On the Toponymy of the Iranian Azerbaijan

Alice Assadorian

doi:10.4236/aa.2017.73010

Abstract

The article is a tentative classification of the toponymy of the Turkish speaking Iranian regions, now including Eastern and Western Azerbaijans, Ardabil, Zanjan and Ghazvin Provinces. Based on a comprehensive study the writer did, as of 2008, a database of 12,000 Iranian toponyms was collected from the series of volumes of Farhang-e joγrāfyāyīī-e īrān, (Iranian Geographical Encyclopedia), published by the Persian Army Survey (1949-1982). In addition, information was collected from local private libraries, and scattered articles from patriotic scholars like Ahmad Kasravi1. Finally, to update the data, due to the socio-political developments affecting the toponymy of the country during the recent years, several field studies were also done in the various provinces of Iran including Ardabil, Eastern and Western Azerbaijans, Kurdistan, Gilan, Mazandaran and Khorasan. The collected data were categorized from different aspects regarding the origin of the toponyms, their meanings, and their word formation procedures. This article aims to provide evidence that the original Iranian elements are present in the toponymy of Iran, including all Turkish speaking provinces, and that the linguistic shift from Persian to Turkish in the region, has by no means affected the ethnic Iranian characteristics and identity of its population, against all propaganda to impose Turkish origins and identity to the people of the region. The focus of the study was to locate the common Iranian topoformant suffixes found in the place names throughout the country. The article casts a particular look at the tentative etymology of a place name of the Iranian origin (Sām-aspī), attested in Ardabīl district.

Highlights

IntroductionLocated in the northwestern borders, the traditional Azerbaijan, geographically separated into the Turkish speaking provinces of Eastern and Western Azerbaijans, Ardabil, Zanjan and Ghazvin provinces, stood as a strong center of the Iranian culture and the focus of various socio-political developments in the region
To update the data, due to the socio-political developments affecting the toponymy of the country during the recent years, several field studies were done in the various provinces of Iran including Ardabil, Eastern and Western Azerbaijans, Kurdistan, Gilan, Mazandaran and Khorasan
The Iranian word formation procedures and methods were investigated diachronically; around 52 topoformant suffixes were identified in a corpus of over 12,000 Iranian place names; topoformants’ linguistic attributes and meanings were analyzed; and toponyms made from those suffixes as well as their frequency of occurrence was reported

Summary

Introduction

Located in the northwestern borders, the traditional Azerbaijan, geographically separated into the Turkish speaking provinces of Eastern and Western Azerbaijans, Ardabil, Zanjan and Ghazvin provinces, stood as a strong center of the Iranian culture and the focus of various socio-political developments in the region. The pan Turkist propaganda emerged around the World War I, aiming to attack on the territorial integrity of Iran, focuses on the Turkish speaking people of the Azerbaijan of Iran, making all kinds of attempts to persuade the people in these areas to secede from the larger political entities to which they belong, and join the Turkish community. The vast propaganda by the social media, offering different services to Turkish speaking youth in Iran is a proof of the fact, and together with the limiting conditions in the present Iran, help convince the people of the region to believe in some fake Turkish origins and belongings. Unfolding the more recent layers of the toponyms can clarify that the linguistic turkification cannot question the ethnic Iranian characteristics and identity of its population

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Conclusion