المَجُوسُ
[The Magians]; a certain nation: it is a Persian word: مَجُوسُ [here written in two copies of the S and in the CK with tenween, but afterwards shown in the S to be imperfectly decl., and expressly said to be so in the Msb, art. هود,] is pl. of مَجُوسِىٌّ: [or rather the former is a coll. gen. n., and the latter is the n. un.:] the latter is a rel. n. from المَجُوسِيَّةُ, q. v., and is an epithet applied to a man: المَجُوسُ has the article ال only because it is used as a pl., for المَجُوسِيُّونَ; for otherwise مجوس could not receive the art., being of itself determinate; and it is also of the fem. gender; wherefore, with respect to inflection, it is like the قَبِيلَة, not the حَىّ; and the same is the case with respect to يَهُودُ; [i. e.,] each of these two words is imperfectly decl. because they mean thereby the قبيلة [so called, so that it is a fem. proper name]. (Msb, art. هود.) مَجُوسُ was a certain man with small ears, who instituted a religion for the مَجُوس, and invited [them] to it : so says Az: he was not Zarádusht [or Zoroaster] the Persian, as some say, because he [Zarádusht] was after Abraham, whereas the religion of the مجوس is [more] ancient; but Zarádusht revived it, and published it, and added to it: the name is arabicized, from مَنْجَ كُوش, or ميج كوش, or مِيخَ كُوش, , the latter of which words signifies “ the ear, ” [in Persian, but written with ك,] and the former meaning “ short. ”
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