ܡܝܦܪܩܛ

Classical Syriac

Etymology

An interpretation as ܡܝܐ (mayyā, “water”) and a Middle Iranian relative of Persian پارگین (pârgin, “ditch, moat, sink, sewer”), contaminated with a Middle Iranian suffix seen as Old Armenian -կերտ (-kert) in the Armenian name of this city; also, the end of former Iranian word may have been reinterpreted as the Aramaic plural suffix -īn frequent in place names within Western Aramaic, as seen in the city’s Arabic name مَيَّافَارِقِين (mayyāfāriqīn).

Proper noun

ܡܝܦܪܩܛ • (mayparqeṭ)

1. Martyropolis (a city in today’s Diyarbakır Province in Turkey; modern Silvan)
   • a. 680, Naṣīr al-Kaʿbī, editor, A Short Chronicle of the End of the Sasanian Empire and Early Islam 590–660 A.D., Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press, published 2016, →ISBN, page 48 [25]:

     ܗܝܕܝܢ ܟܢܫ ܟܘܣܪܘ ܚܝܠܘ̈ܬܐ ܘܥܠܝ ܠܐܪܥܐ ܕܪ̈ܗܘܡܢܐ. ܘܥܒܕ ܬܪ̈ܝܢ ܪ̈ܒܝ ܚ̈ܝܠܐ ܘܫܕܪ ܠܡܥܪܒܐ. ܘܟܒܫܘ ܠܡܪܕܐ ܘܠܐܡܕ. ܘܠܡܝܦܪܩܛ ܘܠܐܘܪܗܝ.

     Then Khusrow swept together an army and encroached upon the lands of the Byzantines. He appointed two commanders whom he sent to the West, and they pressed upon Mardin, ʾAmed, Mayparqeṭ and Urfa.

Descendants

• → Arabic: مَيْفَرْقَط (mayfarqaṭ), مَيَّافَرْقَط (mayyāfarqaṭ)

Further reading

• Hübschmann, Heinrich (1904) Die altarmenischen Ortsnamen (in German), Strasbourg: Karl J. Trübner, pages 308–310