Editing Syrah (section)

=== The names Syrah and Shiraz===
[[File:Shiraz Grapes.jpg|thumb|right|Clusters of Syrah grapes]]

The grape's many other synonyms are used in various parts of the world, including ''Antourenein noir'', ''Balsamina'', ''Candive'', ''Entournerein'', ''Hignin noir'', ''Marsanne noir'', ''Schiras'', ''Sirac'', ''Syra'', ''Syrac'', ''Serine'', and ''Sereine''.<ref name="Jancis">Jancis Robinson ''Vines, Grapes & Wine'' p. 90, Octopus Publishing 1986 {{ISBN|978-1-85732-999-5}}.</ref>

Legends of Syrah's origins often connect it with the city of [[Shiraz]] in [[ancient Iran]].<ref name="OCW Shiraz">Entry on ''"Shiraz"'' in J. Robinson (ed), ''"The Oxford Companion to Wine'', Third Edition, p. 627, Oxford University Press 2006, {{ISBN|0-19-860990-6}}.</ref> The former capital of the [[Persian Empire]] under the [[Achaemenid dynasty]] produced the well-known [[Shirazi wine]],<ref name="OCW Persia">Entry on ''"Persia"'' in J. Robinson (ed), ''The Oxford Companion to Wine'', Third Edition, pp. 512–513, Oxford University Press 2006, {{ISBN|0-19-860990-6}}.</ref> and legends claim the original grape was later brought to the [[Rhône]].<ref name="OCW Persia"/> At least two significantly different versions of the myth are reported, giving different accounts of how the grape variety is supposed to have travelled, differing up to 1,800 years in dating the event.<ref name="OCW Rhône"/> 

In one version, the [[Phocaeans]] could have brought Syrah to their colony around [[Marseille]], then known as [[Massilia]], an [[Greek colonisation|ancient Greek colony]] (''apoikia'') on the [[Mediterranean Sea|Mediterranean coast]], east of the Rhône, which was founded around 600 BCE by the [[ancient Greeks]].<ref name="OCW Rhône"/> The grape would then later have spread to the northern Rhône, which was never colonized by the Phocaeans.<ref name="OCW Rhône"/> No documentary evidence exists to back up this legend, and it also requires the variety to later vanish from the Marseille region without leaving any trace.<ref name="OCW Rhône"/>

[[File:Syrah leaf.JPG|left|thumb|Syrah leaf]]
The legend connecting Syrah's origins with the city of [[Shiraz]] in [[ancient Iran]] may, however, be of French origin. [[James Busby]] wrote in his ''Journal of a recent visit to the principal vineyards of Spain and France'' an excerpt from the 1826 book ''Œnologie Française''; "according to the tradition of the neighbourhood, the plant [Scyras] was originally brought from Shiraz in Persia, by one of the hermits of the mountain" called Gaspare de Stérimberg.<ref name=jbjourn81>{{cite book |last=Busby |first=James |title=Journal of a recent visit to the principal vineyards of Spain and France |year=1834 |page=[https://archive.org/details/journalarecentv00busbgoog/page/n126 108] |publisher=Smith, Elder |url=https://archive.org/details/journalarecentv00busbgoog |quote=1826 scyras shiraz.}}</ref>

There is a connection between the name ''Syrah'' and the [[Persian language|Persian]] word "سیاه" (pronounced ''siah'' or ''syah'', meaning "black"). It refers to the origin of this grape, which comes from black grapes and shows connection between the city of Shiraz and this grape.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hugh |first=Johnson |title=The Story of Wine |publisher=Mitchell Beazley |year=2004 |isbn=1-84000-972-1 |edition=New Illustrated |pages=58 & p. 131}}</ref> Another legend of the grape variety's origin, based on the name ''Syrah'', is that it was brought from [[Syracuse, Italy|Syracuse]] by the legions of [[Roman Emperor]] [[Marcus Aurelius Probus|Probus]] sometime after 280 CE.<ref name="OCW Rhône"/> This legend also lacks documentary evidence and is inconsistent with ampelographic findings.<ref name="OCW Rhône"/>

Another proposed etymology links it with the [[Proto-Celtic language|Proto-Celtic]] word *''serra'' '[[billhook]]', presumably because the billhook was used in [[pruning]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.old-north.co.uk/Holding/celt_britlatin.html |title=The Old North |website=www.old-north.co.uk}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.popular-babynames.com/name/syrah |title=NAMES - The Name Syrah : popularity, meaning and origin, popular baby names |website=Popular-BabyNames.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YN_YPQAACAAJ&q=%22proto+celtic%22%22serra%22 |title=Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic |first=Ranko |last=Matasović |date=February 11, 2009 |publisher=Brill |isbn=9789004173361 |via=Google Books}}</ref>

The name "Shiraz" has been used primarily in [[Australia]] in modern times, where it has long been established as the most grown dark-skinned variety. In Australia, it was also commonly called [[Hermitage AOC|Hermitage]] up to the late 1980s, but since that name became a French [[Protected Designation of Origin]], this naming practice caused a problem in some export markets and was dropped. The name "Scyras" was used to describe the grape in the earliest Australian documents, and "Shiraz" has been speculated (among others by [[Jancis Robinson]])<ref name="Jancis"/> to have come about through the "[[Strine|strinization]]" of the original word, a process of changing vowels as part of Australian slang. However, while the names "Shiraz" and "Hermitage" gradually replaced "Scyras" in Australia from the mid-19th century, the spelling "Shiraz" has also been documented in British sources back to at least the 1830s.<ref name=jbjourn81 /><ref name=gentmag1834>{{cite journal |journal=Gentleman's Magazine |volume=157 |last=Redding |first=Cyrus |title=History of Wines |date=July 1834 |pages=7–11 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y2OYNXvykVcC&q=%22Gentleman's%20Magazine%22%20%22Hermitage%20is%20grown%20from%20the%20Shiraz%20grape%20of%20Persia%22&pg=PA8}}</ref><ref name=crhist>{{cite book |last=Redding |first=Cyrus |title=A history and description of modern wines |year=1836 |page=20 |publisher=Whittaker & co. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zyxEAAAAYAAJ&q=%22Hermitage%20is%20now%20produced%20from%20the%20Scyras%2C%20or%20Shiraz%22%20%22Cyrus%20Redding%22&pg=PA20}}</ref> So while the name or spelling "Shiraz" may be an effect of the [[English language]] on a French name, there is no evidence that it actually originated in Australia, although it was definitely the Australian usage and the Australian wines that made the use of this name popular.