Editing Urfa (section)

==Name==
[[File:Urfa Castle 02.jpg|thumb|The heritage of Roman Edessa survives today in these columns at the site of Urfa Castle, dominating the skyline of the modern city of Urfa.]]
The earliest name of the city was ''Admaʾ'' (also written ''Adme'', ''Admi'', ''Admum''; {{langx|arc|אדמא}}), recorded in [[cuneiform script#Assyrian cuneiform|Assyrian cuneiform]] in the [[Old Assyrian period]].{{sfn|Harrak|1992|p=212-214}} It is recorded in Syriac as ܐܕܡܐ ''Adme.''{{Citation needed|date=January 2025}}

Modern names of the city are likely derived from '''Urhay''' or '''Orhay''' ({{langx|syc|ܐܘܪܗܝ|ʾŪrhāy / ʾŌrhāy}}), the site's [[Syriac language|Syriac]] name before the re-foundation of the settlement by [[Seleucus I Nicator]]. After the defeat of the Seleucids in the [[Seleucid–Parthian Wars]], Edessa became capital of the Kingdom of Osroene, with a mixed Syriac and Hellenistic culture. The origin of the name of [[Osroene]] itself is probably related to Orhay.{{sfn|Harrak|1992|p=209-214}}{{sfn|Keser-Kayaalp|Drijvers|2018|p=516–518}} This originally Aramaic and Syriac name for the city may have been derived from the Persian name [[Khosrow (name)|Khosrow]].{{sfn|Gray|Kuhrt|2012}}

The ancient town was refounded as a [[Hellenistic period|Hellenistic]] military settlement by [[Seleucus I Nicator]] in {{circa|303}} BC, and named ''Edessa'' after the [[Edessa, Greece|ancient capital]] of [[Macedonia (ancient kingdom)|Macedonia]], perhaps due to its abundant water, just like its [[Edessa, Greece|Macedonian namesake]].{{sfn|Harrak|1992|p=209}}{{sfn|Lieu|1997|pages=174-175}}{{sfn|Gray|Kuhrt|2012}}{{sfn|Everett-Heath |2018}} It was later renamed ''Callirrhoe'' or ''Antiochia on the Callirhoe'' ({{langx|grc|Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Καλλιρρόης}}; {{langx|la|Antiochia ad Callirhoem}}) in the 2nd century BC (found on Edessan coins struck by [[Antiochus IV Epiphanes]], r. 175–164 BC).{{sfn|Harrak|1992|p=211}}{{sfn|Lieu|1997|pages=174-175}}

After Antiochus IV's reign, the name of the city reverted to Edessa, in Greek,{{sfn|Lieu|1997|pages=174-175}} and appears in [[Armenian language|Armenian]] as ''Urha'' or ''Ourha'' ({{lang|hy|Ուռհա}}),<ref>{{cite book |author1=Roderick Beaton |title=Digenes Akrites: new approaches to Byzantine heroic poetry |author2=David Ricks |date=1993 |publisher=Variorum |isbn=0-86078-395-2 |location=Brookfield, Vt. |page=87}}</ref> in Aramaic ([[Syriac language|Syriac]]) as ''Urhay'' or ''Orhay'' ({{langx|syc|ܐܘܪܗܝ|ʾŪrhāy / ʾŌrhāy}}), in local [[Neo-Aramaic languages|Neo-Aramaic]] ([[Turoyo language|Turoyo]]) as ''Urhoy'', in [[Arabic]] as ''ar-Ruhā'' ({{lang|ar|الرُّهَا}}), in the [[Kurdish language]] as {{lang|ku|Riha}},<ref>{{cite book |author1=Avcıkıran |first=Adem |url= |title=Kürtçe Anamnez Anamneza bi Kurmancî |date=2009 |page=57 |language=tr, ku |accessdate=}}</ref> [[Latinisation of names|Latinized]] as ''Rohais'', and finally adopted into [[Turkish language|Turkish]] as ''Urfa'' or ''Şanlıurfa'' ("Glorious Urfa"), its present name.{{sfn|Harrak|1992|p=209–214}} 

[[James Silk Buckingham]] claimed that in earlier times, the city was known as ''Ruha'', and with the Arabic article, it became ''Ar-Ruha'', evolving into ''Urha'', and eventually ''Urfa''. [[Carsten Niebuhr]] observed that Turks called the city ''El-Rohha'' in the 18th century, although Buckingham who later visited Urfa, disagreed and noted that all Turks, and most Arabs and Kurds in the surrounding countryside called it Urfa, while a small portion of the Christians called it as the former.<ref name = "Buckingham"/>

In 1984, the Turkish National Assembly granted Urfa the title "Şanlı", meaning "glorious", in honor of its citizens' resistance against British and French troops at the end of the [[First World War]], hence the present name "Şanlıurfa".<ref name="Saraç 2018">{{cite book |last1=Saraç |first1=Mehmet Adil |title=Tanıklarıyla Urfalı Urfalıca |date=2018 |publisher=Şanlıurfa Metropolitan Municipality |location=Istanbul |isbn=978-975-8165-40-7 |url=https://www.sanliurfa.bel.tr/files/1/bsb_sonra/urfaca_urfalica.pdf |access-date=28 December 2022}}</ref>{{rp|17}}