Toponymy of South-West Asia

Southwest Asia — the cradle of ancient civilizations of our planet. It was here in the fourth Millennium BC the Sumerians had invented writing, the greatest achievement of mankind, which is counting time in the history of mankind. Their mark in the history of the Earth had left the inhabitants of the interfluve of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers — Sumerians, Akkadians, Babylonians; the peoples of the Eastern Mediterranean — the Phoenicians (inventors of the alphabet and the great navigators of antiquity), the Philistines and the Hebrews; the Hittites, who possessed Asia Minor and successfully fought with the Egyptian pharaohs; the Persians who created the great power of the Achaemenid. This region saw the phalanx troops of Alexander the great and Roman legions, campaigns of the Arab generals and the invasion of the Mongols, the rise and fall of the Ottoman Empire. The world's religions was born here: Judaism, Christianity and Islam that gave the world the great books — the Bible and the Koran. None of the regions of the Earth can be compared with South-Western Asia, its antiquity and richness of the way. So obvious is the fact of diversity and antiquity of toponyms of the region. The age of individual toponyms in South-West Asia dates back several millennia, and it is often impossible to establish their linguistic identity, and value. An example can be the name of Damascus, the etymology of which is unknown, despite numerous attempts of scientists to find an explanation of the toponym. The oldest hydronyms of the Euphrates and Tigris came to us many times in the modified form, through many languages. The capital of Israel is Jerusalem mentioned in the ancient sources, in the forms of Urshalim, Shalim etc. The legendary city of Babylon, which ruins are preserved in Iraq, was called Bab-ILU — "gate of God" (meant the Supreme God of Babylon — Marduk). These facts illustrate the complexity of the study of geographical names of the region.

The most common of the region From later layers is Arabic. Its formation is connected with the Arab conquest of VII—IX centuries and the introduction of Islam, which is currently the main religion in southwest Asia. In Saudi Arabia, the spiritual centers of the Muslim world — Mecca and Medina, which in Islam are referred to, respectively Umm al-Qura ("mother of all settlements") and Madina Rasul Allah ("city of the messenger of Allah"). Arabic place names mostly consist of two words and often united with the article. Often in the names there are a lot of folk geographical terms: Jebel "mountain"; RAS "toe" reef "beach"; tel 'hill'; Nahr, Shutt — "river"; Bahr "sea", "big river"; Wadi "river valley"; ain "the well"; Medina — "the city"; Ribat, Rabat — "the fortress", etc. Toponymy of the region's rich Islamic religious concepts of Arab origin: Mazar — "the grave of the Saint" (Mazar-I-Sharif in Afghanistan); the Deir "monastery"; zawiya — "temple, monastery"; Zia-rat — "place of worship", etc.

In Israel and Palestine are the toponymy from another Semitic language - Hebrew. Some names date back to ancient languages (Haifa, Jerusalem), others recreated in the modern period (Tel-Aviv, Beit-Lahia from Bethlehem). As already mentioned, separate names known since biblical times and are the true monuments of the history of mankind.

In Iran and Afghanistan there are the place names from Iranian languages. The characteristic names of rivers that contain the term of ore — "river": Farahrud, Khachrod, the Hari Rud, Heh-lilred. Typical terms are: kuh — "mountain"; Dasht, Dasht — desert "steppe" or "plain"; Shehr, Abad "city"; Bender, "harbour", "port", etc. Of course, the Iranian toponymy is presented outside of these countries. For example, the capital of Iraq - Baghdad - from the Iranian "God-given". Turkic toponymy is widely represented in Turkey.

Turkish geographical names include a large number of geographical terms (typical for Turkic toponymic system): Doug — "mountain"; Tepe —"the hill"; Tash — "stone"; Bogaz — "pass"; Irmak — "river"; gel — "lake"; Tuz — "salt", Orman "forest"; Kale "fortress"; Saray "Palace", etc. of the Turkic-speaking place names are found in Iran, Afghanistan,that is associated with residence in these countries, Turkmen and Uzbeks.

On the coast of the Black sea and the Mediterranean are still preserved toponyms inherited from antiquity. Especially a lot of them in Turkey, where they are accepted and assimilated into the Turkish language: Smyrna Izmir, Pergamum — Bergama, Seleucia — Silifke, Sebastia — Sivas, Gallipolis — Gelibolu, Trepizond — Trabzon. From a small toponymic layers, or partially exposed parts of names may be noted the names of Kurdish in Iraq, Syria and Turkey, and the Armenian in the North-East of Turkey and Mongolian in the North-West of Iran.