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Meaning & History
Originally 'Kesra'(/kesrä/ → Merriam-Webster phonetic alphabet) , from the Arabic pronunciation of Cosroe (/xōsrō/ M-W ph. al.) which is a Persian first name meaning 'king'. (see Christopher Marlowe, Tamburlane the Great, Part 1). Cosroe (Kesra) was the name of a number of Persian kings from the Sassanids who reigned over a large portion of the Middle East, then part of Persia (Iran), from the 3rd to the 7th centuries AD (CE), most notably Cosroe I, Anoushirvan, whom Arabs called 'Kesra', and also his grandchild, the notorious Cosroe II, Aparvizh.