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Black Sea: Difference between revisions
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===Historical names and etymology=== | ===Historical names and etymology=== | ||
[[File:Black Sea coast of Georgia (country), with skyline of Batumi on the horizon.jpg|thumb| Black Sea coast of Georgia, overlooking the skyline of Batumi <ref>[https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Black_Sea_coast_of_Georgia_(country),_with_skyline_of_Batumi_on_the_horizon.jpg]</ref>]] | |||
The earliest known name of the Black Sea is the Sea of Zalpa, so called by both the Hattians <ref>The Journal of Indo-European Studies, p.79. United States, n.p, 1985. [https://books.google.com/books?id=QaMYAAAAYAAJ Google Books]</ref> and their conquerors the Hittites. The Hattic city of Zalpa was “situated probably at or near the estuary of the Marrassantiya River, the modern Kızıl Irmak, on the Black Sea coast.”<ref>Burney, Charles. Historical Dictionary of the Hittites, p.333. United States, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2018. [https://books.google.com/books?id=YRhbDwAAQBAJ Google Books].</ref> | The earliest known name of the Black Sea is the Sea of Zalpa, so called by both the Hattians <ref>The Journal of Indo-European Studies, p.79. United States, n.p, 1985. [https://books.google.com/books?id=QaMYAAAAYAAJ Google Books]</ref> and their conquerors the Hittites. The Hattic city of Zalpa was “situated probably at or near the estuary of the Marrassantiya River, the modern Kızıl Irmak, on the Black Sea coast.”<ref>Burney, Charles. Historical Dictionary of the Hittites, p.333. United States, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2018. [https://books.google.com/books?id=YRhbDwAAQBAJ Google Books].</ref> | ||
Popular supposition derives "Black Sea" from the dark colour of the water or climatic conditions. Some scholars understand the name to be derived from a system of colour symbolism representing the cardinal directions, with black or dark for north, red for south, white for west, and green or light blue for east. Hence "Black Sea" meant "Northern Sea". According to this scheme, the name could only have originated with a people living between the northern (black) and southern (red) seas, pointing to the Achaemenids (550–330 BC), although Turkic peoples also marked the directions with colours. | Popular supposition derives "Black Sea" from the dark colour of the water or climatic conditions. Some scholars understand the name to be derived from a system of colour symbolism representing the cardinal directions, with black or dark for north, red for south, white for west, and green or light blue for east. Hence "Black Sea" meant "Northern Sea". According to this scheme, the name could only have originated with a people living between the northern (black) and southern (red) seas, pointing to the Achaemenids (550–330 BC), although Turkic peoples also marked the directions with colours. | ||