Khwarazmian

Part of speech: adjective, noun

Definitions

1. Of or relating to Khwarazm, the historical region around the lower Amu Darya river south of the Aral Sea ; relating to the Khwarazmian dynasty or the people who ruled that realm
2. Pertaining to Khwarazm, an ancient land of Central Asia near the Aral Sea ; associated with the Khwarazmian dynasty of Turkic rulers and the peoples of their empire
3. Belonging to or characteristic of Khwarazm in Central Asia ; connected with the Khwarazmian dynasty and the empire it governed in the medieval period

Etymology: Khwarazmian describes things relating to Khwarazm, the historical region around the lower Amu Darya river in what is now Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, and to the people and dynasties associated with it. The adjective is formed by attaching the suffix "-ian" to the place name, the same pattern that gives English "Persian" or "Mexican" from their homelands. The place name itself gave rise to the mathematician al-Khwarizmi, whose name is the origin of "algorithm," though the two words are not etymologically the same as Khwarazmian's spelling suggests in English. The noun form refers to a member of the Khwarazmian people or dynasty, most famously the Khwarazmian Empire of the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, which the Mongol invasions brought to an end. Because the empire's rulers were prominent in Central Asian politics of that era, the term appears regularly in historical writing about the period.