Samarkand

English

Downtown Samarkand with Bibi-Khanym Mosque

Alternative forms

• Samarcand (most common until the late 19th century, now dated)
• Samarqand (official name in Uzbek)

Etymology

From Russian Самарка́нд (Samarkánd), from Persian سمرقند (samarqand), from Sogdian.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsæmə(ɹ)kænd/

Proper noun

Samarkand

1. A city in eastern Uzbekistan. Official name: Samarqand.

   Synonym: (ancient Greek name) Maracanda

   • 1829, Edgar Allan Poe, “Tamerlane”, in Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane and Minor Poems:

     Look ’round thee now on Samarcand! —
     Is she not queen of Earth? her pride
     Above all cities? in her hand
     Their destinies?

   • 1922, John Dos Passos, “Antonio Machado: Poet of Castile”, in Rosinante to the Road Again, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, →OCLC:

     In the quaver of his voice was a remembering of long muletrains jingling through the gate, queens in litters hung with patchwork curtains from Samarcand, […]

   • 1977, Eugenie and Jeffrey Gross, The Soviet Union, page 393:

     When the tsarist government crumbled with the abdication of Nicholas II in March 1917 a dual administration was established in Samarkand, as it was throughout the entire country.

   • 2001, “Samarqand”, in Encyclopedia Americana‎^[1], page 177:

     Formerly Samarkand, the city, after the 1991 independence of Uzbekistan, adopted the Uzbek form, Samarqand.

   • 2010, Kamoludin Abdullaev, Shahram Akbarzadeh, Historical Dictionary of Tajikistan, page 316:

     Originating in the ancient city of Afrasiab, Samarqand is one of the centers of Tajik culture and history. At the time of the Soviet delimitation of Central Asia in 1924, Samarqand was included in Uzbekistan, where it is a provincial center.

Related terms

• Samarqandi

Translations

city in Uzbekistan

• Amharic: ሳማርቃንድ (samarḳand)
• Arabic: سَمَرْقَنْد (samarqand), (archaic) سُمَرَان f (sumaran)

  Egyptian Arabic: سمرقند f (samarqand)

• Aragonese: Sarmagant
• Armenian: Սամարղանդ (Samarġand)
• Asturian: Samarcanda f
• Avar: Самаркъанд (Samarqxʼand)
• Azerbaijani:

  Cyrillic: Сәмәргәнд

  Roman: Səmərqənd (az)

• Bashkir: Сәмәрҡәнд (Səmərqənd)
• Belarusian: Самарканд m (Samarkand)
• Bengali: সমরকন্দ (śomrokondo)
• Bulgarian: Самарканд m (Samarkand)
• Catalan: Samarcanda f
• Cebuano: Samarqand
• Chechen: Самарка́нд (Samarkánd)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 撒馬爾罕／撒马尔罕 (zh) (Sǎmǎ'ěrhǎn)

• Eastern Mari: Самарканд (Samarkand)
• Esperanto: Samarkando
• Finnish: Samarkand (fi)
• French: Samarcande (fr) f
• Galician: Samarcanda f
• Georgian: სამარყანდი (samarq̇andi)
• German: Samarkand (de) n
• Greek: Σαμαρκάνδη f (Samarkándi)

  Ancient: Μαράκανδα f (Marákanda)

• Hebrew: סמרקנד
• Hindi: समरक़न्द (samarqand)
• Hungarian: Szamarkand (hu)
• Italian: Samarcanda f
• Japanese: サマルカンド (Samarukando)
• Karakalpak: Samarqand
• Kazakh: Самарқан (Samarqan)
• Korean: 사마르칸트 (Samareukanteu)
• Kumyk: Самаркъанд (Samarqand)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: Semerqend (ku)

• Kyrgyz: Самаркан (Samarkan)
• Latin: Maracanda f
• Latvian: Samarkanda f
• Lithuanian: Samarkandas m
• Macedonian: Самарканд m (Samarkand)
• Maithili: समरकन्द (samarᵊkanda)
• Malayalam: സമർഖണ്ഡ് (samaṟkhaṇḍŭ)
• Marathi: समरकंद (samarkanda)
• Mongolian: Самарка́нд (Samarkánd)
• Nepali: समरकन्द (samarakanda)
• Occitan: Samarcanda f
• Old Turkic: Semizkend
• Ossetian: Самарка́нд (Samarkánd)
• Ottoman Turkish: سمرقند (semerkand)
• Persian: سمرقند (samarqand)
• Polish: Samarkanda (pl) f
• Portuguese: Samarcanda f, Samarkand f, Samarcand f, Samarcande f, Samarkande f, Samarkanda f
• Punjabi: ਸਮਰਕੰਦ (samrakand)
• Russian: Самарка́нд (ru) m (Samarkánd)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: Самарканд m

  Roman: Samarkand (sh) m

• Sogdian: Smʼrknδh
• Spanish: Samarcanda (es) f, Samarkanda f
• Tajik: Самарқанд (tg) (Samarqand)
• Tamil: சமர்கந்து (camarkantu)
• Tatar: Сәмәрка́нд (Sämärkánd)
• Thai: ซามาร์คันด์ (Saa maa-kan)
• Turkish: Semerkant
• Ukrainian: Самарканд m (Samarkand)
• Uyghur: سەمەرقەند (semerqend)
• Uzbek:

  Cyrillic: Самарқанд (Samarqand)

  Roman: Samarqand

• Walloon: Samarcande f
• Yiddish: סאַמאַרקאַנד (samarkand)
• Zari: Semerqand

German

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ant

Proper noun

Samarkand n (proper noun, genitive Samarkands or (optionally with an article) Samarkand)

1. Samarkand (a city in Uzbekistan)

Portuguese

Proper noun

Samarkand f

1. Alternative form of Samarcanda