Etymology of Khuzestan

[citation needed] Some scholars believe Ahvaz and Khuzestan are related to the name Ooksin, a city established during the era of the Elamite civilization, and are the altered forms of the words Ooks, Ookz, Hookz, Huz and Khuz.

Iraj Afshar in his Nigāhī bih Khūzistān : majmū`ah´ī az awzā`-i tārīkhī, jughrāfiyā'ī, ijtimā`i, iqtisādī-i mintaqah[3] states that Uxi was the Greek counterpart of the Elamite word Ūvja.

Such conversions derive from the fact that in ancient Persian dialects and in Pahlavi language, the sound "oo" was changeable to "hoo" as in such words like Oormazd → Hoormazd or Ooshmand → Hooshmand.

[8] In 1441, Muhammad ibn Falah, founder and leader of the Msha'sha'iya, initiated a wave of attacks on Khuzestan, and the cities of Hoveizeh, Khorramshahr, Ahvaz, and Susa started seeing large increases in Arab populations.

Examples are Majalis Al-Mumineen written by Ghadhi Nurollah Shushtari in 1585, Giti Gosha by Mirza Muhammad Sadigh Musawi, Nasikh Al-Tawarikh by Lisan Malek Sepehr, Muntazam Naseri and Mar'at ul-Baladan by Sani ol molk, Sharh Waghi'a by Ismail Mirza Dorughi, and the Afsharid era work Jahan goshay-i Naderi.

The Safavid era account History of Alam Aray Abbasi speaks of dispatching troops to "Khuzestan wa Arabistan" during the 8th year of Shah Abbas' reign.

A Persian map from the 9th century. Khuzestan is overlined in red.
10th century regional map of Khuzestan by Ibn Hawqal. The word is underlined in red.
10th century map of the World by Ibn Hawqal, the word Khuzestan is shaded in yellow background.