Veshnavah

Veshnavah وش نوه
village
File:روستای وشنوه.jpg
Coordinates:
Country	Iran
Province	Qom
County	Qom
Bakhsh	Kahak
Rural District	Fordu
Population  (2006)
• Total	405
Time zone	UTC+3:30 (IRST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+4:30 (IRDT)

Veshnavah (Persian: وش نوه, also Romanized as Vashnaveh, Veshnaveh, and Veshnoweh; also known as Veshnāven) is a village in Fordu Rural District, Kahak District, Qom County, Qom Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 405, in 138 families.

This area boasts numerous tourist attractions, such as the shrine of Imamzadeh Hadi, the Veshnaveh Cave which dates back to the Sassanian era (or even earlier to the Median period), the upper and lower qanats, and more.

The main agricultural products of this village are hazelnuts, almonds, and walnuts.

Qajar sources have identified Veshnavah as the most important summer resort area for the people of Qom: "The people of Qom and Tehran do not know any summer resort healthier than the village of Veshnavah and its farms."

Etymology of Name

Various possibilities for the origin of the name "Vashnaveh" have been proposed by researchers:

1. It is suggested that in the local dialect, it means "my paradise."

1. Vashnaveh could be derived from "vashan + oveh," meaning "huge green and full of water." This possibility is consistent with the Qom dialect and common local names in other Iranian village toponyms, especially in the Zagros region.

1. Vashnaveh might be derived from "feshan + iveh," meaning "fruitful, fruit-bearing."

1. Vashnaveh could be derived from the word "veshf," which is the name of a mountain in that area. There is also another village in the vicinity named Vesf. Therefore, it is possible that Vashnaveh originally comes from "Vesf oveh" or "Veshf oveh," meaning "a place full of water near Vesf/Veshf" or "the summer pasture of Vesf/Veshf." Given the ancient Sassanian, Achaemenid, and Median presence in the Qom region, it can be speculated that Vesf/Veshf is related to Vispa/Vespa/Vista/Vishta, which would have meanings associated with ancient Persian words such as "tall," "elevated," and "leopard." Even now, in that area, we encounter toponyms like Leopard Cave, Leopard Chal, and Leopard Valley. From oral history of the local people around 1960s and from written sources from the Qajar period, it is evident that leopards existed in the mountains of that region.