What it means
عطار (attar) is the Persian word for a traditional herbalist, a perfumer, the keeper of an attari shop. Walk into one in any Iranian bazaar and the smell hits you first: rosewater, dried mint, cardamom, saffron, sumac, tamarind, dried lime (لیمو عمانی, limu omani), and a hundred dried roots and barks in glass jars and burlap sacks. The attar sells what your grandmother would have sent you to fetch: chamomile for sleep, golgav-zaban for anxiety, dried ginger for cold, henna for hair, kohl for eyes.
The trade is half pharmacy, half spice shop, half perfumery. In small Iranian towns where there is no homeopath and no specialty store, the attar still plays all three roles.
How to use it
Use attar for the man, attari (عطاری) for the shop. The word is current, not historical.
raftam attari, baraye sarma-khordegi gol-e gav-zaban kharidam.
I went to the herbalist’s, I bought borage flower for a cold.
رفتم عطاری، برای سرماخوردگی گل گاوزبان خریدم.
in attar dar tabriz besyar maaroof-e, az hame ja miyan.
This herbalist in Tabriz is very famous, people come from everywhere.
این عطار در تبریز بسیار معروفه، از همه جا میان.
The Attar of Nishapur connection
The 12th-century Sufi poet فریدالدین عطار (Farid al-Din Attar), author of منطق الطیر (Mantiq al-Tayr, The Conference of the Birds), is named for this trade. He ran an attari in Nishapur and wrote his poetry on the side. The name was a profession, then became a literary surname, then became one of the great names of Persian poetry. When you see Attar on a book of poetry, the herbalist’s shop is in the etymology.
Where it comes from
Attar is from Arabic عَطَّار, the intensive active participle of the root ع-ط-ر (a-t-r), to perfume, to make fragrant. Arabic عِطْر (itr) is perfume, scent. The attar was originally specifically the perfumer, the maker of essential oils and rosewater, and by extension the seller of all aromatic and medicinal goods. Persian borrowed the word with the trade itself in the early Islamic period and has kept it ever since.
In our voice
The attari is one of the most sensory experiences in an Iranian bazaar. Spend twenty minutes in one and you will leave with rosewater for cooking, dried barberries for rice, and a small paper bag of something the attar promised would help you sleep. Do not skip the trade on a bazaar walk. It is older than most of the city around it.
References
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