Alexandretta

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A seaport on the northeastern Mediterranean coast of Turkey, now known by its Turkish name Iskenderun
2. The former name of a Turkish port city on the Gulf of Iskenderun, in the Hatay Province near the Syrian border
3. An old European name for the Turkish port of Iskenderun, a coastal city in southern Turkey near the Syrian frontier

Etymology: Alexandretta was the name of a port on the Gulf of Iskenderun, in what is now southern Turkey, and the name is a diminutive of Alexandria. Its root is the Greek "Alexandreia", the city founded by Alexander the Great, so the port was in effect a "little Alexandria." The Greek form is "Alexandrétta", with the suffix "-etta" added to the city's name, and the Latin version followed the same pattern. The name is a doublet of several other forms derived from the same root, including Iskenderun, the modern Turkish name, and Scandaroon, an older English spelling. Those English forms show how the same Greek city name was adapted differently by different languages and periods.