Paul Goble
Staunton, September 7 – Despite the Russian government’s
reluctance to talk about the genocide its tsarist predecessors committed
against the Circassians in 1864, a new pamphlet prepared for guides for the
Olympiad next year specified that the Circassians are “the indigenous
population” of Sochi and that Sochi and many nearby names are Circassian words.
In his “Olympic Names of Sochi” (in Russian), which has
been published in 1500 copies, Igor Sizov, a journalist there, says that everyone
should remember that “the majority of geographic names in Sochi have arisen as
a result of a mixingof lnguages, customs and cultural traditions of various peoples.”
“The terms ‘Sochi,’ ‘Laura,’ and ‘Fisht,’” for example, were
given by “representatives of the Circassian tribes of the Abaza, Ubykhs, and
Shapsugs.” The name ‘Adler’ “appeared thanks to a mixing of words from
Circassian and Turkish.” “’Kranaya Polyana,’ ‘Veseloye,’ ‘Kazachiy Brod’ are
Russian.” And the place name ‘Rosa Khutor’ has “Estonian roots.”
Sizov told Russian news agencies that a a native of the
city, he had grown up with stories about the ethnic diversity of the names of
the Sochi region, but in compiling his book, he drew on the works of some of
the best onomasticians working there, including Kasim Meretkuov, Vladimir
Vorozhilov and Grigory Chuchmay (spb.itar-tass.com/c20/862541.html).
In the
introduction to his pamphlet, Sizov says that representatives of 102
nationalities now livein Sochi but that the Circassians “are considered the
indigenous population.” They were followed by the Turks in the 16th
century and by Russians, Belarusians, Moldovans, Ukrainians, Estonians, and
Greeks in the 19th. Most left
their mark in the placenames of the region.
Sizov divides his booklet into two
parts. In the first, he provides a detailed discussion of the history of the names
of some of the sites most closely connected with the Sochi Olympiad. In the second, he gives briefer background information
on 17 other, less prominent places that visitors may nonetheless encounter and
could be expected to ask about.
The name “Sochi” itself, he says, is
unquestionably Circassian and specifically Ubykh, one of that nation’s
subgroups. In Ubykh, the word means “the family group which lives near the sea.”
Sizov dismisses an alternative explanation that it comes from another
Circassian term for the river because the etymology is wrong: that river has no
branches as the name would suggest.
“Krasnaya Polyana” is a purely
Russian term, Sizov continues, but it wasn’t given to the place by Russians but
rather by Greeks who sought asylum from persecution in the Ottoman Empire and,
having acquired some Russian, called their village by the Russian words for
beautiful field.
The main Olympic stadium in Sochi is called Fisht, a
Circassian word that in translation means “White Head” and refers to a
snow-capped mountain that the Circassians in medieval times viewed as sacred.
Adler of Adler Arena comes from a combination of Ubykh and Turkish, not from
German as some think.
One
of the most interesting ethnic backgrounds of a name in the region is that of “Roza
Khutor” where several Olympic competitions will take place. It has nothing to
do with colors but rather with Estonians: It was named for one of their number
who settled there in an oak grove in the 19th century and who was
visited by the great Estonian writer Anton Tammsaare.
And
yet another intriguing name is “Laura.” Despite the assumption of many that it
is of Russian origin and was the daughter or wife of some Russian commander
during the Caucasan wars, in it fact “has Circassian roots” and comes from the
name of an Abaza prince who livedin the area.
Among
the 17 brief entries, most are of Circassian origin as well, Sizov says,
including Aibga, Akhun, Akh-Tsu, Achipse, Matsesta, Mzymta, Psekhako,
Chvizheptse, and Chugush. Others are of
Moldovan, Cossack or Russian origin. As for the Black Sea, he adds, that too is
Russian but has less to do with color and with its waters being rough.
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