Editing Sea of Azov (section)

==Names==
The name is likely to derive from the settlement of an area around [[Azov]], whose name comes from the [[Kipchak language|Kipchak Turkish]] ''asak'' or ''azaq'' 'lowlands'.<ref>{{cite book |last=Room |first=Adrian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M1JIPAN-eJ4C&pg=PA42 |page=42 |title=Placenames of the world |publisher=McFarland |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-7864-2248-7}}</ref> A Russian [[false etymology|pseudo-etymology]], however, instead derives it from an [[eponym]]ous [[Cumans|Cuman]] prince named "Azum" or "Asuf", said to have been killed defending his town in 1067.{{citation needed|date=June 2024}} A formerly common spelling of the name in English was the {{nowrap|Sea of Azoff}}.<ref name=eb9>{{Cite EB9|wstitle=Sea of Azoff |volume=3 |page=169}}</ref>

In [[classical antiquity|antiquity]], the sea was known as the [[Maeotis Swamp]] ({{langx|el|Μαιῶτις λίμνη}},<ref>{{Ill|Carlo Egger||it}} ''Lexicon Nominum Locorum: Supplementum referens nomina Latina vulgaria'' (1985), p. 42.</ref> ''hē Maiōtis límnē''; {{langx|la| Palus Maeotis }}),<ref>"Et hoc mare est palus Maeotis famosissima..." ([https://books.google.com/books?id=UfqcGd8NOFsC&dq=%22mare+est+palus+Maeotis%22&pg=PA357 The ''Opus Majus'' of Roger Bacon, vol. 1, p. 357]); Hofmann, [https://www2.uni-mannheim.de/mateo/camenaref/hofmann/hof3/s0542a.html vol. 3, p. 542].</ref> from the marshlands to its northeast. It remains unclear whether it was named for the nearby [[Maeotians]] or viceversa if that name was an [[exonym]], broadly applied to various peoples who happened to live beside it.<ref name=digrog>{{cite DGRG|last=James |first=Edward Boucher |url= https://archive.org/stream/dictionaryofgree02smit#page/244/mode/2up |title=Maeotae and Maeotis Palus |volume=2 |edition=1st |publisher=Walton & Maberly |location=London |year=1857}}</ref> Other names included {{nowrap|Lake Maeotis}} or Maeotius (''{{lang|la|Mæotius}}'' or ''{{lang|la|Mæotis Lacus}}'');<ref>[[Pliny the Elder]]. ''[[Natural History (Pliny)|Naturalis Historiæ]]'' ["''Natural History''"], iv.24 & vi.6. {{in lang|la}}</ref> the Maeotian or {{nowrap|Maeotic Sea}} (''{{lang|la|Mæotium}}'' or ''{{lang|la|Mæoticum Æquor}}'');<ref>Avienus.{{which|date=August 2014}}{{clarify|date=August 2014}} v.32. {{in lang|la}}; [[Gaius Valerius Flaccus]]. ''[[Argonautica (Valerius Flaccus)|Argonautica]]''. iv.720. {{in lang|la}}</ref> the Cimmerian or {{nowrap|Scythican Swamps}} (''{{lang|la|Cimmeriae}}''<ref>Claud.{{who|date=August 2014}} ''in Eutrop.''{{clarify|date=August 2014}} i.249. {{in lang|la}}</ref> or ''{{nowrap|Scythicæ Paludes}}'');<ref name=ovy>[[Publius Ovidius Naso]]. ''Her''.{{which|date=August 2014}} vi.107. & ''Trist''.{{which|date=August 2014}} iii.4.49.</ref> and the Cimmerian or {{nowrap|Bosporic Sea}} (''{{lang|la|Cimmericum}}'' or ''{{lang|la|Bosporicum Mare}}'').<ref>Gell.{{which|date=August 2014}} xvii.8</ref> The Maeotians themselves were said by [[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]] to call the sea Temarunda (alternative spellings Temarenda and Temerinda), meaning "Mother of Waters".<ref>[[Pliny the Elder]]. ''[[Natural History (Pliny)|Naturalis Historiæ]]'' ["''Natural History''"], vi.7.20.</ref> {{dubious|date=July 2019}}

The medieval Russians knew it as the {{nowrap|Sea of Surozh}} after the adjacent city now known as [[Sudak]].<ref name=k65/><ref name=bse1>{{cite encyclopedia|url= http://bse.sci-lib.com/article003543.html|language=ru|title=Азовское море|trans-title= Sea of Azov|encyclopedia=[[Great Soviet Encyclopedia]]}}</ref> It was known in [[Ottoman Turkish language|Ottoman Turkish]] as the ''Balük-Denis'' ("Fish Sea") from its high productivity.<ref name=eb9/>