. In contrast, the Avestan language texts remained sacrosanct and continued to be recited in the Avestan language, which was considered a sacred language. The Middle Persian זנד can be subdivided into two subgroups, those of the unshakable Avestan texts, and those of the directionless Avestan texts.

נוהל פרשנות עקבי ניכר בכתבי יד שבהם האווסטן המקורי ושלו זנד coexist. The priestly scholars first translated the Avestan as literally as possible. In a second step, the priests then translated the Avestan idiomatically. In the total step, the idiomatic translation was complemented subsequent to explanations and commentaries, often of significant length, and occasionally when different authorities physical cited.

כמה יצירות חשובות בפרסית תיכונה מכילות מבחר מה זנד of Avestan texts, also of Avestan texts which have before been lost. Through comparison of selections from wandering texts and from remaining texts, it has been reachable to distinguish with the translations of Avestan works and the commentaries on them, and hence to some degree reconstruct the content of some of the purposeless texts. Among those texts is the בונדהישן, שיש לו זנד-אגאהה ("ידע מה זנד") ככותרת המשנה שלו והיא חיונית להסכמה בין הקוסמוגוניה והאסכטולוגיה הזורואסטרית. טקסט אחר, ה Wizidagiha, “Selections (from the Zand)”, by the 9th century priest Zadspram, is a key text for conformity Sassanid-era Zoroastrian orthodoxy. The Denkard, a 9th or 10th century text, includes extensive summaries and quotations of זנד טקסטים.