The Place of Toponyms in The History of Azerbaijan

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The Place of Toponyms in The History of Azerbaijan

Abdullayeva Sevda

PhD in History, Assoc. Prof.

Azerbaijan State Agricultural University, Department of Social sciences and Multiculturalism (Baku, Azerbaijan)

Abstract

The formation of each nation is the result of an uninterrupted ethnic process that has continued throughout history. The ethnic process in society takes place on the basis of certain components. The components of the ethnic process are tribes, clans, peoples and nations.

In a word, as a result of the processes of consolidation and assimilation, an ethnos known under one name leaves the stage of history after a certain historical stage, replaces another ethnos, one melts and the other dominates. In other words, in order to study the origin of our people, it is necessary to reveal the names of ethnic groups living in the South Caucasus and their ethnicity. It is clear that different tribes and tribal associations played a great role in the formation of peoples.

Neighboring peoples and especially the various Turkic-speaking tribes that have existed throughout history should unite. These relations can be realized as a result of some toponymic research, because toponymic units reflect this process.

The toponymy of Azerbaijan has a very ancient history. Greeks, Romans, Persians, Arabs, as well as Russian and European travelers were interested in Azerbaijan and expressed different views on the geographical names of its territory. After the 1950s, the research of a number of prominent scientists developed the science of toponymy and made it somewhat independent. Although toponyms are subject to morphological changes in some cases, on the whole they are stronger than the grammatical structure of the language. An example of this is the Azerbaijani toponymy.

Research, historical-typological-analysis of toponymic names and their scientific generalization help to reveal very complex and necessary issues of the language and history of our people. The discovery of these facts once again confirms that the toponyms of Turkish origin are older in the South Caucasus.

The aim of the article is to investigate the history of toponyms and the place of toponyms in the history of Azerbaijan.

Keywords: tribe, ethnos, people, nation, traveler, historian, source, probability

Àíîòàö³ÿ

̳ñöå òîïîí³ì³â â ³ñòî𳿠Àçåðáàéäæàíó

Àáäóëëàºâà Ñåâäà

Àçåðáàéäæàíñüêèé äåðæàâíèé àãðàðíèé óí³âåðñèòåò, êàôåäðà ñîö³àëüíèõ íàóê ³ ìóëüòèêóëüòóðàë³çìó (Áàêó, Àçåðáàéäæàí)

Ôîðìóâàííÿ êîæíî¿ íàö³¿ º ðåçóëüòàòîì áåçïåðåðâíîãî åòí³÷íîãî ïðîöåñó, ÿêèé òðèâàâ ïðîòÿãîì óñ³º¿ ³ñòîð³¿. Åòí³÷íèé ïðîöåñ ó ñóñï³ëüñòâ³ â³äáóâàºòüñÿ íà îñíîâ³ ïåâíèõ êîìïîíåíò³â. Ñêëàäîâèìè åòí³÷íîãî ïðîöåñó º ïëåìåíà, ðîäè, íàðîäè òà íàö³¿. Îäíèì ñëîâîì, â ðåçóëüòàò³ ïðîöåñ³â êîíñîë³äàö³¿ òà àñèì³ëÿö³¿ åòíîñ, â³äîìèé ï³ä îäí³ºþ íàçâîþ, ï³ñëÿ ïåâíîãî ³ñòîðè÷íîãî åòàïó âèõîäèòü ç³ ñòà䳿 ³ñòîð³¿, çì³íþº ³íøèé åòíîñ, îäèí òàíå, à ³íøèé äîì³íóº. ²íøèìè ñëîâàìè, äëÿ âèâ÷åííÿ ïîõîäæåííÿ íàøîãî íàðîäó íåîáõ³äíî ðîçêðèòè íàçâè åòíîñ³â, ÿê³ ïðîæèâàþòü íà ϳâäåííîìó Êàâêàç³, òà ¿õ åòí³÷íó ïðèíàëåæí³ñòü. Çðîçóì³ëî, ùî âåëèêó ðîëü ó ôîðìóâàíí³ íàðîä³â â³ä³ãðàëè ð³çí³ ïëåìåíà òà ïëåì³íí³ îá'ºäíàííÿ. Ñóñ³äí³ íàðîäè ³ îñîáëèâî ð³çí³ òþðêîìîâí³ ïëåìåíà, ÿê³ ³ñíóâàëè ïðîòÿãîì âñ³º¿ ³ñòîð³¿, ïîâèíí³ îá'ºäíàòèñÿ. Ö³ â³äíîñèíè ìîæóòü áóòè ðåàë³çîâàí³ â ðåçóëüòàò³ äåÿêèõ òîïîí³ì³÷íèõ äîñë³äæåíü, îñê³ëüêè òîïîí³ì³÷í³ îäèíèö³ â³äîáðàæàþòü öåé ïðîöåñ.

Òîïîí³ì³êà Àçåðáàéäæàíó ìຠäóæå äàâíþ ³ñòîð³þ. Ãðåêè, ðèìëÿíè, ïåðñè, àðàáè, à òàêîæ ðîñ³éñüê³ òà ºâðîïåéñüê³ ìàíäð³âíèêè ö³êàâèëèñÿ Àçåðáàéäæàíîì ³ âèñëîâëþâàëè ð³çí³ ïîãëÿäè íà ãåîãðàô³÷í³ íàçâè éîãî òåðèòîð³¿. ϳñëÿ 1950-õ ðîê³â äîñë³äæåííÿ ðÿäó âèäàòíèõ ó÷åíèõ ðîçâèíóëè íàóêó òîïîí³ì³þ ³ çðîáèëè ¿¿ äåùî ñàìîñò³éíîþ. Õî÷à òîïîí³ìè â äåÿêèõ âèïàäêàõ ï³ääàþòüñÿ ìîðôîëîã³÷íèì çì³íàì, çàãàëîì âîíè ñèëüí³ø³ çà ãðàìàòè÷íó ñòðóêòóðó ìîâè. Ïðèêëàäîì öüîãî º àçåðáàéäæàíñüêà òîïîí³ì³êà. Äîñë³äæåííÿ, ³ñòîðèêî-òèïîëîã³÷íèé àíàë³ç òîïîí³ì³÷íèõ íàçâ òà ¿õ íàóêîâå óçàãàëüíåííÿ äîïîìàãàþòü ðîçêðèòè äóæå ñêëàäí³ é íåîáõ³äí³ ïèòàííÿ ìîâè òà ³ñòî𳿠íàøîãî íàðîäó. Âèÿâëåííÿ öèõ ôàêò³â ùå ðàç ï³äòâåðäæóº, ùî òîïîí³ìè òóðåöüêîãî ïîõîäæåííÿ äàâí³ø³ íà ϳâäåííîìó Êàâêàç³.

Ìåòîþ ñòàòò³ º äîñë³äèòè ³ñòîð³þ âèíèêíåííÿ òîïîí³ì³â òà ì³ñöå òîïîí³ì³â â ³ñòî𳿠Àçåðáàéäæàíó.

Êëþ÷îâ³ ñëîâà: ïëåì'ÿ, åòíîñ, íàðîä, íàö³ÿ, ìàíäð³âíèê, ³ñòîðèê, äæåðåëî, éìîâ³ðí³ñòü

Introduction

toponym ethnic name azerbaijan

The formation of each nation is the result of an incessant ethnic process that has lasted throughout history. The ethnic process taking place in society takes place on the basis of certain components. The components of the ethnic process are tribes, clans, peoples and nations. As a result of the processes of consolidation and assimilation, a known ethnos under one name comes out of the history scene after a certain historical stage, takes the place of an ethnos under another name, one melts away, the other takes a dominant position. In order to clarify the origin of each nation, it is necessary to identify the components that led to its formation and participated in all stages of the ethnic process. In other words, in order to explore the origin of our people, it is necessary to reveal the names of ethnos and their ethnicities that have lived throughout history in the South Caucasus. As is known, the problem of ethnogenesis is so complex and multifaceted that in its solution it is necessary to refer to various branches of science and sources. It is clear that separate tribes and tribal unions played a huge role in the creation of peoples. It is impossible to solve the problem of origin of Azerbaijanis and especially the Azerbaijani language without taking into account comprehensive ethnogenic and historical cultural ties with neighboring nations, especially with various Turkic-speaking tribal formations that existed throughout history. These relations can be carried out to a certain extent as a result of toponomic research. Because toponomic units embody this process.

Until recently, there have been very few special research works reflecting the toponomy of Azerbaijan as a whole. The first initiative in this area belongs to AbbasguluAga Bakikhanov. In his work “Gulustani-Iram” he touched a number of toponyms and ethnonyms and put forward valuable ideas about their origin. Speaking about the importance of toponymy, A. Bakikhanov writes: “Not only centuries, but even thousands of years, could not destroy the first names of many places and tribes of this country” (Bakikhanov, 1991). With the help of toponyms it is possible to determine the area where ancient peoples settled and where they spread. Because interest in the study of many historical and geographical names dates back to very ancient times. Toponyms are closely related to the past, way of life, thinking and language of the people. Toponyms are a valuable source in the study of languages and their history of peoples with few written monuments. Professor Y. N. Yusifov in his article “Toponymy as a historical source” divides it into three parts in terms of studying the toponymy of Azerbaijan:

a) easily explained toponyms;

b) toponyms which their meaning is clarified as a result of conducting certain scientific research;

c) toponyms which their meaning is not yet explained.

The aim of the article is to investigate the history of toponyms and the place of toponyms in the history of Azerbaijan

Discussion

Azerbaijani toponomy has a very ancient history. Greeks, Romans, Persians, Arabs, as well as Russian and European travelers were interested in Azerbaijan and expressed different opinions about geographical names on its territory.

While speaking about the Caucasus, the Greek geographer Strabo gave information about the existence of toponyms such as the Caucasus, Araks, Alazan, Kura, and Claudius Ptolemy gave information about Bakhiya, Shamakhia, Kobala, Kangara, Alban, etc. Valuable information about the toponyms of the Karabakh zone is given in the works of Mirza Adigozal bey “Karabakhname” and Ahmad bey Javanshir “History of the Karabakh khanate”. A. Bakikhanov's views on Alpan, Zykh, Caucasus toponyms are scientific and convincing. According to him, the Alpan toponym is associated with the Albanians, and the Caucasian toponym with the Caspians. It shows that the name Zykh, which is a village in Baku, comes from the name of the Zykh tribe of the same name. His book provides scientifically-based information about garabork, guz, kangarli, laz, gragoyunlu, girkhli, sorsor and other tribes. It is interesting that the names of these tribes are still preserved in the toponymy of Azerbaijan, and it is noted that most of them are words of Turkic origin. The first significant scientific work on the toponymy of Azerbaijan was written by M. H. Valiyev (Baharli). The author gives information about the tribes that existed in the territory of Azerbaijan - Khazars, Huns, Kushans and Bulgarians. Gazakh, Shikhli, Salahli, Khalfali, Shamli, Kangarli, Baharli, Tatarli, Khalaj, Amir, Demirchi, Bayat and other tribes, their origin and places of residence are determined by the scientist. Historians Sh. Ashurbeyli, G. Geybullayev gave information about Azerbaijani toponyms, oeconyms and did great work in their field of research. The works of Azerbaijani linguists A. Demirchizade, A. Akhundov, A. Gurbanov, S. Mollazade, A. Aliyev and others played an important role in the study of this field from a linguistic point of view.

The work “Geographical names of Azerbaijan” coauthored by R. Yuzbashov, K. Aliyev, S. Sadiyev played an important role in the study of Azerbaijani toponymy. The book provides extensive information on stratigraphy, toponymic formant, toponymic areal, toponymic fund, oikonomics, ethnotoponymy, oronymics, hydronymics of different sections of toponymy (Yuzbashi 2003). S. Mollazade's book “Geographical names and history of the Azerbaijani language” is useful for studying the history of our language. The author speaks about such ancient Turkic words in the work that they have already become archaic for the Azerbaijani literary language, but are still preserved under various toponymic names. It should also be noted that the place of toponymy among other sciences has long led to differences of opinion. Thus, it was sometimes considered as an auxiliary field of history, or geography, or linguistics.

However, after the 1950s, the research of a number of prominent scientists developed the science of toponymy and made it somewhat independent. Although toponyms are subject to morphological changes in some cases, they are generally stronger than the grammatical structure of the language. An example of this is the toponymy of Azerbaijan. Because it contains such linguistic facts that they are an irreplaceable source in the study of the ancient period of the Azerbaijani language. Along with such ancient toponyms Caspian, Gabala, Sheki, Nakhchivan, Araz, Araks, Kur-Kur etc., there are thousands of toponyms of ancient Turkic origin in Azerbaijan that have not yet been studied. Originally, they belonged to the dialects that actually formed the basis of the national Azerbaijani language. According to language differentiation, they belong to Kipchak and Oghuz provinces.

Thus, along with Araz, Kura, Alazan, Gabala, Kish, Shamakhi and other toponymic names, the medieval South Caucasus written monuments of Turkic origin include Ganig (river), Turgen (river), Kangar, Kangar Kangarli, Khalkhal and even Turkestan, Hunestan toponyms related to the Caspian Sea were recorded. For example, avci, qazan, chorpan, alp, il, teqin and etc. Alp word is used in Azerbaijani in the meaning of hero and brave from VI-VI centuries (Book of Dede Korkut, 1998). Thus, this name is repeatedly mentioned in the epos “Book of Dede Korkut”. From the XIV-XV centuries this word has been used as a synonym for ''crazy”. The word “Alp” in Azerbaijani was derived from a large amount of oeconym. In many of our districts, we come across the name Alpout in Gazakh, Lachin, Kurdamir, Ujar, Goychay, Barda, Goranboy Shabran, and the name Alpan in Guba. The word alpine also appears in personal names. For example, we can show the names Alp-Tarkhan, Alp-Arslan, Alp-Ilitver and others. As can be seen, by following the origin of individual anthroponyms and toponyms, we can also determine the history of language development. This, in turn, facilitates the study of the history of language.

The names of all Turkic ethnic groups of Azerbaijan are reflected in the toponymy of a certain territory. For example, only kenger-kangar, hun savir, barsil, khazar, as well as Gangardag, Gangarli, Gangarlar, Galasavir, Bilasuvar, Khunan, Aghun, Tarnout, Khazaryurd, Khazargala which formed from them and many other toponyms formed from them. Here we are talking about the Kipchak-speaking kangars, sabivs, barsils left in large areas of Azerbaijan. The areal of the Kipchak dialect in Azerbaijan fully corresponds to the areal of the Kipchak ethnos. It should be shown that these Kipchak tribes came to Azerbaijan from the South (from Dasti-Kipchak ) and from the North. Historians show that the Georgian Tsar David IV moved some of the Kipchaks from the North Caucasus to Western Georgia in 1118-1120. They lived in the Borchali-Gazakh zone and were called Gazakhlis. It is not accidental that in Gazakh, Dashkasan, Goranboy, Fuzuli and Barda regions there are oeconyms Gazakh, Gazakhli, Gazakhlar, Gazakhbeyli, Gazakhyolchular. Among the Kipchaks there were garakipchaks and sarikiphchaks.

In this regard, toponyms formed with the words gara (black) and sari (yellow) are of more interest. For example, in Gazakh, we can show Garabork (Garapapag), Garadonlu and Saribas, Sarigishlag, Saridamli, Sarigaya, Saritapa, Saridag oeconyms, the first component of which is sari. As we have shown, there are many toponyms and oikonyms associated with the word gara, which is the first component. For a long time, the word gara was understood in the sense of color. When studying geographical names beginning with the word gara in the toponymy of the republic, it was found out that the word black was used in the meanings of heavy, big, brave, dense, thick, plural. If we pay attention to the origin of the name of the Karabakh toponym here, we will see that the primary component of this word is the black gara. Various opinions have been put forward in scientific research on this subject. It is worth mentioning some of these ideas.

Thus, the researcher R. Yuzbashov suggested that it was called Karabakh because “black grapes are grown in the country or there are black leaf gardens in the country” (Yuzbashov, 2002). Sh. Jamshidov tried to explain the word Karabakh as a “North-western garden”. Some authors claim that since the word “gara” (kara) in the word Karabakh means “dense and thick”, “Karabakh city” means “dense, thick, with many gardens” and that Karabakh is a city. Karabakh was a purely Azerbaijani name and has been used in our language since at least the 7th century. Based on this, the date of construction of the city of Karabakh can be calculated from the VII century. Thus, the city of Karabakh lasted at least a thousand years and collapsed in the XVII century. We are also interested in the geographical location of this city in Azerbaijan. The map “Realm of Iran” compiled by the Institute of Geography allows to determine the location of this city. The author of that map, German traveler Adam Oleari traveled from Russia to Iran in the first half of XVII century and returned to his homeland by the same way and drew that map. The remains of this city remain near Horadiz settlement of present Fuzuli district.

Our ancient territories, which include the vast territories of Azerbaijan, are known by the name of Mugan. Historian N. Valikhanli in his commentary on the work of the 10th century chronicler Al-Masudi “The place where gold washes and jewelry mines” shows that “Al-Masudi” named two mugham countries. One of them is Muganiya, which borders Gabala, ie along the lower reaches of the Girdiman Goychay rivers, north of the Kura River. The other Mugan is a city along the Caspian Sea. Al-Masudi shows that these two countries are different.

Twelfth-century geographer Abu Hamid Al-Garnati also gave information about present-day Mugan. “Mugan is a large province. Its villages and meadows are on the right side of the road from Ardabil to Tabriz in Azerbaijan. This is a hot country. Elsewhere in Azerbaijan, it is relatively cold. Turkmens have houses here. These places have many heights and vast pastures”. As can be seen from historical sources, the name of the city where the Mugan toponym originated was later developed as the name of the province. At present, it acts only as a plain name. When talking about Mugan, it is shown that it is the homeland of mugs. It is known from history that the mugs lived in the north of Iran but did not speak Iranian. What language did the mugs speak? What was their language? For us, the only way out is the name of the word, ie the ethnic group, which is remembered by this people. “Mugal” or “Mugan” is the name of one of the ancient Turkic tribes, which later merged with another group of Turkic peoples. The words mugal and muqan are the same. The word mugan consists of two parts and the root of the word is mug or mag. The word mag, mug in the sense of fame, pride is used in ancient Turkic written monuments. In addition to the place name, this word is also used here as a folk name. It is very interesting that the peoples of the Caucasus, especially the Lezgins, call the Azerbaijani Turks mogal or mugal. Some ancient Turkic baghas (chiefs) chose a title for themselves. One such title would be mag or mug- mugan. For example, in 552, Kutu Mugan, the brother of Kara Issik khan, ascended the throne with the title. A. Fazili writes about Mugan toponym: “Mugan, one of the constituent parts of Azerbaijan, is surrounded by Shirvan and Aran in the north, Ujar, Unkut and Arash districts in the south, Talysh mountains and Caspian Sea in the east, and Darzart river and Karabakh district in the west”. The name Mugan is also found in the works of ancient authors. Ammianus Marcellinus calls him Moxoena. In Arabic sources, Mugan sounds like Muqan, in Georgian sources as Mukhakan, in Armenian sources as Mukhaik. According to some researchers, the word Mugan comes from the name of the ancient Muk tribes.

One of the toponyms of great interest is connected with the name of Ganja. Ganja is one of the oldest cultural centers of Azerbaijan. The city of Ganja has changed its location five times during its existence: it has existed in the territories of Gadamish in the 2nd millennium BC; Gizilgaya in the V-VII centuries; Shaharburnu in VII-XII centuries; Shikh plain in XII-XV centuries; in the XVXVI centuries in the present-day Ganja. A very interesting opinion about the construction of the city of Ganja is expressed in the Iranian chronicle “Shahristani Eran geographical treatise”. It states that “with the help of the creator and giver Ahuramazda, Turanli Afrasiyab built the city of Ganja, located in the direction of AdurBadagan”. It is clear from this source that the history of the city dates back to the most ancient times of BC. Archaeological excavations around the city show that it was inhabited in ancient times. The history of ancient graves discovered on the right bank of the Gushgara River on the road to the Goygol region in Ganja dates back to 3000-3500 years ago. Referring to the fact that the territory of the city and its environs have been inhabited since ancient times, some experts point out that the history of Ganja began in the II century BC.

There are also some legends about the formation of the city. For example, the 15th century historian Mirkhand reports that the Sassanid king Gubad, who loved construction, founded the cities of Barda and Ganja in the 5th century. The city of Ganja is also mentioned in the historical chronicle “Derbendname” when talking about the attacks of the Caspians on Azerbaijan in the late VII and early VIII centuries. Despite the diversity of information about the ancient history of the city, there is interesting information that it has a special place in the Middle East, where it became famous after the X century. The period when Ganja became more popular dates back to the years of Shaddadid rule (971-1088). The full explanation of my Ganja toponym has not been clarified so far. In these explanations, two directions are noteworthy, and the other is related to other languages, mainly languages of Iranian and Arabic origin. It should be noted that the name Ganja in the Persian language means only its meaning, and in the Azerbaijani language it means both clan and tribe names. I. Chopin claims that the name Ganja comes from the root “Gandz” and means treasure in Persian.

The chronicler Hamdullah Gazvini also refers to Arab historians and writes that the name of the city is derived from the meaning of treasure. Prominent historian Ziya Bunyadov agrees that “Ganja was considered one of the most prominent cities not only in Azerbaijan, but also in the Middle East from the XI-XII centuries. Ganja is a Persian word meaning a place where treasures are kept”. By the way, it should be noted that there is not only one city called Ganja, but also several settlements. These settlements also exist in the territories where other Turkic-speaking peoples live. However, it should be shown that the word Ganja belongs to the list of toponyms in Turkic either by its lexical-grammatical structure or geographically. Mahmud Kashgari noted that this name was in fact Ganjak and was the name of one of the ancient Turkic tribes.

There are many facts to suggest that the Ganja toponym is related to a tribe and clan. The most important of these is the spread of the name in the territories inhabited by Turkic-speaking peoples. This means that there was a ganjak / ganja tribe living in the same collective at one time, but later, due to various economic and political reasons, they separated and settled in other places and took their names with them. Over time, these names have undergone phonetic changes. For example, the names Gonja in the Amur region, Khundakh in Dagestan, Gandkhani in Gulustan, Ganchi in Tajikistan, and Khanasakh in Western Azerbaijan are similar. All of these names are toponyms associated with the name Ganja in Azerbaijan. Mahmud Kashgari states in his “Divan” that Ganja was the name of one of the Turkic tribes and at the same time the name of a city near Talas was Kenchak (Jafarov, 1992).

As it is known, in many languages of Oghuz group the sounds “k” and “q” at the end of the word fall. This situation is most typical for the Azerbaijani language. So, the word Ganja has historically been associated with the word ganjak. One of the oldest lands, which combines the north-eastern lands of Azerbaijan, is the territory called Shirvan. Shirvan or Sharvan began to be popular during the Sassanids as a name for the ancient Caucasian Albania and later as a part of the Arran. In 654, Shirvan was the Arab Emirate, and since 799 in the period of Shirvanshahs Shirvan territory was located from the Kura River to the city of Derbend. The capital was Shamakhi city.

The Arab author Al-Masudi, in his book “The place where gold washes and jewelry mines”, states that “Shirvan was one of the rulers appointed by Anushirava in the lands of Barda bordering on Islamic lands. His country was called Shirvanshah according to his name. In general, each ruler who ruled this country was called

Shirvan. His homeland now stretched for a way for a month in 332 AH (943 AH). Today, God knows the truth, here a Muslim named Muhammad Ibn Yezid reigns”. Al- Idrisi (1100-1165) shows that Shirvan has the gate of the Prophet Musa, as well as a magical animal spring. Ibn Khordadbeh introduces Shirvan with Musagaya in his “Book on Roads and Countries”. Interestingly, the rock of Moses is mentioned in the Holy Qur'an. In our time, Shirvan is not only a historical concept, but also has a specific geographical meaning. Shirvan is also given the name of the plain. A number of considerations have been made about the meaning of the Shirvan toponym. One of these considerations shows that the ancient name of Shirvan was Shirvan, as it is known, and the owners of this region were called Shirvanshahs (Molladze, 2009). The name Shirvan consists of “shar” and “van” parts. Geographer Nabi Nabiyev points out that “there are a number of legends about the meaning of the word. It is believed that the name Shirvan is the name of a tribe or person”.

There are those who say that the word Shirvan means “milky cow”. It can be said that the toponym Shirvan originated from the palaeotoponym Shiravan, which means “dry land” or “land of languages”. (Ahmadov, 1985) Nakhchivan is one of the oldest toponyms in Azerbaijan and many different assumptions have been made about it. Most historians claim that Nakhchivan city is 2,500 years old. However, its history as a place of residence dates back to ancient times. Ancient authors mention the name of this city as Naksuana. The fact that the city had such an ancient and rich history led to the creation of various legends about the origin of its name.

One of such legends suggests that Nakhchivan originated from the Persian word naqshi-jahan (decoration of the world). This narration is also reflected in historical sources. For example, the Turkish traveler and historian Evliya Chalabi says that the name of the city is “Nakhchivan” and notes that it is derived from the word “naqshi-jahan” and writes that this city is really beautiful. It was even more beautiful before the Mongol-Tatar invasion of Azerbaijan, who brought ruin and destruction. Nabi Nabiyev, the author of interesting works on toponymy, also assumes that the name belongs to such origin. He writes that the origin of the word “Nakhchivan” has not yet been determined. It is supposed to mean “the beauty of the world” (Nabiyev, 2009). The word “van” at the end of the word Nakhchivan means “place” in the Azerbaijani language, as well as in the ancient Georgian and Persian languages. The origin of the Nakhchivan toponym is connected with a legend narrated in the “Torah” - the legend of Noah's storm. According to this legend, known as the world flood, all living things on earth seem to have survived. The holy book “Old Testament” of the Jews tells the story about the world flood. According to the narration known as Noah's storm, as there were many great sins on earth, the flood of the world occurred to destroy all living things, and it destroyed everything on earth except the prophet Noah, his family, seven pairs of “clean” animals, seven pairs of “unclean” animals, and seven pairs of birds. The Prophet Noah, along with his family and the living creatures, was saved in the ark he made by God's command and settled in the territory of present-day Nakhchivan.

According to the historical proximity between the writing of the legend and the establishment of Nakhchivan city, it can be assumed that the word Nakhchivan is the name of a place formed from three parts of Nakh, chi, van. Here, “Nax” is a phonetic variant of the name of the prophet Noah, here, the suffix “qi”, which forms a noun in the Turkic languages, “xan” is a toponymic format used in the ancient Turkic languages in the sense of place, settlement. Thus, the word “Nakhchivan” arose as an ancient toponym meaning the dwelling of NuhQular (supporters of Nuh). On the toponym of Nakhchivan, the prominent toponym scientist R.Yuzbashov's opinion deserves attention. He shows that the language belonging and meaning of the word Nakhchivan is not known. The word Nakhchivan (Naksuan) can be said in a way that it is supposed to be a tribe or the head of the tribe. Judgments about the origin of the name from the words “Nax” (first) and “icivan” (outside) in Armenian, as well as the words “naqs” and ”jahan” in Persian, are non-scientific. Toponymy scientist I.Abdullayev has a completely different opinion about the origin of this toponym. In his opinion, Nakhchivan was formed from the combination of “naxQir” and the suffix “van”, which means the suffix Qi/Qi and means “hunter”.

According to medieval Arabic authors Nakhchivan city was also named by the name of Nashava. For ex: Al-Biruni, an 11th-century Arab geographer, wrote in his “Astronomy and the masud table of the stars”: “Nashava here is also Nakhchivan”. Another Arabic author, Yagut Al-Hamawi, writes, “Nashava is an Azerbaijani city, and it is also said to be a lowland city. It borders Armanniya. Among the people it is also called Nakhchivan”. Undoubtedly, these notes confirm that the toponyms Nashava and Nakhchivan are different names of the same city.

In contrast to the ancient period, the Turkic fund is widespread and occupies a central place in the toponymy of medieval Azerbaijan. There is a great connection between the toponymy of Azerbaijan of that period and the toponyms of the Turkic-speaking peoples of Central Asia. Azerbaijani research scientist R. Aliyev, confirming the similarity of the Azerbaijani Central Asian toponym, writes: “Many Azerbaijani toponyms are similar to Central Asian names. At present, the ethnicity of Yalama, Govlar, Jalair, Gazakh, Duvanli and other names is already known. These are the names of salar, ersari, sakar, ata and other tribes and lineage groups in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Bashkortostan. Ganig (Alazan River) and Eyrichay are of this kind. One group of the Ersari tribe is called the khanik, and a group of the Salar are called the ekri”. In the XI-XIII centuries, a large number of Turkic tribes began to flow to Azerbaijan from the east of the Caspian Sea. In the 11th century, the Seljuks and later the Kipchak and other Turkic tribes came here (as occupiers and non-occupiers) and began to settle. There are toponyms bearing the names of these tribes (Mashadiyev, 2008). For example, Tatar neighbourhood, Turkish villages, gingas, dulans, etc. during the Elkhanids, the Elkhans relocated a large number of Turkic tribes to the lands of Azerbaijan in order to support them in the countries they conquered. At that time, more than 200,000 Turkic-speaking tribes were relocated from Central Asia to Azerbaijan. They consisted of gachar, afshar, padar, chobani, jalairi and other tribes. They were mainly located in the southern regions of Azerbaijan, as well as in Ganja, Shirvan and Mugan. Toponyms bearing the names of these tribes still remain in these areas. Place names containing ag or gara words have an important place in the toponymy of medieval Azerbaijan. In the toponymy of our republic, they are widespread as the names of rivers, lakes, springs, mountains and settlements.

Some of the Azerbaijani place names with the word “gara” are associated with various ethnonyms and anthroponyms belonging to those ethnoses. In the toponymy of Azerbaijan we can show a few more place names of ethnonymic origin: Garamanli, Garapapag, Garadeyin, Garakollu, Garasuleyman, Garaheybat etc. A group of oeconyms containing the word gara is etymologically interesting. Place names such as Garayazi, Garalov, Garanuy, Garatugay, Garahonj, Garajuzlu, which belong to this group, exist in different parts of Azerbaijan today. Place names with the word “ag” also exist in different parts of our country. The word “ag” is widely used in the names of our districts and villages. For example: We can show toponyms Agdash, Agdam, Agsu, Agdagh, Agbulag, Agburun, Agtepe, Agchay, Agsal, Agkorpu, Agdavan, Agnohur. Agstafa oeconym differs from place-names with the word “ag” in its etymology. The origin of the word Agstafa can be explained in two ways. The word consists of three parts ag-us-tava : ag - is an adjective that denoting color is often used in Azerbaijani toponyms. It means high here. Us - In ancient Turkish monuments, for example, in Mahmud Kashgari's “Diwan Lughat al-Turk” it is used in the sense of a grif (winged dragon with an eagle's head and a lion's body). Toba - in ancient Turkic, it means “above, on, in the direction of”. Thus, the hydronym Ag-us-toba means “in the direction of the high grif'. Secondly, the word Agstafa is also explained as a toponym “Agsu-toba”. That means in the Agsu direction (Hajiyev, 1984).

One of the interesting names in Azerbaijani toponymy is “Goran” toponym. This toponym is also used in our language as Gorus, Gurgan, Gorgan, Goranbey and others. The word “gor”, which is the first component of these words, originates from the Turkic languages and is connected with the general semantics of the word gor. Replacing the letter “G” with “Q” is legal both in Azerbaijani dialects and in related Turkic languages. When talking about the etymological relationship of the words “gor” and “qor” (flame), which are components of toponyms such as Goran, Gorush, Gurgan, etc., it should be noted that the word qor is not reflected in ancient written monuments. But the word od is found in the monuments already written in the medieval period, the word “qor” is found in ashug creativity. For example,

Ol uzatma kohno ocaq yerino (Do not extent your hand to the place of the old hearth Bilmozson sonmomi? qor olar onda (If you don't know, then there may be unquenchable flame there)

(Ashug Huseyn)

In dialects, the word “gor”, a phonetic variant of the word “qor”, is used in the sense of weakly burning. For example, ocaq gorun-gorun yanir (the hearth burns brightly). The information received from our folklore also confirms that the word “gor” means light and fire. The first component of the name “Dede Qorqud” consists of the word “qor”. The second component of the word “Qorqud” is the word “qud”. The words “qud” and “qut” are used in ancient written sources to mean happiness. This word is also found in Mahmud Kashgari's “Diwan Lughat al-Turk” and Yusif Balasagunlu's “Kutadgu Bili”. In Turkic languages, the word qud, quda is most likely similar. So the word “Qorqud” means light and happiness, which complement each other in meaning. So, the word “goran” is of Turkic origin and means the name of a generation. Other sources state that the name goran is a genealogical word. The toponym “Goranboy”, which is one of the toponyms beginning with the word “gor”, “qor” is also interesting. The formation of this word is connected with the content of the word “goran”. When the word “boy” was added to the word “Goran”, a complex name was formed. The word “boy” is used in ancient written sources to mean a village, village, neighborhood associated with the name of a tribe (Mashadiyev 1989). The word “boy” is also used in the introduction in the epos “Book of Dede Korkut”. It says there: “During the time of Rasul Aleyhussalam , a man called Qorqud Ata came out of the boyat's tribe”. The emergence of other place names related to the word “boy” indicates that the Turkic-speaking tribes lived in that area. There are many place names in different regions of Azerbaijan that come with the word “boy”. Among them are Boyat, Boyahmadli, Boykandli, Boykandli, Goranboy and etc.

There are also interesting ideas about the word Gurgan, Qorgan. Ancient Greek authors Herodotus (5th century BC) and Strabo (1st century BC) refer to the Caspian Sea and the tribes and clans living on its shores by mentioning the qirkan and qurqan tribes and associating it with the word qurq, qorq. According to Strabo, the southern part of the sea was called Qirkan after those tribes. Now there are toponyms around the Caspian Sea associated with this name. For example, Qurqanchay in Absheron, Hirkan forest in Talysh zone, Qurqan in South Azerbaijan. In the dialectic of the Azerbaijani language, the word qorgan is often found. This word means protection from fire. Such toponyms are found in the monuments of Gultekin in the form of “gurkan” as the name of one of the Turkic tribes of the north-eastern group. Recent research on the history of our language shows that the ideas that existed in Azerbaijan in the first millennium BC, the modern Azerbaijani Turkic language, assimilated with other Turkic peoples who came here from the beginning of the era, also originated from their language. Numerous toponyms from the territory of Guba once again confirm the truth of these facts, which are already known and accepted by science. Thus, the ancient Turks lived in the mentioned land and the Turks (Khazars, Sabirs, Huns) who came to Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia through Derbent passage were spread. From this point of view, the study of the toponyms here is very important from the point of view of the study of the history of our people or its history.

Conclusion

A comprehensive study of onomastic discourse, which occupies a solid place in the vocabulary of the language, historical -typological-analysis of toponymic names and their scientific generalization contribute to the disclosure of very complex and necessary issues of the language and history of our people. Revealing the facts of this nature once again confirms that the toponyms of Turkic origin are older in the Southern Caucasus. Consequently, in the article we talked about the history of controversial and seemingly toponymic names in the Southern Caucasus, classification of onomastic units, their etymological analysis, grammatical structure and methods of formation and formation of some geographical terms.

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