The Toponymy Of The Caucasus

Complex historical fate, the frequent changes of the various tribes and peoples, many languages in the past and present has led to the variety and diversity of the toponymy of this region. The oldest geographical names in the Caucasus are already extinct languages, and their original form is lost forever. Currently, the toponymy of the region are represented by three main language groups: Armenian, Caucasian (Georgian language) and Turkic (Azeri language). The system of geographical names of Armenia distinctive and relatively homogeneous. Armenian forms an independent branch of Indo-European languages, goes back millennia. Areal Armenian toponymy covers not only the present territory of the country, but the East is Turkey, and the extreme North-West of Iran. Around these borders to the middle of the IX century BC formed a powerful slave-holding state of Urartu, whose inhabitants (the Urartian tribes) are the ancestors of modern Armenians. Urartian toponyms are the most difficult to explain, due to their antiquity. For example, the name of the largest lake in Caucasus, lake Sevan received an explanation recently, when in the tract Cabert on the banks of this reservoir has been found Urartian cuneiform stone (cuneiform writing was borrowed from Assyrians uratami), which mentions the word sunia, "lake", which gave the name Sevan. The name of the capital of Armenia - Yerevan -associated with the ethnic name of one of the Urartu tribes. The names of Urartian gods : Urum and Likey. In addition to very ancient foundations in the toponymy of the country characteristic of the Armenian geographical terms: Kar — "stone", leech – «lake», Antar — "forest", akn — "the eye" (i.e. "spring"), avan - "the village", "building", "fortress", also determine the Spitak - "white" (the town of Spitak, destroyed by the earthquake of 1988), kapuyt — «blue» ,pokr — «small», Mets — large bardzr is "high", etc.

Toponymy of Georgia is characterized by great diversity in comparison with the Armenian. Besides, the Georgian names, which are the basis of the toponymic system of the country, there are Greek names (mostly in the West), Turkic (in particular, in Adjara, formerly under the rule of the Turks), Iranian, i.e. Ossetia (in the North), Abkhaz (in particular, the names of rivers with formatami -pet, -ta, -ra, etc.), and a small Slavic group (for example, Bogdanovka in southern Georgia till 1991).

The West coast of Georgia was well known to the ancient Greeks, who made the sea voyage across the Pontus euxinus (hospitable sea, as they called the Black sea).

Here was located the legendary Colchis (the country of Colchis), the land of the legendary Golden fleece that is associated with the ancient Greek myth of the Argonauts and their leader Jason, and daughter of king Aeetes of Colchis Medea. In Colchis, the Greeks founded several city-colonies, the largest of which was Dioscuriada (near modern Sukhumi), Pitiunt (Pitsunda) and Fasis (for the ancient Greek name of the Rioni). Therefore, the existence of place names of Greek origin in Georgia is not accidental. The Georgian toponymy formed with the participation of folk geographical terms and eponymously words, among which water, Chali — "the river", tba - "the lake,", ru - "channel—", leta — "mountain", klde — "rocks", kedi — the "ridge", heavy - "gorge", Wake — "plain", chal — "floodplain", tsikhe — "fortress", Kalaki "city", Sapelli — "the village", I gasped — "new", Dzveli — the "old" Tetris "white", etc. Many towns have names name of plant species: near Tbilisi, Vazisubani (Vazi — "vine"); Vaslui, Valliani (Valli — "Apple"); Telavi (body, "elm"); Demala, Delovni (demal — "plum"); Zablan, Cabrini (cable— "chestnut"); Mohra-ni, Munari (fly — "oak"); Liliane, Lelovani (Lely — "reed"), etc.

Azerbaijan is a diverse and complex toponymy, which is associated with a long history of the country. The oldest formation of the local toponymy is Iranian. In the geographical names of countries often meet Iranian borrowed terms ab — "water" Abad - "city", as well as formant «an» typical Iranian names. A whole group of names is no less ancient Iberian-Caucasian origin. In Nagorno-Karabakh, a significant place is occupied by Armenian names. The basis of Azerbaijani names are words su -"water", chy — "the river", gel - "lake", Doug — "mountain," dash - "stone", Kai — "rock", Buz - "ice", coom "sand", Kala - "fortress", Kara - "black", Ag is "white," Demir - "iron", etc. Despite the fact that considered to be Turkic toponymy is relatively young in the territory of Azerbaijan, some experts say about the antiquity of these names present from the first centuries of our era, along with Iranian and Caucasian. Complex and diverse ancient toponymy of the Caucasus is fraught with still a lot of unsolved mysteries and requires further careful study and analysis.