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Latest comment: 9 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
The article provides no history of the name, raising questions of its etymology. No indication of when the ancient Greek name of Kriou Metopon (literally, Ram's Brow) ceased to be used. Whether that name survived into the Early Middle Ages appears questionable, it does not appear, for example, in the vita of St. John the Goth (8th c.). We do know that several churches were built on or near the mountain. Most prominently, that of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul (Ayion Apostolon Petrou kai Paulou) and of Saints Constantine and Helen (Ayion Konstantinou kai Elenes). The modification of the Greek agia to Turkic/Tatar Ai or Aya has been well documented.[1] The honorific of these names ayion is a near homophone with the Tatar ayuv; especially given that the Greek letters "-io-" in Medieval Greek are rendered in a "u" sound, cf. the the Slavic rendering using "-ю-". The "ayion" in nominative case, "ayioi" (pronounced "ayi") compares with the Turkish for 'bear', "ayi". The possibility of folk etymology taking "ayion" as the Tatar word for "bear" is apparent. On the use of "aya" or similar "ay-" stems for a land feature compare the Crimean Cape Aya and the mountain Ai-Petri. Also, the imaging of the mountain as a "bear" (or "ram's brow") requires considerable imagination and is not self-evident. If my conjecture is correct, then the medieval name was actually "holy mountain" (or, depending on the original grammatical case ending, "saints' mountain") not "bear mountain." This would take some research to substantiate, but barring contradicting evidence, it appears most likely. Tachypaidia (talk) 06:53, 5 September 2015 (UTC)Reply
