Paradise is a word of Persian origin (Persian: پردیس, Pardìs) that is generally identified with the Garden of Eden or with Heaven. Originally meaning a walled garden or royal hunting grounds, the term entered Jewish (and eventually Christian) beliefs as a Greek translation for the Garden of Eden in the Septuagint. It is sometimes also identified with the bosom of Abraham, the abode of the righteous dead awaiting Judgment Day. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus tells a penitent criminal crucified alongside him that they will be together in paradise that day.

Etymology

The word "paradise" entered English from the French "paradis", inherited from the Latin "paradisus", which came from Greek παραδεισος (royal garden). The Greek word came from the Persian Avestan word "pairidaêza-" (an Eastern Old Iranian language) = "walled enclosure", which is a compound of pairi- (= "around") (a cognate of Greek peri-) and -diz (= "to create, make"), a cognate of English "dough".

An associated word is the Sanskrit word paradēsha = "foreign country" or "supreme country" from Sanskrit para = "beyond" (Greek περα perā) and dēsha = "land, country".

The word also entered Semitic languages: Akkadian pardesu, Arabic firdaws (فردوس), Aramaic pardaysa (ܦܪܕܝܣܐ), and Hebrew pardes.

Paradise gardens

Sources as early as Xenophon in his Anabasis report the famed Persian "paradise" garden. In Achaemenid Persia, possibly earlier (in Mesopotamia?), the term was not just applied to 'landscaped' gardens but especially to royal hunting grounds, the earliest form of wildlife reserve, destined for hunting as a sport; in various cultures in contact with nature, paradise is portrayed as eternal hunting ground, not just in relatively primitive cultures (e.g. native American) but also in more advanced, essentially agricultural civilisations, e.g. the Egyptian Reed fields and the Greek Elysian fields.

Christianity

The form of the word that is now understood as "heaven or any environment that is ultimately pleasurable" is derived from the Greek paradeisos Persian loanword used in the Septuagint (LXX) Bible translation to mean the Garden of Eden. In the New Testament, paradise meant a paradise restored on Earth (Matthew chapter 5, verse 5 - the meek shall inherit the earth), similar to what the Garden of Eden was meant to be. However, certain sects actually attempted to recreate the garden of Eden, e.g. the nudist Adamites. On the cross, Jesus told Dismas that he would be with him in paradeisos (Luke 23:43). There are two other references to Paradise in NT: 2 Cor. 12:4 (there are things beyond human expression), and Rev. 2:7 (there is a tree of life).