Of multiple origins. Partly a borrowing from French. Partly from a proper name, combined with an English element.
Etymons:FrenchZoroastrien; proper name Zoroaster, ‑iansuffix.
Originally <Middle French, FrenchZoroastrien, adjective (1595 in the passage translated in quot. 1597, or earlier), and noun (1697 or earlier) <Zoroastre, the name in French of Zoroaster (see…
Originally <Middle French, FrenchZoroastrien, adjective (1595 in the passage translated in quot. 1597, or earlier), and noun (1697 or earlier) <Zoroastre, the name in French of Zoroaster (see below) + ‑ien‑iansuffix.In later use < the name of Zoroaster (classical LatinZōroastrēs<Hellenistic GreekΖωροάστρης: see note) + ‑iansuffix.With use as noun compare earlier Parseen.
Notes
The Greek name Ζωροάστρης apparently reflects an interpretation of the Avestan name Zaraθuštra (compare Zarathustrianadj.), substituting ancient Greekζωρός ‘undiluted’ and ἄστρον star (see astro-comb. form 1) for similar-sounding elements of the Avestan name (which is itself of uncertain and disputed origin). In English use, the name is attested from the Middle English period onwards, initially as Zoroastes.
Of, relating to, or characteristic of Zoroastrianism or its followers; designating a follower or adherent of Zoroastrianism.
1597
This is that Zoroastrien & Bactrien science [French ceste science Zoroastrienne, & Bactrienne], that of Balaam, & some others in my opinion, which hath succeeded vnto so many Arabian Astrologians.
H. M., translation of J. Du Bec-Crispin, Hist. Tamerlan 2
1662
The Zoroastrian Oracles mention reductive Angels, which reduce Souls to them, drawing them from several things.
T. Stanley, History of Chaldaick Philosophy 25
1795
The..heresy of Manes, which was compounded out of the ancient Zoroastrian or Magian superstition, and certain perverted doctrines of Christianity.
T. Maurice, History of Hindostan (1820) vol. II.iv. iii. 249
1892
There appears to be a distinct polemical element in the earliest Zoroastrian Hymns.
B. F. Westcott, Gospel of Life 172
1968
In the Arab period Iranian Zoroastrian writers turned to new alphabets and attempted to use them for writing down Middle Persian texts phonetically.
P. van Popta-Hope, translation of J. Rypka, Hist. Iranian Literature 34
1999
The Christian and Muslim concept of angels, she liked to boast, was ‘derived’ from these Zoroastrian originals.
S. Rushdie, Ground beneath her Feet (2000) ii. 24
2012
This is the time of year when Iranians prepare for the most important holiday of the Persian calendar, Nowruz, the ancient Zoroastrian festival marking the spring equinox.
The question is how to resist the Zoroastrian when he shall attack in his turn, and shall labour to prove that sin and its consequences are not consistent with the idea of one infinitely perfect and holy Being.
P. des Maizeaux, Life of Mr Bayle p. cvi in Bayle's Hist. Crit. Dictionary (ed. 2) vol. I.
1811
I would sooner be a Paulician, Manichean, Spinozist, Gentile, Pyrrhonian, Zoroastrian, than one of the seventy-two villainous sects who are tearing each other to pieces for the love of the Lord.
Lord Byron, Letter 3 September (1973) vol. II. 89
1864
The doctrine of the Resurrection..was not known to the Zoroastrians until after the Christian era.
E. B. Pusey, Daniel 492
1954
The cloth merchants, or bazzāz, had among their members Muslims, Jews, and Zoroastrians.
A. K. S. Lambton in L. E. Sweet, Peoples & Cultures of Middle East (1970) vol. I. 92
2018
There are fewer than 5,000 Zoroastrians in Britain.., but the government said the community's contribution to both world wars ‘greatly exceeded their small size’.
Some consonants can take the function of the vowel in unstressed syllables. Where necessary, a syllabic marker diacritic is used, hence /ˈpɛtl/ but /ˈpɛtl̩i/.
Vowels
iːfleece
ihappy
ɪkit
ɛdress
atrap, bath
ɑːstart, palm, bath
ɒlot
ɔːthought, force
ʌstrut
ʊfoot
uːgoose
əletter
əːnurse
ɪənear
ɛːsquare
ʊəcure
eɪface
ʌɪpride
aʊmouth
əʊgoat
ɔɪvoice
ãgratin
ɒ̃salon
ᵻ(/ɪ/-/ə/)
ᵿ(/ʊ/-/ə/)
Other symbols
The symbol ˈ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with primary stress.
The symbol ˌ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with secondary stress.
Round brackets ( ) in a transcription indicate that the symbol within the brackets is optional.
Some consonants can take the function of the vowel in unstressed syllables. Where necessary, a syllabic marker diacritic is used, hence /ˈpɛd(ə)l/ but /ˈpɛdl̩i/.
Vowels
ifleece, happy
ɪkit
ɛdress
ætrap, bath
ɑlot, palm, cloth, thought
ɑrstart
ɔcloth, thought
ɔrnorth, force
ʊfoot
ugoose
əstrut, comma
ərnurse, letter
ɪ(ə)rnear
ɛ(ə)rsquare
ʊ(ə)rcure
eɪface
aɪpride
aʊmouth
oʊgoat
ɔɪvoice
ɑ̃gratin
æ̃salon
ᵻ(/ɪ/-/ə/)
ᵿ(/ʊ/-/ə/)
Other symbols
The symbol ˈ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with primary stress.
The symbol ˌ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with secondary stress.
Round brackets ( ) in a transcription indicate that the symbol within the brackets is optional.
Simple text respell breaks words into syllables, separated by a hyphen. The syllable which carries the primary stress is written in capital letters. This key covers both British and U.S. English Simple Text Respell.
Consonants
b, d, f, h, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, w and z have their standard English values
gguy
jjay
yyore
chchore
khloch
shshore
ththaw
dhthee
zhbeige
Vowels
atrap
ahpalm
airsquare
arstart
arrcarry (British only)
awthought
ayface
a(ng)gratin
edress
eefleece
eerdeer
errmerry
ikit
ighpride
irrmirror
olot (British only)
ohgoat
oogoose
oorcure
orforce
orrsorry (British only)
owmouth
oyvoice
o(ng)salon
ustrut
uhletter
urnurse
urrhurry
uufoot
Forms
Variant forms
α.
1500s
Zoroastrien
1600s–
Zoroastrian
β.
1700s–
Zoroastran (rare)
γ.
1700s–
Zoroastrean
Frequency
Zoroastrian typically occurs about 0.6 times per million words in modern written English.
Zoroastrian is in frequency band 4, which contains words occurring between 0.1 and 1 times per million words in modern written English. More about OED's frequency bands
Frequency data is computed programmatically, and should be regarded as an estimate.
Frequency of Zoroastrian, adj. & n., 1750–2010
* Occurrences per million words in written English
Historical frequency series are derived from Google Books Ngrams (version 2), a data set based on the Google Books corpus of several million books printed in English between 1500 and 2010.
The overall frequency for a given word is calculated by summing frequencies for the main form of the word, any plural or inflected forms, and any major spelling variations.
For sets of homographs (distinct entries that share the same word-form, e.g. mole, n.¹, mole, n.², mole, n.³, etc.), we have estimated the frequency of each homograph entry as a fraction of the total Ngrams frequency for the word-form. This may result in inaccuracies.
Smoothing has been applied to series for lower-frequency words, using a moving-average algorithm. This reduces short-term fluctuations, which may be produced by variability in the content of the Google Books corpus.
Decade
Frequency per million words
1750
0.012
1760
0.012
1770
0.027
1780
0.033
1790
0.037
1800
0.04
1810
0.04
1820
0.056
1830
0.086
1840
0.17
1850
0.26
1860
0.38
1870
0.45
1880
0.51
1890
0.55
1900
0.56
1910
0.54
1920
0.51
1930
0.52
1940
0.5
1950
0.51
1960
0.51
1970
0.56
1980
0.6
1990
0.62
2000
0.64
2010
0.67
Frequency of Zoroastrian, adj. & n., 2017–2024
* Occurrences per million words in written English
Modern frequency series are derived from a corpus of 20 billion words, covering the period from 2017 to the present. The corpus is mainly compiled from online news sources, and covers all major varieties of World English.
Smoothing has been applied to series for lower-frequency words, using a moving-average algorithm. This reduces short-term fluctuations, which may be produced by variability in the content of the corpus.