The Old East Slavic toponym Kyjevъ in the Arab-Muslim geographical literature

Abstract

The article deals with the transcriptions of the Old East Slavic toponym Kyjevъ as found in the Arabic classical geographical literature. The author critically assesses the latest contributions to the study of this toponym and the respective readings offered by the orientalists since the times of Christian Martin Frähn. Based on the well-known readings and paleographic reconstructions, the author elaborates on several formative models (stemmata) of the Arabic transcriptions of the toponym Kyjevъ which are all interrelated and chronologically attuned to the prehistorical change kū> kī in Common Slavic.