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    STUDIA GEOLOGIA - Issue no. Special Issue / 2009  
         
  Article:   THE RELATION BETWEEN THE THALASSONYM BLACK SEA AND THE EUXINIC ENVIRONMENT – A DISCUSSION.

Authors:  HAINO UWE KASPER. 		 
       
         
  Abstract:  In Greek antiquity (e.g. Herodot, Book 4, 2009), the Black Sea was generally known as „Pontus Euxinus“. The thalassonym1 „Black Sea“ was supposedly introduced by the Ottomans and has been in use since the 13th century (Schmitt, 1996) in nearly all the languages of countries around the Black Sea: Marea Neagră (Romanian), Kara Deniz (Turkish), Al-Bahr al-Aswad, (Arabic), Чорне море (Ukrainian), Чёрное Море (Russian), Sew Cow (Armenian), Šawi Zgwa (Georgian), Μαύρη Θάλασσα (Greek). It is a matter of common knowledge that the Black Sea is actually not coloured black. In a similar way, the colour of the Red Sea is not red. The appellation „Pontus Euxinus“ can be misunderstood through consideration of the Greek term εξείνος, „hospitable“ and the geochemical perception „euxinic“ i.e. senso stricto hostile to life due to the presence of hydrogen sulfide, as it is understood currently, most notably by geochemists and geologists.

Key words: Achaemenidic Empire, Pontus Euxinus, Black Sea, Red Sea, euxinic
  
         
     
         
         
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