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, a name used in early Islamic times for ʿIrāḳ [ q.v.]. While the name ʿIrāḳ has been proved to be a Pahlavi loanword (from Ērag , “low land, south land”, occurring in the Turfan fragments, with assimilation to the semantically connected root ʿrḳ ; cf. A. Siddiqi, Studien über die persischen Fremdwörter im klass. Arab., Göttingen 1919, 69; H.H. Schaeder, in Isl ., xiv, 8-9; J.J. Hess, in ZS, ii, 219-23) sawād “black land” is the oldest Arabic name for the alluvial land on the Euphrates and Tigris given on account of the co…

, an ancient city of Transoxania, the Arabic Māʾ warāʾ al-Nahr [ q.v.], situated on the southern bank of the Zarafs̲h̲ān river or Nahr Ṣug̲h̲d. In early Islamic times it was the first city of the region in extent and populousness, even when, as under the Sāmānids (3rd-4th/9th-10th centuries [ q.v.]), Buk̲h̲ārā [ q.v.] was the administrative capital. Samarḳand’s eminence arose from its position at the intersection of trade routes from India and Afg̲h̲ānistān via Balk̲h̲ and Tirmid̲h̲ [ q.vv.] and from Persia via Marw [see marw al-s̲h̲āhid̲j̲ān ] which then led …

(older form Sāwad̲j̲, cf. the nisba Sāwad̲j̲ī, found at the side of Sāwī), a town of northern Persia some 125 km/80 miles to the southwest of Tehran (lat. 35° 00′ N., long. 50° 22′ E., altitude 960 m/3,149 feet). It was formerly on the Ḳazwīn-Ḳumm road used in mediaeval times but now replaced by the modern paved roads-system centred on Tehran, and on the main caravan and pilgrimage route from southwestern Persia a…