Transcaspia

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The arid region of Central Asia lying east of the Caspian Sea, now largely part of Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan
2. A historical geographical area in Central Asia situated on the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea and its surrounding lands
3. The name for the land stretching across Central Asia beyond the eastern side of the Caspian Sea in western Turkestan

Etymology: Transcaspia is a name for the region east of the Caspian Sea, in what is now Turkmenistan and neighbouring areas. It was not coined as a place name from local geography but from Russian administrative language. The Russians called the territory "Zakaspiyskaya oblast'," meaning "Transcaspian oblast" (an oblast being an administrative province), and English took the word from that Russian name. The "Caspia" part comes from the Caspian Sea, and the logic behind it is practical rather than geographical. In the early twentieth century, the quickest way to reach the region from central Russia or Transcaucasia was to cross the Caspian Sea by boat. The name thus records a journey: a place defined by the sea that had to be crossed to get there, with "trans-" meaning "across" in Latin.