Azerbaijan National Academy of Science

Since ancient times, the names of certain regions, and some human settlements were given due to the views of great personalities, names of some useful ore deposits, or due to their morphological features. It is known that, there are some cities and regions containing "van". Words like Van Lake Sevan, Shirvan, Yerevan, and Nakhchivan. But how is estimated the basic meaning of these words geologically?

"Van" means the deposition filled with water which is concerned geological mapping. This word is used in Russian too: vannaya, bannaya, banya. We can see relatively Lake Van near in Turkey, Lake Urmiya, Razaya in Iran, and Lake Sevan in the Western Azerbaijan.

Shirvan – in the southern part of the Kura River was called the place of lions in ancient times. Yerevan city is located in the deep lowland of paleogene age, therefore it is called large-Van.

Nakhchivan word is also contains "van" because of containing morphology associated with lowland. However, this lowland is not oval shaped, but longish. This lowland begins from Ararat River valley in the north-western lowlands from Azerbaijan to Turkey and is reminiscent of a ship.

Chief department of ANAS Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Academician Arif Ismayilzadeh

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