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Paradise is a Persian word that go to the other languages roots that is generally identified with the Garden of Eden or with Heaven. more...
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Originally meaning a walled garden or royal hunting grounds, the term entered Jewish (and eventually Christian) beliefs as a Greek translation for the Garden of Eden in the Septuagint. It is sometimes also identified with the bosom of Abraham, the abode of the righteous dead awaiting Judgment Day. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus tells a penitent criminal crucified alongside him that they will be together in paradise that day.
Etymology
The word "paradise" entered English from the French "paradis", inherited from the Latin "paradisus", which came from Greek paradeisos (royal garden). The Greek word came from the Avestan word "pairidaêza-" (an Eastern Old Iranian language) = "walled enclosure", which is a compound of pairi- (= "around") (a cognate of Greek πεÏί peri-) and -diz (= "to create, make"), a cognate of English "dough".
An associated word is the Sanskrit word paradÄ“sha = "foreign country" or "supreme country" from Sanskrit para = "beyond" (Greek πεÏα perÄ) and dÄ“sha = "land, country".
The word was also entered Semitic languages: Akkadian pardesu, Arabic firdaws (Ùردوس), Aramaic pardaysa (ܦܪܕÜÜ£Ü), and Hebrew pardes.
Paradise gardens
Sources as early as Xenophon in his Anabasis report the famed Persian "paradise" garden. In Achaemenid Persia, possibly earlier (in Mesopotamia?), the term was not just applied to 'landscaped' gardens but especially to royal hunting grounds, the earliest form of wildlife reserve, destined for hunting as a sport; in various cultures in contact with nature, paradise is portrayed as eternal hunting ground, not just in relatively primitive cultures (e.g. native American) but also in more advanced, essentially agricultural civilisations, e.g. the Egyptian Reed fields and the Greek Elysian fields.
Religious use
Christianity
The form of the word that is now understood as "heaven or any environment that is ultimately pleasurable" is derived from the Greek παÏάδεισος paradeisos used in the Septuagint Bible translation to mean the Garden of Eden. In the New Testament, paradise meant a paradise restored on Earth (Matthew chapter 5, verse 5 - the meek shall inherit the earth), though no reference is made to what condition (paradisaical or otherwise) the Earth would or should be in. However, certain sects actually attempted to recreate the garden of Eden, e.g. the nudist Adamites. On the cross, Jesus told Dismas that he would be with him in paradeisos (Luke 23:43). There are two other references to Paradise in NT: 2 Cor. 12:4 (there are things beyond human expression), and Rev. 2:7 (there is a tree of life).
Read more at Wikipedia.org
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