Editing Ashgabat (section)

==Etymology==
Ashgabat is called ''Aşgabat'' in [[Turkmen language|Turkmen]], ({{langx|ru|Ашхабад|Ashkhabad}}) in [[Russian language|Russian]] from 1925 to 1991, and {{lang|fa|عشق‌آباد}} ({{italics correction|'''Ešqābād''}}) in [[Persian language|Persian]]. Before 1991, the name was usually spelled '''Ashkhabad''' in English, a transliteration of the Russian form. It has also been variously spelled Ashkhabat and Ashgabad. From 1919 until 1927, the city was renamed Poltoratsk after a local revolutionary, [[Pavel Poltoratskiy]].<ref name=Ashkhabad>{{cite book|script-title=ru:Ашхабад|last=Клычев|first=Анна-Мухамед|language=ru|publisher=Изд-во "Туркменистан"|date=1976}}</ref>

Although the name literally means "city of love" or "city of devotion" in modern Persian, the name might be modified through [[folk etymology]]. Turkmen historian Ovez Gundogdiyev believes that the name goes back to the [[Parthian Empire|Parthian]] era, 3rd century BC, deriving from the name of the founder of the [[Parthian Empire]], [[Arsaces I of Parthia]], in [[Persian language|Persian]] Ashk-Abad (the city of ''Ashk''/[[Arsaces]]).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://turkmeniya.tripod.com/id27.html |title=How Old is Ashgabat? |publisher=Turkmeniya.tripod.com |access-date=2013-11-24}}</ref>