Talk:Azerbaijan

Arran
The addition of, اران (Arran), az an alternative name to the republic of Azerbaijan supposedly in Persian is completely redicluse (ridiculous?). Aran is a very small region within the south east of the country, plus no valid Persian reference can be found to mistake this region with the whole republic! Mehrdad 16:22, 25 December 2005 (UTC)

Etymology
The first part of the name surely refers to fire.

The second part, if we consider Sanskrit, may refer to its adoration by the Zoroastrians (Magi):

अथरि 	athari 	f. flame भजन 	bhajana 	n. worship, adoration

Therefore, Azerbaijan in Sanskrit (Atharbhajana) may mean "(Land of the) Adorators of Fire" or simply "Fire Worship", which does make much sense.

If we consider the fact that Azerbaijan has in its underground an enormous quantity of oil, and take into consideration that Sanskrit bhājana also means reservoir or receptacle:

भाजन 	bhājana 	n. reservoir, recipient, container, vessel, cup

We have Atharbhājana, which means "recipient of fire" or "reservoir of fire", which also makes sense.

Sanskrit, Avestan and Old Persian share a lot of features, so I would not be surprised if there would be (I have not searched for it) a similar meaning in the other languages spoken in the region.


 * That is a folk etymology, often included in tourist guides. It has no place in Wiktionary, a serious project. --Vahag (talk) 07:43, 19 February 2016 (UTC)

Sure. The "official" explenation, instead, is fully backed up by linguistic rules... LOL

English pronunciation
If the "j" in the native pronunciation of this country name is pronounced like the "j" in "John," why is it okay to pronounce it ʒ (like the "z" in "azure") rather than dʒ? If it's not correct for Beijing, it should also be considered incorrect for Azerbaijan. 173.88.246.138 05:57, 14 October 2021 (UTC)