|
The Bosphorus () or Bosporus (; , ''Bósporos''; (トルコ語:Boğaziçi)) is a natural strait and internationally-significant waterway located in northwestern Turkey that forms part of the continental boundary between Europe and Asia, and separates Asian Turkey from European Turkey. The world's narrowest strait used for international navigation, the Bosporus connects the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara, and, by extension, via the Dardanelles, the Aegean, and Mediterranean Seas. Most of the shores of the strait are heavily settled, straddled by the city of Istanbul's metropolitan population of 17 million inhabitants extending inland from both coasts. Together with the Dardanelles, The Bosphorus forms the Turkish Straits. ==Name== The Bosphorus is also known as "Strait of Constantinople", or as "Istanbul Strait" ((トルコ語:İstanbul Boğazı)). To distinguish it from the Cimmerian Bosporus, it was anciently-known as the Thracian Bosphorus (Herodotus 4.83; ''Bosporus Thracius, Bosporus Thraciae '', , also Chalcedonian Bosporus, ''Bosporus Chalcedoniae'', , Herodotus 4.87, or Mysian Bosporus, ''Bosporus Mysius'').〔Friedrich Heinrich Theodor Bischoff, ''Verleichendes wörterbuch der alten, mittleren und neuen geographie'', Becker, 1829, (195f. )〕 The term could also be used as common noun βόσπορος, meaning "a strait", and was also applied to the Hellespont in Classical Greek (Aeschylus, Sophocles). The Greek name (''Bosporos'') was folk-etymologized as from , i.e. "cattle strait" (or "Ox-ford"〔there is a certain (Oxonian) tradition of equating the name "Oxford" with "Bosporus", see e.g. Wolstenholme Parr, ''Memoir on the propriety of the word Oxford'', Oxford,1820, esp. (p. 18 )〕), from the genitive of ''bous'' "ox, cattle" + ''poros'' "passage", thus "cattle-passage", or "cow passage"〔Entry: ( ) at Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, 1940, ''A Greek-English Lexicon''.〕 in reference to Io from Greek mythology who was transformed into a cow and condemned to wander the earth until she crossed the Bosphorus where she met Prometheus. This folk etymology was canonized by Aeschylus in ''Prometheus Bound'' (v. 734f.), where Prometheus prophesies to Io that the strait would be named after her. The site where Io supposedly went ashore was near Chrysopolis, was named ''he Bous'' "the Cow". The same site was also known as ''Damalis'', as it was where the Athenian general Chares had erected a monument to his wife Damalis. This monument included a colossal statue of a cow (the name ''Damalis'' translating to "calf").〔F. Sickler, ''Handbuch der alten Geographie'', 1824, p. (551 ).〕 The actual etymology of the name is more likely from the verb βύζω or βύω, "to fill up, clog up, plug, stop", referring to a "plugged" or stopped-up passage, perhaps also cognate with the name of Byzantium (Hesychius has βύζαντες: πλήθοντες, i.e. ''buzantes'' meaning "filled up"). The spelling with ''-ph-'', as ''Bosphorus'', has no justification in the ancient Greek name, but it occurs as a variant in medieval Latin (as ''Bosphorus'', and occasionally ''Bosforus, Bosferus''), and in medieval Greek sometimes as Βόσφορος,〔 (Bosporus ) inCharlton T. Lewis, Charles Short, ''A Latin Dictionary'' (1879).〕 giving rise to the French form ''Bosphore'', Spanish ''Bósforo'', and Russian Босфор. The 12th-century Greek scholar John Tzetzes calls it '' Damaliten Bosporon'' (after ''Damalis''), but he also reports that in popular usage the strait was known as ''Prosphorion'' during his day,〔 Carl Müller, ''Geographi graeci minores'', Didot, 1861, (p. 7 ).〕 the name of the most ancient northern harbour of Constantinople. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Bosphorus」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|