Maidan

Maidan is an originally Persian میدان word for a town square or public gathering place, borrowed into various other languages: Urdu میدان (maidān); Arabic مَيْدَان (maydān); Turkish meydan and Crimean Tatar, from which Ukrainian also borrowed maidan. Its ultimate source is Proto-Indo-European *médʰyos - compare Avestan maiδya, Sanskrit मध्य (madhya) and Latin medius. Various versions include maydan, midan, meydan, majdan, mayadeen and maydān. It also means field (मैदान) in Hindi.[1]

The broad geographical footprint of the use of Maidan in toponymy, from Central Europe to South-East Asia, is a reflection of the wide spread of the Turco-Persian tradition.[2]

Places

In the Persian and Central Asian space

Towns and villages in Iran:

In South Asia and Southeast Asia

In the former Ottoman / Mamluk space

  • Meydan, Gölbaşı, a village in the district of Gölbaşı, Adıyaman Province, Turkey
  • Meydan, Kurucaşile, a village in the district of Kurucaşile, Bartın Province, Turkey
  • Sultanahmet Square (Sultanahmet Meydanı), formerly Atmeydanı ("Horse Square"), in the center of Istanbul, Turkey
  • Taksim Meydanı or Taksim Square, another central public square in Istanbul, Turkey
  • Midan at-Tahrir or Tahrir Square, the central public space of Cairo, Egypt
  • the esplanade formerly known as Maydan or Hippodrome outside the Cairo Citadel

In Poland

Poland took up the word majdan from its numerous exchanges with the Ottoman and other Persianate-influenced cultures.[2]

In Romania

  • Maidan, a village in Cacica Commune, Suceava County
  • Maidan, the former name of Brădișoru de Jos village, Oravița Town, Caraș-Severin County

In Ukraine

See below.

Ukraine

Places in Ukraine

See also

  • Majdany, the plural form of Majdan.

Notes

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