Khorasmia

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An ancient country in Central Asia, located along the lower Amu Darya river south of the Aral Sea, known in Latin sources under this name
2. A historical region and kingdom of Central Asia that lay around the lower course of the Oxus river near the Aral Sea
3. The Latinized name of the ancient Central Asian realm of Khwarazm, centred on the delta of the Amu Darya river

Etymology: Khorasmia is an English form of the name of an ancient region south of the Aral Sea, in what is now Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. Persian rulers recorded the name as "Uvārazmiš," and Greek writers such as Herodotus called its people "Chorasmioi." The name is usually linked to a Persian root meaning something like "to work" or "to make," but the exact sense is uncertain. The name outlived the region's power. Its people became known as Khwarazmians, and the Arabic adjective "Khwarazmi" was attached to the mathematician al-Khwarizmi, who came from the area. Latin translators rendered his name as "Algoritmi," and the Latin form "algorismus" gave English the word "algorithm."