Comments (Meaning / History Only)
Hey, my name actually is Sevan, I always was told by my older brother it meant black lake.
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The lake where this name is derived from, Lake Sevan, is often wrongly thought to have been named after the monastery that was built in the vicinity of the lake. The monastery in question was built with black tuff, so people believed the lake's name meant "black monastery". The etymology behind this meaning is as follows: the first element is derived from Old Armenian սեւ (sev) meaning "black", which is սև (sev) in modern Armenian. The second element is derived from Old Armenian վան (van) meaning "monastery" as well as "dwelling, house, home", which is վանք (vank') in modern Armenian.
But as I said before, that meaning and etymology is incorrect.
An other story about the meaning of Lake Sevan is, that it was named after Lake Van, by people who thought it resembled Lake Van. The water of Lake Sevan was much darker than that of Lake Van, however, so the people called the lake "black Van". In this story, the etymology is from Old Armenian սեւ (sev) meaning "black" combined with Van, the name of Lake Van. In the case of Lake Van, the name is the Armenized form of the Urartian ethnonym 'Biainili' meaning "Urartians" or "Urartian people".
However, this meaning and etymology, too, is incorrect.
Lake Sevan actually derives its name from the Urartian word 'suinia' (also found written as 'sunia' and 'tsuinia') meaning "lake" or "basin". As such, one could say that Sevan is actually the Armenized form of the original Urartian name of the lake.
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But as I said before, that meaning and etymology is incorrect.
An other story about the meaning of Lake Sevan is, that it was named after Lake Van, by people who thought it resembled Lake Van. The water of Lake Sevan was much darker than that of Lake Van, however, so the people called the lake "black Van". In this story, the etymology is from Old Armenian սեւ (sev) meaning "black" combined with Van, the name of Lake Van. In the case of Lake Van, the name is the Armenized form of the Urartian ethnonym 'Biainili' meaning "Urartians" or "Urartian people".
However, this meaning and etymology, too, is incorrect.
Lake Sevan actually derives its name from the Urartian word 'suinia' (also found written as 'sunia' and 'tsuinia') meaning "lake" or "basin". As such, one could say that Sevan is actually the Armenized form of the original Urartian name of the lake.
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Van is the lake that is in Turkey now. Sev means BLACK. SEV VAN because of problems that occurred there during the Genocide, Armenians call it dark days. Dark (bad) memories.
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The name Sevan comes from 2 Armenian words: Sev and An. Sev meaning black, An meaning lake. Thus the name means black lake.
They called it black lake because at some stage through the continuous conflict between Armenia and Turkey the Turks used to take civilians to the banks of Sevan and slaughter them.
Since black is assosiated with all things evil, the name sort of stuck.
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They called it black lake because at some stage through the continuous conflict between Armenia and Turkey the Turks used to take civilians to the banks of Sevan and slaughter them.
Since black is assosiated with all things evil, the name sort of stuck.
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