The name of the Russian capital is obvious and familiar, so only a few people with a non-historical education think about the origin of this word. Especially often this question can be heard from young children during the period of the onset of the eternal "why?" or from guests of the capital.
The most popular versions of the origin of the word "Moscow"
Among the most popular are two options, which are supported by historians who study the city itself, the question of its origin and the place of Moscow in Russian history.
The first version comes from the two roots "mosk" (stone) and "kov" (to hide). It is believed that initially the words “stone shelter” or “stone fortification” were used to refer to a small fortress and a nearby river.
This hypothesis has its own variation, defending the original name of the Moscow River. According to historians, this word has a Finnish origin, according to which the name is traced to two roots - "mosk" (cow or bear) and "va" (water).
That is, the name of the river and the Russian capital means "cow" or "bear water".
The second version goes back to the Finno-Ugric tribes who called Moscow a swampy area or territory. But here, too, there are discrepancies, since historians believe that this meaning came from the lexicon of the Slavs. But both groups of scientists agree on one thing - the capital is indeed located in a rather swampy area, which is an indirect confirmation of the hypothesis.
Other versions
Orthodoxy theologians also put forward their own version. So, the biblical character Mosoch (the grandson of Noah, who built the ark) settled in the area coinciding with the location of the current capital, with his wife named Kva. Thus, the name of Moscow was allegedly formed.
Their children were a boy I and a girl Vuza, whose names owe its name to the Yauza River, which flows through the capital and the Moscow region.
There is also a known version of the word "moskov", which refers to a flowing river through which people have stretched many small and large bridges or bridges. After that the name was passed on to the neighboring settlement. This version is supported by the well-known authoritative source Ivan Zabelin.
There is also a hypothesis that Moscow would call a “beautiful place” by representatives of the Erzya tribes, for whom “mazy” meant “beautiful”, and “kuva” meant some place, region or region. The combination of “masses of kuva” was later transformed into “maskwa”, and the last into Moscow.
Another, perhaps the most unlikely version of the fact that the name of Moscow was given by the tribes of the Kama region - the Komi and others. In their lexicon, the word "va" always meant "water", so often all such words refer to the hydronyms of the people of the Kama region. Nevertheless, this hypothesis has the least number of admirers, due to the objective distance of the Komi from the Russian capital.
