According to all official documents, the highest point of the Crimean Mountains is Roman-Kosh. Its height is 1545 meters. Roman is a Russian male name, and it’s a root of the surname of the dynasty of Russian tsars Romanov. “Kosh” (qosh) is a Crimean Tatar word that means parking, camp, pen (for sheep). By the way, from the root of this word comes the Russian surname Koshevoy and a word combination “koshevoy ataman” (chief ataman).
Anyway, the lack of meaning between the words Roman and Kosh always caused a surprise. The answer was found in the great encyclopedia published in Saint Petersburg in 1904 under the care of S.N. Yujakov. On page 244 of the eighteenth volume, the highest point of the Crimean Mountains was called Orman Kosh. “Orman” in Crimean Tatar language means “forest”, the word “kosh’ we have already interpreted. So, “Orman-Kosh” means “camp, stop or parking in the forest”. Somebody didn’t like the name that described the local landscape and in 1904 by a “harmless” amendment that confused the first two letters of the word combination, Orman became Roman. It is a well-known fact that if Crimean Tatar village had the name “Aktash”, there was a white stone in its vicinity. Nowadays this village has the name Dubki, however, there are not oak trees at all.
The previous name for Sevastopol is Crimean Tatar “Aqyar” which means “white-stone beauty” that as far as possible reflects the perception of the area.
The toponymy of Crimea, and especially its southern coast, is adorned by hundreds of ancient names, which were not changed during 355 years of the Crimean Khanate. It’s obvious that changing geographical names nobody could change specificities of the natural landscape. And still, with great pleasure, we are saying Ay-Serez, Parthenite, Foros, Mishor, and other ancient names. Only Crimean Tatar names of the places were erased from the map with a few exceptions. It’s terrible vandalism.
Seyar Murtazaev
