Black Sea

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English

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia
Black Sea in the Crimea

Etymology

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Calque of Ottoman Turkish قره دكز (Kara Deñiz, Black Sea) (modern Turkish Karadeniz) (from kara (black, dark; north) + deniz (sea)). Compare Russian Чёрное море (Čórnoje more). The Turkish word is derived from the languages of the Near East, which is ultimately from an Old Iranian name: the primary Ancient Greek name Πόντος Ἄξεινος (Póntos Áxeinos) (first attested in 462 BC) is a rendering of Old Iranian *axšaina- (dark-colored). The naming is according to the system in which color names indicated the cardinal points (black [or dark] for north, red for south, white for west, and green or light blue for east); compare Red Sea. It is supposedly named as such by the Achaemenids; see Iranica for details.[1]

Pronunciation

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  • Audio (US):(file)

Proper noun

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the Black Sea

  1. An inland sea bound by Southeastern Europe in the west, Eastern Europe in the north and northeast, and Turkey in the south.

Derived terms

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Translations

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See also

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References

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Anagrams

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