Khwarazmians

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The inhabitants or natives of Khwarazm, the historical region around the lower Amu Darya river and the Aral Sea
2. Peoples originating from or living in Khwarazm, an ancient and medieval region of Central Asia south of the Aral Sea
3. Those who hailed from Khwarazm, a historic land of Central Asia centered on the lower course of the Amu Darya river

Etymology: The plural of "Khwarazmian" is the people of Khwarazm, the region south of the Aral Sea in what is now Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, and the name is simply that place name with the suffix "-ian" attached, marking a person or thing belonging to it. The suffix is the common English pattern for nationalities and regional identities, as in "Parisian" or "Lutheran", so the word needs no special explanation beyond the place it names. The real interest lies in the place. Khwarazm was an old cultural centre on the lower Amu Darya, and its name, in various forms, is preserved in Persian and Arabic sources, which is where the Western spelling comes from. The Khwarazmian dynasty rose to power in the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, and its rulers built an empire stretching across much of Persia and Central Asia before the Mongol invasions ended it. Historians of that period use "Khwarazmians" as the ordinary collective term for the dynasty's subjects and soldiers.