Origin of the White Sea and its names. History of geographical names of Rus' Why is the White Sea named so?

The White Sea is called white because it is covered with white ice and snow most of the year. Do you agree that this explanation seems logical? But a comparative analysis of maritime historical toponymy and a number of obvious facts from medieval Russian chronicles cast doubt on this explanation.

It is curious that in addition to the North Russian White Sea, there are other “White Seas” in the world. For example, words with the ancient root stem “Balt”: “Baltoji - Baltijas” and “Baltoji - Baltijas” - translated into Lithuanian and Latvian mean “White”. Lithuanians and Latvians translate the name Baltic Sea from their languages as the White Sea. However, on this international list"White Seas" does not end.

It is also curious that the southern Slavs, in particular the Bulgarians, today, like centuries ago, call the Greek Aegean Sea the White Sea. Consequently, the Slavic name White Sea arose not in the European north of Russia, but in the southern Bulgarian Mediterranean. Until now, none of the domestic scientists have expressed this version. For the first time in this article, the opinion is voiced that medieval Russian monks and pilgrims who went on long “walks” to Serbian and Bulgarian monasteries could have brought the name White Sea to Northern Russia from their travels.
As proof, three Russian chronicles can be cited, which record the fact that the name White Sea was used by the Bulgarians back in the Middle Ages. In the medieval travel diary of 1419-1422, called “Zosima’s Walk to Constantinople, Athos and Palestine,” the Russian pilgrim deacon Zosima left a note: “The king’s city stands on three corners, two walls are from the sea, and the third is from the West... In the first corner from the White Sea Studiysky Monastery.” The same text contains clarification about which White Sea we're talking about: “And that, by the way, is the mouth, overlooking the great Poneta (Aegean - I.M.) Sea, which is called the White Sea, there stands the city of Troy at the very mouth. Coming out to the Great Sea, go right to the Holy Mountain (Mount Athos - I.M.) and to Selun (the city of Thessaloniki - I.M.) and to the Amerian land (Peloponnese Peninsula - I.M.) and to Rome, on the left towards Jerusalem.”

Based on this text, we can conclude that the Aegean Sea is called the White Sea, and the Mediterranean Sea is called the Great Sea.

Another medieval source, “Barsanuphius’s Voyage to Egypt, Sinai and Palestine” 1461-1462, no longer calls the White Sea the Aegean Sea, but the entire Mediterranean Sea, which his predecessor Deacon Zosimas called the Great Sea. The Russian pilgrim Barsanuphius writes: “And the great river, the golden-streamed Nile, flows from the midday country at midnight into the White Sea.”
Four years after the “walking” of Barsanuphius, in 1465-1466, a trip to the Middle East was made by the clerk of the embassy order “guest Vasily”, who describes the Syrian city of Houzm (city of Homs - I.M.) “... and a lake near the city and a cave from where the serpent crawls out, and near that lake there is a mountain, and on the side of the country there is a mountain and the White Sea,” i.e. again the Mediterranean Sea is called the White Sea.

Renamed sea

Orthodox Russian monks, who mastered the Chud region of Zavolochye, actively transferred the tracing of Christian southern Mediterranean toponymy to the Russian North. This is evidenced, in particular, by such southern Christian names of the northern mountains as Mount Golgotha on Solovki, Mount Sinai near the Pomeranian village of Letniy Navolok, and Mount Eleon near the village of Lopshengi.

Obviously, the southern name White Sea was also brought to the North by Solovetsky monks, who replaced the incomprehensible pagan names of Pomerania with Orthodox Slavic ones.

When the English cartographer Antony Jenkinson compiled the first map of the Muscovite state in 1562, the name of the White Sea was not yet on it.
The sea was first named White only on the map of Peter Plaitsius in 1592. It is no secret that initially it was not even considered a sea, but a large bay of the Arctic Ocean. This bay, which later became known as the White Sea, was called differently by different historical sources. But names with the toponymic base “Kanda” (in Scandinavian transcription – “Ganda” are of particular interest). Obviously, it is from this base that the ancient Scandinavian name for the Bay of Gandvik comes.

Kanda Bay

It is easy to notice that the well-known hydronyms of Pomorie - Kanda-guba, Kanda-vik (Gand-vik), Kandalaksha - consist of two parts. The sea bay is called “guba” in Pomeranian, “vik” in Scandinavian, and “laksha” in Karelian-Pomeranian dialects.

As you can see, all three of these multilingual names translated mean Kanda Bay. It is obvious that Kanda is an ancient, primary and therefore practically unchanged part in each of the three names mentioned. And the second part changed depending on the linguistic changes that took place over the last millennium among the indigenous White Sea population. I’ll immediately make a reservation that any attempts to provide a translation of the toponymic substrate “Kanda” based on consonance with modern languages, I think are wrong. However, it is possible to mention versions of the origin of the name Kanda-laksha.

The first version claims that the name is borrowed from the ancient Germanic languages, where Cando means “monster” (“wolf”), and the toponym Kanda-vik (Gand-vik), accordingly, supposedly means “Monster Bay”. As you can see, this explanation is absolutely unintelligible and frivolous.
The second version derives the name Kanda-laksha from the Finnish words “kand” and “kantapää”, which means “heel”. The White Sea supposedly vaguely resembles a giant footprint made by a human foot, and Kandalaksha Bay can be imagined as its heel. In this case, the name "Kanda-laksha" means "Heel of the Bay". But this explanation also seems frivolous.

Kandalaksha River?

There is also a third hypothesis that is quite popular among researchers: the name supposedly comes from the name of the Kandalaksha river, which flows into Kandalaksha Bay on the western bank near the village of Fedoseevka on the Karelian coast of the Murmansk region. However, logic suggests that the Kandalaksha River was named after the sea bay, and not vice versa. In general, it is unlikely that a large sea bay could be named after a small river by the standards of the North, especially since it is not the only one in this place. If the river had originally been called Kanda, and not Kandalaksha, then the version would probably not have raised doubts. But on almost all medieval maps and right up to the 20th century, the river was called Kandalaksha!

Isn’t it more logical to assume that the nameless river was named after Kandalaksha Bay, or after the name of the settlement that bore the name of the bay? It is possible that, contrary to the standard ideas of scientists, maritime peoples who came to new lands from the sea could first give names to sea bays, and only then to the rivers that flowed into these bays. It is also worth emphasizing that the local name Kandalaksha Bay is a small sea bay inside the large oceanic bay of Kanda-laksha (Kanda-vika).

Kanda - ancient sea

It is curious that on the map of Willem Barents of 1598, and the map of Theodor de Bry of 1598, and the map of Gerhard Mercator (Gerard Kramer) of 1630, the largest White Sea cape Kanin-nos is called Kande-nos! And this cannot be an accident. The line connecting the extreme point of Kandina Nose and the extreme point of the Holy Nose on the opposite shore of the sea was actually the border and gateway to Kanda Bay (Gand-vik).

We can conclude that Kanda Bay (Kanda-laksha, Kanda-guba, Kanda-vik, Gand-vik) received its ancient name not from the Kandalaksha river, but by the name of Kanina-nos, which was originally called Kanda-nos. Of course, no one will be able to say what this name of the cape meant in ancient times. The peoples who left us his name have long since disappeared, and their languages are lost forever. To the east of Norway, medieval cartographers indicated a large peninsula, whose outlines resembled Kanin, washed on all sides by a sea that resembles the White Sea. In particular, on the Italian map of 1534 by Benedetta Bordone and on the map by Sebastian Munster this sea is called Mare Congelato (Sea of Conge-lato - I.M.), which is very consonant with the local Pomeranian name Candelaksha (Cande-laksha - I.M.) distorted by Europeans. ), i.e. in fact - the name of Kanda Bay.
It is curious that on the 16th century maps of William Borough, Anthony Jenkinson and Sebastian Munster in the area of the Kanin Peninsula the name Condora is indicated. The location of the name in the area of the modern Kaninskaya tundra suggests that Condora is the name Canda tundra distorted by European cartographers (Kaninskaya tundra - I.M.).]

Thus, based on the above facts, we can for the first time confidently say that the Slavic name White Sea is a direct borrowing and toponymic tracing from the South Slavic White Sea (i.e. the modern Mediterranean or Aegean - I.M.). Most likely, this name was brought to the northern land by the Solovetsky monks, who in the 15th - 16th centuries pursued a policy of intensive assimilation of the local population into Orthodox culture.

It is also obvious that previously the White Sea was considered by the local population not a sea, but a large oceanic bay and was designated by the ancient, still undiscovered word Kanda, which was preserved in the form of a toponymic substar in the names Kandalaksha and Gandvik.

We can only hope that in the future, inquisitive researchers of the toponymy of Pomerania will be able to discover new interesting facts that will confirm or refute the arguments presented here about the origin of the names mentioned.

White Sea. Search for Hyperborea

Ivan MOSEEV
Director of the REC “Pomeranian Institute of Indigenous and Minority Peoples of the North”
Northern Arctic Federal University (NAFU) named after M.V. Lomonosov

White Sea

The inland sea of the Arctic Ocean, located off the northern coast of the European part Russian Federation and occupies an area of 90 thousand square meters. km. The White Sea is connected by waterways with several other seas - the Baltic, Azov, Caspian and Black, as well as with the White Sea-Baltic Canal. In the north it connects with the Barents Sea, with the Gorlo and Voronka straits. There are several large ports on its coast. The most famous of them are Arkhangelsk, Onega and Belomorsk.

The White Sea received its name because in winter it is covered with a thick layer of ice and resembles a snow-covered white plain stretching over a vast territory. There is also a legend. At a time when the seas were just seas and no names had yet been assigned to them, our ancestors had small ships and went to sea only in good weather, afraid of getting caught in a storm. The seas and sea routes were not yet well explored, but the first travelers were already appearing who devoted themselves to studying them.

Many geographical objects contain color definitions in their names (Yellow Sea, Black Sea, Red Sea, etc.). In all cases, these names are completely justified. The White Sea got its name in this simple way.

But we can assume that the sea is named for the whitish color of the water, reflecting the northern sky. However, it is possible that the name “White” could mean “northern” in the system of color designations for the countries of the world.

Interestingly, the “White Sea” was first presented on the map of Peter Plancius in 1592. And two years later, the Flemish cartographer Mercator displays on his map not only the Latin name “Album Mare”, but also accompanies it with the Russian “Bella More”.

By the way, according to one version, the Baltic Sea is also “white”, because the name is derived from the Latvian “balts” and the Lithuanian “baltas”, which in both cases means “white”.

The White Sea coast has been inhabited by Russians for a very long time. Basic information about this can be obtained from the Tale of Bygone Years, which states that permanent settlements of Russian Pomor fishermen on the banks of the Northern Dvina and the White Sea appeared no later than the 11th century. For the first half of the 12th century, there is direct documentary evidence of some of these settlements. The ancient Novgorodians were among the first to travel to the “White Lands” (as they called the coasts of the White and Baltic seas, which in those days could be perceived as one sea) and settled there.

Despite the harsh climate, Russian Pomors very quickly developed this territory thanks to the rich forests on the shores and islands, which made it easy to rebuild villages and cities, engage in shipbuilding, but most importantly, the White Sea has always been rich in fish and seafood and remains so to this day .

There are a sufficient number of seas in the world, the names of which coincide with certain colors: Silver, White, Black, Red and so on. Let's find out the reasons why they were named this way and not something else.

Why was the Black Sea called black?

There are several versions of why the Black Sea was called black. According to the Turkish hypothesis The Black Sea received its current name from the Turks, who, trying to conquer the coastal population, constantly met very fierce resistance. Because of this, the sea was nicknamed “Karaden-Giz”, which means inhospitable.
According to the sailors, the sea gets its name from the strong storms that turn the water dark color. However, strong storms in this sea are quite rare, and strong waves (above 6 points) occur no more than 17 days a year. Darkening of the water is characteristic of all seas. There is also a hypothesis that the Black Sea was so named because of the black silt that remains on the shores after storms, but, in truth, it is not that black, rather gray.

According to hydrologists, who proposed their version, the sea was so named due to the fact that any metal object that has been at great depths rises to the surface strongly blackened. The culprit is hydrogen sulfide, which large quantities located at a depth of over 200 meters.

Unfortunately, history does not reveal the secret: who was the first to call the sea black.
Why is the Red Sea called red?

According to scientists, the sea was so named due to the seasonal reddening of the water, which is associated with the proliferation of unicellular algae “Trichodesiumerythraceum”. Some historians believe that the sea got its name from ancient travelers who were amazed by the reflection of the red mountains in the mirror water.
However, the Sea is called “Red” exclusively in European languages. For example, in Hebrew it has the name “Yam Suf” - reed, reed, most likely named because of the reed beds of the Gulf of Suez.

The area of the Red Sea is about 460 thousand square meters. kilometers, and the volume of water is 201 thousand cubic kilometers. The average depth of the Red Sea does not exceed 440 meters, and the maximum is 3039 meters.

Over the entire year, no more than 100 mm falls over the sea territory atmospheric precipitation, and about 2000 mm (20 times more) evaporates during the same period. Thus, more than one and a half centimeters of water evaporates from the surface of the Red Sea every year.

Why was the White Sea called white?

Many title researchers are trying to figure this out. Some believe that this is due to the fact that the sea is covered with ice almost all year round, others express the opinion that the name comes from the whitish color of the water, which reflects the northern sky. But indeed, it remains white at any time of the year: sometimes fog, sometimes rain, sometimes snow.

The name “White Sea” (MareAlbum) appears for the first time on the map of Peter Plaitsius, created in 1592. In 1427, on Ptolemy’s maps, the bay of the Arctic Ocean, which in all coordinates coincides with the White Sea, was called the “Calm” Sea.

The population of Russia began studying the White Sea in the first half of the 17th century. And in 1770, the first map of the White Sea was created, more or less close to reality. It was based on previously made inventories of the area.
Why was the Yellow Sea called yellow?

The Yellow Sea is a semi-enclosed edge of the Pacific Ocean, on the east coast of Asia (west of the Korean Peninsula). It forms the Bohai, Liaodong and West Korean Gulfs. Most of the coastline is calm and paved with alluvial deposits. There are calm harbors on the coasts of the Shandong and Liaodong Peninsulas. The Yellow Sea is not deep, especially its western part, where a river flows into it, which carries out a huge amount of eroded forest and silt, the Yellow River. This is where the name comes from: Yellow River - Yellow River, Huanghai - Yellow Sea.

It’s not for nothing that the Yellow Sea is called yellow outside of Korea. Because the Yellow River, which flows into the sea from the west, carries a lot of silt from the Central Chinese plains. As a result, all this silt ends up in a shallow and closed sea, and the water begins to acquire a characteristic yellow-brownish tint. Let us note that all this muddy ligature, as well as the tides that carry water kilometers away from the coast, are the main reason that not everywhere is safe to swim.

Why is the Dead Sea called dead?

All the white objects that can be seen on the shores of the Dead Sea are salt crystals that cover the entire surface of the earth. This is not table salt, but mineral salts, as in the water of the world's oceans, but in very high concentrations. The waters of the Dead Sea are lethal to most living organisms.

Due to the huge concentration of salt in water, its density is much higher than normal density fresh water. This is why in the Dead Sea the human body will be much more buoyant than in fresh rivers. This way you will feel like a fishing float.

Moreover, as it turned out, water dead sea have a positive effect on human health due to their special climatic characteristics: the oxygen content in the air in this region is 15% higher, as well as absolutely harmless ultraviolet radiation.

Why was the Laptev Sea called that?

The Laptev Sea is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean. The Laptev Sea is located just between the Severnaya Zemlya islands and the Taimyr Peninsula on the western side and the New Siberian Islands on the eastern side. The sea area is about 665 thousand square kilometers, and the average depth is 540 meters. The southern part of the sea is shallow (up to 50 meters), and the northern part is a territory of great depths (up to 3380 meters). Also, the location of the sea is different in that it is located in a seismically active zone, where earthquakes up to magnitude 5-6 are observed.
The original historical name of the sea was “Siberian Sea”. In 1878-79, it was renamed the “Nordenskiöld Sea”, in honor of the Swedish navigator, geographer, geologist, Arctic explorer and historical cartographer Niels Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld. In history he is remembered as the first person who was able to navigate the Northern Sea Route from the Atlantic to Pacific Ocean(in 1877-1878).

It received its final name “Laptev Sea” in honor of the Russian cousins Khariton and Dmitry Laptev, who were polar explorers. It was they who made the first inventory of the sea coastline.

“Sea, sea... Bottomless world!” - these words from a once popular song excite our imagination with romantic pictures of seascapes with blue distances, blue skies and turquoise waves.

Which sea is the bluest?(The answer is at the very end of the post).

Somewhere in our souls our distant warm sea begins to rustle, echoing the rustling waves in summer sea fantasies...

How many oceans and seas are there on our planet?

According to the International Geographical Bureau, there are 4 oceans and 54 seas on Earth, which together form the World Ocean, which makes up two-thirds of the surface of the entire globe.

What color is the ocean?

The color of sea water in the World Ocean is far from uniform, and it is different in different parts of the Earth, that is, each sea has a unique color shade, unique to it.

What determines the color of the sea?

The color of the water changes periodically, and this depends on many factors, primarily on lighting, depth, transparency, color of the seabed, the presence of gases and the quantitative density of microorganisms inhabiting the sea, as well as on phenomena such as glow and sea blooms. In the distance, the color of the sea is close to the color of the sky. In cloudy weather it is gray, in clear weather it is blue. When the Sun sets, the bright blue sea takes on a golden hue. During waves, the sea appears whitish.

Scientists studying depths of the sea, claim that many seas got their name due to the color of the water. They believe that in warm seas tropical zone The color of the water is dark blue, and even blue, in shelf seas, it is greenish, and in muddy coastal seas it has a yellowish tint.

Why is the White Sea called white, the Black Sea black, the Red Sea red, and the Yellow Sea yellow?

The White Sea is the sacred sea of the North; it is fraught with many unsolved secrets.

The White Sea probably got its name from the color of the white snow and ice that covers it in winter time. But there is another assumption, which is that the name “White” Sea received from the religious meaning of the sphere, that is, the heavenly one.

Indeed, in semantics, white is a heavenly, divine color. There is a hypothesis that the White Sea and its coast are located on the territory of a once thriving mystical civilization - Hyperborea.

The Black Sea got its name because in cloudy weather the surface of the sea darkens under black clouds. The Turkic nomads, who noticed this, gave it the name “Kara-Deniz”.

There is another plausible assumption about the origin of the name of the Black Sea. It has been known since ancient times that all objects that have been in its mysterious depths turn black. And this happens because at a depth of more than 200 meters, sea water is saturated with hydrogen sulfide, which easily forms black salts.

The Red Sea is red in color due to brown microscopic algae that periodically develop in it. But there is another version regarding the name of the Red Sea. They say that in ancient times, sailors gave the sea the name “Red” because of the color of the rocks with which it is surrounded.

Exists ancient legend, relating to biblical events, which tells about the difficult journey of the Jews from Egypt to Israel through the Red Sea.

Moses who led Jewish people, ordered in the name of God to part the sea waters. And before their eyes, the deep bottom of the sea opened up with rocks and mountain ranges, with gorges and depressions, during the passage through which a lot of people died, which was the reason for the name of the Red Sea.

The Red Sea is one of the clearest and saltiest seas. Its crystal purity is explained by the fact that not a single river flows into it, which could bring with it silt and sand and, thereby, cloud the sea waters. And although the sea is called Red, its waters have a beautiful azure color.

The Yellow Sea is so named because the clay that is abundant on the coast periodically acquires a yellowish tint.

Is it possible to determine the color of the sea?

For the first time, a device for determining the color of reservoirs was invented back in late XIX century by the Swiss geographer Forel, who studied lakes. The device was somewhat inconvenient for working with sea water.

The famous German oceanographer Ule developed a water color scale, consisting of a set of twenty-two glass sealed test tubes with samples of solutions of different shades, from light aquamarine to brownish green. Ole modified the device, improved it, and in given time Using this device you can determine the color of sea water.

Of course, if you take sea water into your palm, it will turn out to be transparent, having no color at all. And only in the sea or ocean does it acquire its unique shade.

Which seas have the greenest water color?

There are amazingly beautiful seas on Earth with eye-catching fairy-tale shades. These sea beauties include the Sargasso Sea.

The Sargasso Sea has a bright greenish tint due to the accumulation of green algae on its surface, which form entire islands, roads, and even fields. And the sailors who found themselves in this area of the ocean for the first time mistakenly took it for land.

One of the most vibrant tropical seas is the Caribbean Sea. Its water shines from deep turquoise to bright emerald shades.

The Sea of Azov also has a greenish tint, especially during the plankton development season. And during the storm season, the sea takes on a color from yellow-green to yellow-brown due to changes in water transparency. The sea begins to become cloudy because the bottom silt periodically becomes agitated and the river flow of turbid waters increases.

And what color shades are noticed in sea waters people for whom the sea is their place of daily work?

Those who have connected their lives with the sea see and notice the most extraordinary subtle shades in the sea and ocean waters surrounding them. After all, the sea changes with the time of day, its color depends on the seasons and weather factors. When the character of the sea changes, its color also changes. And these changes cannot be ignored.

Some of the most vivid impressions include memories of a holiday at sea. What is it about this beautiful sea element that we remember? The gentle rays of the southern sun? The soft velvet of coastal sand? The rustling whisper of the waves or the warm breath of the salty wind?..

Perhaps, among all these soul-intoxicating memorable moments, the most powerful is the color of the sea. This fantastic blue, delighting our admiring gaze, remains in our memory as an aquamarine delight, a turquoise fairy tale or an azure legend. And all the picturesque shades of the sea merge into one wonderful sea color, with which any memory of the sea is associated.

If you try to answer the question, which sea is the bluest, it is unlikely that you will come to one single true answer. After all, each sea has its own unique color from the blue range with unique shades of turquoise, aquamarine or emerald.

The bluest sea is the sea that lives in our joyful memories or sweet dreams of beauty.
And dreams certainly come true...

Where a lot of interesting, in my opinion, information has been collected regarding the history and culture of this harsh northern region.

Photo from personal archive

I would like to offer to your attention an article on the toponymy of the White Sea:

Director of the REC “Pomeranian Institute of Indigenous and Minority Peoples of the North” Ivan Moseev:

Where does the name White Sea come from?

It is curious that in addition to the North Russian White Sea, there are other “White Seas” in the world. For example, words with the ancient root stem “Balt”: “Baltoji - Baltijas” and “Baltoji - Baltijas” - translated into Lithuanian and Latvian mean “White”. Lithuanians and Latvians translate the name Baltic Sea from their languages as the White Sea. However, the international list of “White Seas” does not end there.

White Sea of Bulgaria

As proof, three Russian chronicles can be cited, which record the fact that the name White Sea was used by the Bulgarians back in the Middle Ages. In the medieval travel diary of 1419-1422, called “Zosima’s Walk to Constantinople, Athos and Palestine,” the Russian pilgrim deacon Zosima left a note: “The king’s city stands on three corners, two walls from the sea, and the third from the West... At the first corner from the White Sea is the Studiisky Monastery.” The same text contains a clarification of which White Sea we are talking about: “And that one, the mouth, overlooking the great Poneta (Aegean - I.M.) Sea, which is called the White Sea, stands the city of Troy at the very mouth. Coming out to the Great Sea, go right to the Holy Mountain (Mount Athos - I.M.) and to Selun (the city of Thessaloniki - I.M.) and to the Amerian land (Peloponnese Peninsula - I.M.) and to Rome, on the left towards Jerusalem.”

Based on this text, we can conclude that the Aegean Sea is called the White Sea, and the Mediterranean Sea is called the Great Sea.

Four years after the “walking” of Barsanuphius, in 1465-1466, a trip to the Middle East was made by the clerk of the embassy order “guest Vasily”, who describes the Syrian city of Houzm (city of Homs - I.M.) “... and a lake near the city and a cave from where the serpent crawls out, and near that lake there is a mountain, and on the side of the country there is a mountain and the White Sea,” i.e. again the Mediterranean Sea is called the White Sea.

Renamed sea

Obviously, the southern name White Sea was also brought to the North by Solovetsky monks, who replaced the incomprehensible pagan names of Pomerania with Orthodox Slavic ones.

When the English cartographer Antony Jenkinson compiled the first map of the Muscovite state in 1562, the name of the White Sea was not yet on it.

The sea was first named White only on the map of Peter Plaitsius in 1592. It is no secret that initially it was not even considered a sea, but a large bay of the Arctic Ocean. This bay, which later became known as the White Sea, was called differently by different historical sources. But names with the toponymic base “Kanda” (in Scandinavian transcription - “Ganda”) are of particular interest. Obviously, it is from this base that the ancient Scandinavian name for the Bay of Gandvik comes.

Kanda Bay

As you can see, all three of these multilingual names translated mean Kanda Bay. It is obvious that Kanda is an ancient, primary and therefore practically unchanged part in each of the three names mentioned. And the second part changed depending on the linguistic changes that took place over the last millennium among the indigenous White Sea population. I’ll immediately make a reservation that I consider any attempts to provide a translation of the toponymic substratum “Kanda” based on consonance with modern languages to be erroneous. However, it is possible to mention versions of the origin of the name Kanda-laksha.

The second version derives the name Kanda-laksha from the Finnish words “kand” and “kantapää”, which means “heel”. The White Sea supposedly vaguely resembles a giant footprint made by a human foot, and Kandalaksha Bay can be imagined as its heel. In this case, the name "Kanda-laksha" means "Heel of the Bay". But this explanation also seems frivolous.

Kandalaksha River?

Kanda - ancient sea

We can conclude that Kanda Bay (Kanda-laksha, Kanda-guba, Kanda-vik, Gand-vik) received its ancient name not from the Kandalaksha river, but from the name of Kanina-nos, which was originally called Kanda-nos. Of course, no one will be able to say what this name of the cape meant in ancient times. The peoples who left us his name have long since disappeared, and their languages are lost forever. To the east of Norway, medieval cartographers indicated a large peninsula, whose outlines resembled Kanin, washed on all sides by a sea that resembles the White Sea. In particular, on the Italian map of 1534 by Benedetta Bordone and on the map by Sebastian Munster this sea is called Mare Congelato (Sea of Conge-lato - I.M.), which is very consonant with the local Pomeranian name Candelaksha (Cande-laksha - I.M.) distorted by Europeans. ), i.e. in fact - the name of Kanda Bay.

It is curious that on the 16th century maps of William Borough, Anthony Jenkinson and Sebastian Munster in the area of the Kanin Peninsula the name Condora is indicated. The location of the name in the area of the modern Kaninskaya tundra suggests that Condora is the name Canda tundra distorted by European cartographers (Kaninskaya tundra - I.M.).

Thus, based on the above facts, we can for the first time confidently say that the Slavic name White Sea is a direct borrowing and toponymic tracing from the South Slavic White Sea (i.e. the modern Mediterranean or Aegean - I.M.). Most likely, this name was brought to the northern land by the Solovetsky monks, who pursued a policy of intensive assimilation of the local population into Orthodox culture in the 15th - 16th centuries.

Notes:

1. Minkin A.A., Toponyms of Murman. Murmansk book publishing house, 1976, chapter “The Cold Okiyan Sea”, P. 22.// A.A. Minkin: “There is an opinion that the sea was named White by the British, who first came to this sea in May 1553. They were struck, as supporters of this etymology claim, by the white color of the shores, still covered with snow.”

2. Lithuanian-Russian dictionary, dictionary entries: Baltoji, Baltijas. Latvian-Russian dictionary, dictionary entries: Baltoji, Baltijas.

4. Prokofiev N.I., Russian circulations of the XII-XV centuries. - Literature Ancient Rus' in the 18th century Scientific notes of the Moscow State Pedagogical Institute named after. IN AND. Lenin, No. 363. M., 1970, pp. 3 -235. // Prokofiev N.I., Walking as a genre in Old Russian literature. - Questions of Russian literature. Scientific notes. Moscow State Pedagogical Institute named after. V.I.Lenin, t. 288. M., 1968. Central State Archive of Ancient Acts, f. 196, SOBR. Mazurina, No. 344.

5. Prokofiev N.I. Zosima's journey to Constantinople, Athos and Palestine. Questions of Russian literature, Scientific notes of the Moscow State Pedagogical Institute named after. IN AND. Lenin, t. 455. M., 1971, pp. 12-42.

6. Prokofiev N.I., Book of Travels, M. “Soviet Russia” 1974, P. 124.

7. Prokofiev N.I., Book of Travels, M. “Soviet Russia” 1974, P. 125.

8. Prokofiev N.I., Book of Travels, M. “Soviet Russia” 1974, P.164.

9. Prokofiev N.I., Book of Travels, M. “Soviet Russia” 1974, P.172.

10. Map of the White Sea, Marine Chart No. 612. 1966. Scale 41.5 m in 1 pixel (original 1:200000 along the 66° parallel // URL: