What it means
مهر (mohr) is a genuinely double-faced word. In the office context it means an official rubber stamp or wax seal, the kind pressed onto a document to certify its authenticity. You will see phrases like مهر و امضا (mohr o emzâ), “stamp and signature,” which together make a document legally valid in Iranian bureaucracy. In an entirely separate register, مهر also means love, warmth, or maternal affection, as in مهر مادری (mohr-e mâdari, motherly love). The seal meaning came into Persian from Aramaic (mokhrâ), while the affection meaning is ancient Iranian and connects to the Zoroastrian deity Mithra, guardian of covenants and light. The two senses today coexist peacefully, though context makes clear which one is meant.
How to use it
- این نامه مهر نداره. (in nâme mohr nadâre.) “This letter doesn’t have a stamp.”
- مهر بزن روش. (mohr bezan rush.) “Stamp it.”
- مهر مادرش تو دلشه. (mohr-e mâdaresh tu delashe.) “His mother’s love is in his heart.”
- مهر و امضای مدیر لازمه. (mohr o emzâ-ye modir lâzeme.) “The manager’s stamp and signature are required.”
Cultural note
In Iranian offices, a document without a مهر is often treated as unofficial no matter how many signatures it carries. The rubber stamp culture is deeply embedded: shops, notaries, schools, and government departments each have their own مهر, and losing it is a serious administrative problem. The word’s dual life, meaning both a seal of authority and the warmth of love, reflects how Persian frequently layers the practical and the poetic in a single term.