Toponymica Pontica. Анакопия

С. 141–155.

Vinogradov A.

The article examines the forms of the name of the fortress Anakopia
(Abkhazia) in Byzantine, Georgian and Italian sources. First of all, since 929,
this name is found in the Greek forms [Ἀν]ακουφων, Ἀνακουφίαν, Ἀνακουφήν,
Ἀν(α)κουπί(ας). Since the end of the 11th c., in Georgian sources, a stable form
of Anakopia is fixed. From the 14th c. we find the form Nicofia/Nicoffa on
the Italian portolans (possibly due to confusion with Nicopsia in Zekhia). The
Abkhazian etymologies of Anacopia (from анаҟәаԥ or аных-а) are unconvincing
from a phonetic point of view. On the contrary, the earliest oikonym’s forms
(*Ἀνάκουφα and Ἀνακουφία/Ἀνακουφή) have a transparent Greek etymology:
from ἀνακουφίζω “facilitate”, which is comparable to its probable ancient name
Τραχέα “heavy”. The emergence of the name Anacopia may be associated with
a change in the status of the fortress, its transformation into the residence of
the Greek-speaking archbishop of the Patriarchate of Constantinople and the
political center of Abkhazia.

Keywords: топонимика, Абхазия

In book

Homo omnium horarum: Сборник статей в честь 70-летия А.В. Подосинова

М.: Университет Дмитрия Пожарского, 2020.