KESERWAN DISTRICT

Keserwan (Qadaa' Keserwèn) (Arabic قضاء كسروان) is a district (qadaa) in the Mount Lebanon Governorate (Arabic: محافظة جبل لبنان‎), Lebanon, to the northeast of the Lebanon's capital Beirut. The capital is Jounieh.

Origin of the name
The name "Keserwan" comes from the from the Arabic word kesrah (Arabic كسره ) which means a little piece (as in a little piece of a crunchy or dried bread or a little piece of a broken rock )or the Arabic word kasar (Arabic كسر) ( also Aramaic) which means to break. Some say it comes from the name of Kisra, a prince of the first Maronite inhabitants of Mount-Lebanon known as Mardaites. These ones may be aramaic-speaking people of Persian origin. Following the Maronite tradition on their history Prince Kisr, at the head of the Mardaite Kingdom (VIIth century), visited the Byzantin Emperor whom granted him as state governor of Lebanon and congratulated him for his resistance against the Arabs.

In return, Mardaite Lebanese people received him with great honor and called their own country Kisrawan after his name. Iranians called also many places of their country "Khosrovan" after the name of their Shah Khosro. So Keserwan is a typically Persian denomination made by authentic Lebanese inhabitants which shows the non-Arabic and Indo-European roots of Lebanon and his people.