Maidan is an originally Persian word for a town square or public gathering place (Persian: میدان), adopted by various other languages: Urdu میدان (maidān); Arabic مَيْدَان (maydān); Turkish meydan; Bangla ময়দান, meaning field, and Crimean Tatar, from which Ukrainian also borrowed maidan.[1] 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.[2] It became a loanword in other South Asian languages to give similar means, such as in Tamil in which the word is maidhanam.

The broad geographical footprint of the use of Maidan in toponymy, from Central Europe to South-East Asia, is a reflection of the Turkish rule in these areas.[citation needed]

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

  • Taksim Meydanı or Taksim Square, another central public square in Istanbul, Turkey
  • 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.[3]

In Romania

In Ukraine

Other uses in Ukraine

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Kim, Ronald (2021). "Slavic-Iranian Contacts, Linguistic Relations". In Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.). Encyclopædia Iranica, Online Edition. Encyclopædia Iranica Foundation. Retrieved July 13, 2023.
  2. ^ "(Maidan) मैदान meaning in English | Matlab | Definition".
  3. ^ Thomas M. Prymak (October 25, 2016). "The word "Maidan", where it comes from and what it means". Toronto Galician Genealogy Group.
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