Freydun

Freydun (Persian: فریدون - Freydun‎‎; Middle Persian: Frēdōn; Avestan: Θraētaona), also pronounced and spelled Fereydun, Faridun and Afridun, is the name of an Iranian mythical king and hero from the kingdom of Varena. He is known as an emblem of victory, justice, and generosity in the Persian literature.

Etymology

All of the forms of the name shown above derive, by regular sound laws, from Proto-Iranian Thraetaona (Θraētaona) and Proto-Indo-Iranian Traitaunas.

Traitaunas is a derivative (with augmentative suffix -una/-auna) of Tritas, the name of a deity or hero reflected in the Vedic Trita and the Avestan Thrita (Θrita). Both names are identical to the adjective meaning "the third", a term used of a minor deity associated with two other deities to form a triad. In the Indian Vedas, Trita is associated with gods of thunder and wind.

Trita is also called Aptya (Āptya), a name that is probably cognate with Athwiya (Āθβiya), the name of Thraetaona's father in the Avestā. Traitaunas may therefore be interpreted as "the great son of the deity Tritas". The name was borrowed from Parthian into Armenian as Hrudēn.