Editing Balkans (section)

==Name==
===Etymology===
The origin of the word ''Balkan'' is obscure; it may be related to [[Turkish language|Turkish]] {{lang|tr|bālk}} 'mud' (from Proto-Turkic *''bal'' 'mud, clay; thick or gluey substance', cf. also Turkic [[:en:wiktionary:Reconstruction:Proto-Turkic/bạl|bal]] 'honey'), and the Turkish suffix ''-an'' 'swampy forest'<ref>Current Trends in Altaic Linguistics; [https://www.academia.edu/5693478/European%20Balkan%20s%20Turkic%20bal%20yk%20and%20the%20problem%20of%20their%20original%20meanings European Balkan(s), Turkic bal(yk) and the Problem of Their Original Meanings], Marek Stachowski, Jagiellonian University, p. 618.</ref> or Persian ''bālā-khāna'' 'big high house'.<ref name="Todorova 1997 27" /> It was used mainly during the time of the [[Ottoman Empire]]. In both [[Ottoman Turkish]] and [[Turkish language|modern Turkish]], ''{{lang|tr|balkan}}'' means 'chain of wooded mountains'.<ref name="Balkan.">{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_/balkan.html |title=Balkan |encyclopedia=Encarta World English Dictionary |publisher=Microsoft Corporation |access-date=31 March 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070110000315/http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_/balkan.html |archive-date=10 January 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=Büyük Türkçe Sözlük |title=balkan |publisher=Türk Dil Kurumu |url=http://www.tdkterim.gov.tr/bts/ |quote=Sarp ve ormanlık sıradağ |language=tr |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110825034714/http://www.tdkterim.gov.tr/bts/ |archive-date=25 August 2011}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Kélékian |first=Diran |title=Dictionnaire Turc-Français |publisher=Mihran |year=1911 |pages=247 |language=fr |chapter=بالقان balqan |quote=Chaîne de montagnes couveres de forêts. ''Geogr.'' Le mont Hæmus; le Balkan.}}</ref>

===Historical names and meaning===
====From antiquity to the early Middle Ages====
The region that is nowadays known as the Balkans is largely the ancient (Europe's oldest) '''Danube civilisation''',<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tiLoDwAAQBAJ|title=The Mystery of the Danube Civilisation|last1=Haarmann|first1=Harald|publisher=Marix Verlag|date=2020|isbn=9783843806466}}</ref> also referred to as the [[Old_Europe_(archaeology)|Old Europe]] civilization, and which peaked between 5000–3500 BC.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gFEARIQ6zYoC|title=The Lost World of Old Europe: The Danube Valley, 5000-3500 BC|date=2010|isbn=9780691143880|last1=Anthony|first1=David|editor-last1=Anthony|editor-first1=David|editor-last2=Chi|editor-first2=Jennifer|publisher=New York University, Institute for the Study of the Ancient World|pages=29}}</ref>

From [[classical antiquity]] through the [[Middle Ages]], the Balkan Mountains were called by the local [[Thracians|Thracian]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VDoQAQAAMAAJ&q=hemus+thracian+name |title=Bulgaria |page=54 |work=Hemus – a Thracian name |publisher=Indiana University |year=1986}}</ref> name ''[[Haemus]]''.<ref>{{cite book|title=Balkan Studies|date=1986|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UEJpAAAAMAAJ&q=thracian+sama+greek+haemus}}</ref>

According to Greek mythology, the [[Thrace|Thracian]] king [[Haemus]] was turned into a mountain by [[Zeus]] as a punishment and the mountain has remained with his name.<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' 6.87–89</ref> A reverse name scheme has also been suggested. D. Dechev considers that Haemus (Αἷμος) is derived from a [[Thracian language|Thracian]] word ''*saimon'', 'mountain ridge'.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Decev |first1=D |title=Balkan Studies |date=1986 |publisher=University of Michigan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UEJpAAAAMAAJ&q=thracian+sama+greek+haemus |access-date=20 June 2015}}</ref> A third possibility is that "Haemus" ({{lang|grc|Αἵμος}}) derives from the Greek word ''haima'' ({{lang|grc|αἷμα}}) meaning 'blood'. The myth relates to a fight between [[Zeus]] and the monster/titan [[Typhon]]. Zeus injured Typhon with a thunder bolt and Typhon's blood fell on the mountains, giving them their name.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_2900870232069|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_2900870232069/page/20 20]|quote=Haemus bloody zeus typhon.|title=Gods and Heroes of the Greeks: The Library of Apollodorus|publisher=Univ of Massachusetts Press|access-date=12 September 2014|isbn=978-0870232060|last1=Apollodorus|year=1976}}</ref>

====Late Middle Ages and Ottoman period====
The earliest mention of the name appears in an early 14th-century Arab map, in which the [[Haemus Mons|Haemus Mountains]] are referred to as ''Balkan''.<ref name="Dobrev 1989">{{cite book | title = Проиcхождение географического названия Балкан – Sixieme Congres international d'etudes du Sud-Est Europeen |language=fr | first= Ivan | last = Dobrev | publisher = Ed.de l'Académie bulgare des Sciences | year = 1989 | location = Sofia | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=jxYZnQEACAAJ }}</ref> The first attested time the name "Balkan" was used in the West for the mountain range in [[Bulgaria]] was in a letter sent in 1490 to Pope [[Pope Innocent VIII|Innocent VIII]] by [[Filippo Buonaccorsi|Buonaccorsi Callimaco]], an Italian humanist, writer and diplomat.<ref>{{cite book |last=Todorova |first=Maria |author-link=Maria Todorova |title=[[Imagining the Balkans]] |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-19-538786-5 |page=22}}</ref> The [[Ottoman Turks|Ottomans]] first mention it in a document dated from 1565.<ref name="Todorova 1997 27" /> There has been no other documented usage of the word to refer to the region before that, although other Turkic tribes had already settled in or were passing through the region.<ref name="Todorova 1997 27">{{cite book | title = Imagining the Balkans | first=Maria N. | last =Todorova | publisher = Oxford University Press, Inc. | year = 1997 | location = New York | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=-EuFwLQhvYMC&pg=PA27 | page=27| isbn=9780195087512 }}</ref> There is also a claim about an earlier [[Oghuric languages|Bulgar]] Turkic origin of the word popular in Bulgaria, however it is only an unscholarly assertion.<ref name="Todorova 1997 27" /> The word was used by the Ottomans in [[Rumelia]] in its general meaning of mountain, as in ''Kod̲j̲a-Balkan'', ''Čatal-Balkan'', and ''Ungurus-Balkani̊'', but it was especially applied to the Haemus mountain.<ref>Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition, Editors: P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel and W.P. Heinrichs. Brill Online Reference Works.</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=http://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-2/balkan-SIM_1152?s.num=309&s.start=300|title=Balkan – Brill Reference|website=Brillonline.com|date=2012-04-24|last1=Inalcık|first1=Halil}}</ref> The name is still preserved in [[Central Asia]] with the [[Balkan Daglary]] (Balkan Mountains)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://land.worldcitydb.com/balkhan_mountains_3522246.html |title=Balkhan Mountains |work=World Land Features Database |publisher=Land.WorldCityDB.com |access-date=31 March 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080228223148/http://land.worldcitydb.com/balkhan_mountains_3522246.html |archive-date=28 February 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and the [[Balkan Region]] of [[Turkmenistan]]. The English traveler [[John Bacon Sawrey Morritt]] introduced this term into English literature at the end of the 18th century, and other authors started applying the name to the wider area between the Adriatic and the Black Sea. The concept of the "Balkans" was created by the German geographer [[August Zeune]] in 1808,<ref>{{cite web|last=Pavic|first=Silvia|url=http://geography.about.com/library/misc/ucbalkans.htm|title=Some Thoughts About The Balkans|publisher=About, Inc.|date=22 November 2000|access-date=31 March 2008| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080228230925/http://geography.about.com/library/misc/ucbalkans.htm| archive-date= 28 February 2008 | url-status=live}}</ref> who mistakenly considered it as the dominant central mountain system of Southeast Europe spanning from the Adriatic Sea to the Black Sea.<ref name="Somek15"/><ref name="Altić11"/><ref name="DaskalovMishkova2017"/> During the 1820s, "Balkan became the preferred although not yet exclusive term alongside Haemus among British travelers... Among Russian travelers not so burdened by classical toponymy, Balkan was the preferred term".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Todorova |first=Maria |title=Imagining the Balkans |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2009 |isbn=9780195087512 |page=24}}</ref> In European books printed until late 1800s it was also known as Illyrian Peninsula or Illyrische Halbinsel in German.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5RhYAAAAcAAJ |title=Illyrische Halbinsel |year=1851}}</ref>

===Evolution of meaning in the 19th and 20th centuries===
[[File:Balkan topo blank.jpg|thumb|265px|A definition of the Balkan Peninsula from 1918 largely according to [[Jovan Cvijić]] with the north-west demarcation [[Soča]]-[[Vipava, Vipava|Vipava]]-[[Postojna]]-[[Krka (Sava)|Krka]]-[[Sava]], i.e. the border between the [[Alps]] and the [[Dinaric Alps|Dinaric Mountains]]]]The term was not commonly used in geographical literature until the mid-19th century because, already then, scientists like [[Carl Ritter]] warned that only the part south of the Balkan Mountains could be considered as a peninsula and considered it to be renamed as "Greek peninsula". Other prominent geographers who did not agree with Zeune were [[Hermann Wagner (geographer)|Hermann Wagner]], [[Theobald Fischer]], [[Marion Newbigin]], and [[Albrecht Penck]], while Austrian diplomat [[Johann Georg von Hahn]], in 1869, for the same territory, used the term ''Südosteuropäische Halbinsel'' ('Southeastern European peninsula'). Another reason it was not commonly accepted as the definition of then [[East Thrace|European Turkey]] had a similar land extent.{{clarify|date=April 2025}} However, after the [[Congress of Berlin]] (1878) there was a political need for a new term and gradually "the Balkans" was revitalized, but in many maps, the northern border was in Serbia and Montenegro and Greece was not included (it only depicted the then Ottoman-occupied parts of Europe), while Yugoslavian maps also included Croatia and Bosnia. At the time, the ''Balkan Peninsula'' was also understood as a synonym for [[Rumelia]] or ''European Turkey'', and, in its broadest sense, encompassed the borders of all former Ottoman provinces in Europe.<ref name="DaskalovMishkova2017"/><ref name="Altić11"/><ref name="VezenkovIWM06">{{cite journal |last=Vezenkov |first=Alexander |date=2006 |title=History against Geography: Should We Always Think of the Balkans As Part of Europe? |url=http://www.iwm.at/publications/5-junior-visiting-fellows-conferences/vol-xxi/alexander-vezenkov/ |journal=Junior Visiting Fellows' Conferences |volume=XXI |issue=4 |access-date=5 January 2018 |archive-date=24 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171224123749/http://www.iwm.at/publications/5-junior-visiting-fellows-conferences/vol-xxi/alexander-vezenkov/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The usage of the term changed in the very end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, when it was embraced by Serbian geographers, most prominently by [[Jovan Cvijić]].<ref name="Somek15"/> It was done with political reasoning as affirmation for [[Serbian nationalism]] on the whole territory of the [[South Slavs]], and also included anthropological and ethnological studies of the South Slavs through which were claimed various nationalistic and racialist theories.<ref name="Somek15"/> Through such policies and Yugoslavian maps the term was elevated to the modern status of a geographical region.<ref name="Altić11"/> The term acquired political nationalistic connotations far from its initial geographic meaning,<ref name="DaskalovMishkova2017"/> arising from political changes from the late 19th century to the creation of post–[[World War I]] [[Yugoslavia]] (initially the [[Kingdom of Yugoslavia|Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes]] in 1918).<ref name="Altić11"/> After the [[Breakup of Yugoslavia|dissolution of Yugoslavia]] beginning in June 1991, the term ''Balkans'' acquired a negative political meaning, especially in Croatia and Slovenia, as well in worldwide casual usage for war conflicts and fragmentation of territory.<ref name="Somek15"/><ref name="Altić11"/>

===Southeast Europe===
{{Main|Southeast Europe}}

In part due to the historical and political connotations of the term ''Balkans'',<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/balkanize|title=Balkanize|publisher=merriam-webster.com}}</ref> especially since the military conflicts of the 1990s in Yugoslavia in the western half of the region, the term ''[[Southeast Europe]]'' is becoming increasingly popular.<ref name="Altić11"/><ref>{{cite book |title=A history of Eastern Europe |last=Bideleux |first=Robert |author2=Ian Jeffries |year=2007 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-0-415-36627-4 |page=37 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PTB0gn_qwTcC}}</ref> A [[European Union]] (EU) initiative of 1999 is called the ''[[Stability Pact for Southeastern Europe]]''.
The online newspaper ''Balkan Times'' renamed itself ''[[Southeast European Times]]'' in 2003.{{citation needed|date=November 2022}}

===Current===
In other languages of the Balkans, the region or peninsula are known as:

* Slavic languages:
** [[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]] and {{langx|mk|Балкански Полуостров}}, transliterated: ''{{lang|mk|Balkanski Poluostrov}}''
** [[Bosnian language|Bosnian]], [[Montenegrin language|Montenegrin]] and {{langx|sr|Balkansko poluostrvo}} / {{lang|sr-cyrl|Балканско полуострво}}
** [[Bosnian language|Bosnian]] and {{langx|hr|Balkanski poluotok}}
** {{langx|sl|Balkanski polotok}}
* Romance languages:
** {{langx|rup|Peninsula Balcanicã}} or {{lang|rup|Balcani}}
** {{langx|ro|Peninsula Balcanică}} or {{lang|ro|Balcani}}
** {{langx|it|Penisola balcanica}} or {{lang|it|Balcani}}
* Other languages:
** {{langx|sq|Gadishulli Ballkanik}} and ''{{lang|sq|Siujdhesa e Ballkanit}}''
** {{langx|el|Βαλκανική χερσόνησος}}, transliterated: ''{{lang|el|Valkaniki chersonisos}}''
** {{langx|hu|Balkán-félsziget}} or ''Balkán''
** {{langx|tr|Balkan Yarımadası}} or ''Balkanlar''