About the mention of the name in historical sources and the etymology the choronym “Qarabaυ – Karabag”

Abstract

The Karabakh region with its Azykh (Paleolithic period) and Khojaly (late Bronze and early Iron Age, 13th-7th centuries BC) cultures, which are among the oldest settlements in the world, proves that the Azerbaijani Turks are one of the most ancient civilized peoples of the world. Although this region, which has had economic and political ties with the largest states of the Middle East since BC, was part of various states with different names, the proto-Turks, the ancestors of the Azerbaijanis, have always lived here, and their descendants live today and will live forever.

Historical sources indicate that, starting from the Urartu period (1st millennium BC), in different eras this region was called Orkhistena, Karkar, Artsakh, Lesser Syunik, Khachen and, finally, Karabakh. It should be noted that, with the exception of the name Karabakh in the Azerbaijani language, none of the other names are of either Armenian or Turkish (Azerbaijani) origin. The word “Qarabaγ – Karabag” in Turkish (Azerbaijani) is recorded in Armenian sources either as “Karabag” or as “Sev Aygi”, which is the equivalent (translation) into Armenian. To this day, the origin of the horonym “Qarabaγ – Karabag” is etymologized in Turkish (Azerbaijani) as “Big Garden”, which is nothing more than “folk etymology”.

The article provides the correct etymology of the horonym “Qarabaγ – Karabag” for the first time, based on historical sources.

When writing the article, studies on the topic written in previous years, as well as historical written sources in different languages ​​and ancient Turkic runic inscriptions were used.