Name of Azerbaijan

The name Azerbaijan is used today of both the sovereign Republic of Azerbaijan and of the region of Azerbaijan in Iran.

The name is a derivation from Atropatene, (Greek Ατροπατήνη, mentioned in Strabo 11.523), the dominion of Atropates, an Achaemenian satrap (governor), re-instated as ruler of Media under Alexander of Macedonia.^[1][2][3][4] The Middle Persian form of the name was Āturpātākān. It evolved further into early Modern Persian Ād̲h̲arbād̲h̲agān, Ād̲h̲arbāyagān, and finally Āzarbāyd̲j̲ān.

The etymology of the given name Atropates (Aτρoπάτης) itself is Old Persian Aturpat "protected by fire".^{[5] [6][7]}

The territory of what is now the Republic of Azerbaijan was known as Caucasian Albania in antiquity, and later as Arran. The name of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic was chosen in 1918 by the Musavat Party in the wake of the collapse of the Russian Revolution of 1917.

References

1. ^ Miniature Empires: A Historical Dictionary of the Newly Independent States by James Minahan, published in 2000, page 20
2. ^ Livius.org
3. ^ Chamoux, Francois. Hellenistic Civilization. Blackwell Publishing, published 2003, page 26
4. ^ Bosworth, A.B., and Baynham, E.J. Alexander the Great in Fact and Fiction. Oxford, published 2002, page 92
5. ^ Minorsky, V.; Minorsky, V. "Ādharbaydjān ( Azarbāydjān ) ." Encyclopaedia of Islam. Edited by: P.Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel and W.P. Heinrichs. Brill, 2007. Brill Online. <http://www.encislam.brill.nl/subscriber/entry?entry=islam_COM-0016> Vladimir Minorsky
6. ^ Xavier Planhol Encyclopaedia Iranica, "Azerbaijan i. Geography". X.D. Planhol
7. ^ Encyclopaedia Iranica, "Azerbaijan iii. Pre-Islamic History", K. Shippmann