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Concept
Scheherazade
Summary
Scheherazade (ʃəˌhɛrəˈzɑːd,_-də) is a major female character and the storyteller in the frame narrative of the Middle Eastern collection of tales known as the One Thousand and One Nights.
According to modern scholarship, the name Scheherazade derives from the Middle Persian name Čehrāzād, which is composed of the words čehr () and āzād (). The earliest forms of Scheherazade's name in Arabic sources include Shirazad (Šīrāzād) in Masudi, and Shahrazad in Ibn al-Nadim.
The name appears as Šahrazād in the Encyclopaedia of Islam and as Šahrāzād in
the Encyclopædia Iranica. Among standard 19th-century printed editions, the name appears as Šahrazād in Macnaghten's Calcutta edition (1839–1842) and in the 1862 Bulaq edition, and as Šāhrazād in the Breslau edition (1825–1843). Muhsin Mahdi's critical edition has Šahrāzād.
The spelling Scheherazade first appeared in English-language texts in 1801, borrowed from German usage.
The story goes that the monarch Shahryar, on discovering that his first wife was unfaithful to him, resolved to marry a new virgin every day and to have her beheaded the next morning before she could dishonor him. Eventually, the vizier could find no more virgins of noble blood and, against her father's wishes, Scheherazade volunteered to marry the king.
Sir Richard Burton's translation of The Nights describes Scheherazade in this way:
Scheherazade had perused the books, annals, and legends of preceding Kings, and the stories, examples, and instances of bygone men and things; indeed it was said that she had collected a thousand books of histories relating to antique races and departed rulers. She had perused the works of the poets and knew them by heart; she had studied philosophy and the sciences, arts, and accomplishments; and she was pleasant and polite, wise and witty, well read and well bred.
Once in the king's chambers, Scheherazade asked if she might bid one last farewell to her beloved younger sister, Dunyazad, who had secretly been prepared to ask Scheherazade to tell a story during the long night.
Official source
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