Mazdá or more accurately Ma(n)zdá (with a nasal “a;”) is the Avestan word for “Genius, Creativity, Vision and Wisdom.” The seer/prophet Zarathushtra proclaimed Mazdá to be THE Ahúrá; the superb FORCE or the POWER SUPREME of the the worlds.

“ahúrá” is the same as “aesir,” or the chief gods of pre-christian Norse/Scandinavian religion. “ahúrá” comes from the root “ahú” meaning a powerful, superb FORCE/being. “aesir” also comes from Old.Norse. “as” “god,” powerful being. The sanskrit “asúrá” comes from the same root and has the same original meaning. Although in the later Vedic and post Vedic Sanskrit “asúrá” is the dsignation for “demonic beings of great power and cunning;” in the early books of the Rig veda, asúrá appears as a superb, powerful being/force of great intelligence. Hence, consistent with the Norse aesir and the Avestan ahúrá.

The seer/prophet Zarathushtra teaches that Mazdá/Ma(n)zdá or ” wisdom, vision, benevolent genius, mental/spiritual abilities” is the “ahúrá par excellence, ” “ahúrá maximus,” or Mazdá Ahúrá in Avestan speech. The meaning of Mazdá or Ma(n)zdá is the SAME as the Norse/Viking rune mannaz, Greek métis and the Vedic medhá.

Mazdá is BOTH substantive and adjective. “Mazdá” (grammatically feminine) means “skill/craft via powers of mind/spirit, ingenuity and wisdom”. “Mén-dá,” literally means “putting mind/spirit into work, hence “wise/brilliant.”
See Yasna 28.4, second half of the first line (mén gairä vóhü dadä hathrá man.ang.há,) Yasna 31.5, second half of the second line (mén-chá daidyái,) Yasna 44.8, second line (mén daidyái,) Yasna 45.1, third line (ma(n)z.dáwng.hö.düm,) Yasna 53.5 second line (mén-chá-í mánz.daz.düm.)

The Old.Church.Slavic. madru “wise, sage,” Lithuanian “mandras” “wide-awake,” Old German. munter “awake, lively, alert;” all come from the same original root namely: “alert and effective in mind/spirit.

We also encounter “medhira,” described in Rigveda 8.6.10 as the “insight into the truth/essence of things.” Compare Greek.mantis, lit. “one who divines, a seer, prophet, Lithuanian mintis, “thought, idea.” Compare Yasna 45.4, fifth line and the 17th name of Mazdá in Hormazd Yasht “ALL VISION.”

There seem to be an ancient aryan root mogh-/megh-or mezh “power of mind/spirit to realize/manifest. Originally Russian “muzh” referred to “mind, power of thinking.” Compare Old.Church.Slavic. mogo “to be able,” mosti “power, force;” Old English mæg, Old.Norse. mega, German. mögen, Gothic. magan “to be able,” “may” “make it happen.”

Also compare Russian: may = мoчь (moch), мoжeт, (mozhet), мoгy (magu)
Ukrainian: may = мoгти (mohty), можу – мoжeт (Mozhu – mozhet) might = мiг (mih)
Polish: may = móc (muts), możu (mozhu).

I AM SO GRATEFUL TO MY FELLOW ZOROASTRIAN MR. YURY JAKYMEC FOR HIS CONTRIBUTION OF THE ABOVE SECTION in russian, polish and ukranian.

I should add that persian “mozhde” as suggested by Dr. Mehrdad Farahmand is a cognate, and suggests the realization/happening of something awesome.

The idea behind “Mazdá” is THINKING, ENVISIONING, EFFECTING, and MAKING THINGS HAPPEN. See the most sacred Manthra, Yasna 27.13, second half of the second line; where effective deeds/actions, workmanship in existence are Mazdá’s. “Shyaö.tha.na.nám” refers to the action of manifesting through “speñtá mainyü” or the auspicious spirit of Mazdá.

Mazd-Yasná or the traditional name of the Zoroastrian faith is therefore, the ADORATION OF or YEARNING FOR Mazdá; the POWERS, ABILITIES OF MIND/SPIRIT IN INFLUENCING EVENTS AND PRODUCING MARVELS.

Among the Pre-Christian Vikings; Mannaz was the rune reserved for the genius and the visionary. Mannaz was the ability to divine, see, and predict; to generate effects with the will-power; to shape destiny and the future with the eye of “mind/spirit,” with the powers of mind, with wisdom, genius and intelligence.
For the ancient Vikings; Mannaz was the rune of human consciousness in its journey toward becoming a “GOD-MAN.” Mannaz was the rune that revealed our role as the conscious co-creators of reality, fashioners of destiny and the future.
In the runic lore, “Mannaz” is closely related to “ansuz,” the rune of speech dedicated to the “aesirs;” Avestan “ahúrá,” Vedic asúrá.
Mannaz was the rune of the limitless potentials and the new horizons through the endless powers of mind/spirit, wit, passion and will power.

In Greek Mythology, Métis (Μῆτις, “wisdom,” “skill,” or “craft”) was of the Titans, her name connoted “amazing know-how” and was equated with the magical powers of Prometheus as with the “royal mètis ” of Zeus.
Métis was the embodiment of “prudence”, “wisdom” or “wise counsel.” In ancient Greece, the word mètis was also the ordinary Greek word for a quality that combined “wisdom and awesome skill” together.
The prophetic Orphic tradition, enthroned Mètis side by side with Eros as primal cosmogenic forces. Plato declared Poros, Πόρος or “plenty” to be the child of Mètis or “creative ingenuity.”

In the Vedas, the feminine Medhá means: “will, thought, power of mind/spirit to realize;” i. 18, 6; ii. 34, 7; iv. 33, 10; v. 27, 4; 43, 13; vii. 104, 6; viii. 6, 10; 52, 9; ix. 9, 9; 26, 3; 32, 6; 65, 16; 107, 25; x. 91, 8.

There is a Medhá Sukthá which appears in the Máháráyáná Upanishád and in the Rig and the Atharvá Vedás. Medhá Sukthá is an ode to the capacity of thinking, creative ingenuity, realization and wisdom.

The masculine medhá has been translated commonly as “sacrifice;” e.g ashvá medhá/horse sacrifice and póurúshá medhá or sacrifice of the primeval being.

Yet, the real meaning seem NOT to be “sacrifice,” but rather “wise measure, smart plan or clever course of action intended to obtain the result, an intelligent formula; an effective course of action to accomplish.

ardeshir