AI Summary & Key Takeaways
AI InsightThe systematic study of such ethnotoponyms provides reliable linguistic material for research on Azerbaijani–Iranian toponymic relations and on the ethnic history of the Turkic peoples.
📌 3 Key Takeaways
Abstract
Turkic peoples make up a significant part of Iran’s population, and the country’s toponymy is an important source for the study of Turkic ethnic history. Ethnotoponyms formed over centuries show the antiquity of the Turkic ethnic layer in several regions of Iran. Toponyms are also living traces of historical processes, revealing the ethnic composition of past populations and the migration and settlement routes of tribes. This article examines Turkic origin ethnotoponyms recorded in the toponymy of modern Iran – Evoğlu, Qarapapaq, Sarıcalı, Eymur, Dəmirçi, Qaradağlı, Qaraxanbəyli, Padar, Qarabağlılar and Kəbirli – and analyses their etymology and structure. Descriptive, comparative historical and etymological methods are applied, and parallels of these names in the Republic of Azerbaijan and neighbouring countries are identified. Most of the names are formed by adding the suffix lı/ li or the component oğlu (“descendant”) to a tribal name. The study concludes that these names form an important layer of Azerbaijani onomastics and reflect the distribution of Turkic tribes across Iran, Azerbaijan, Türkiye and Georgia. The systematic study of such ethnotoponyms provides reliable linguistic material for research on Azerbaijani–Iranian toponymic relations and on the ethnic history of the Turkic peoples.