Modern names of the Sea are universally translations of Μαύρη Θάλασσα "Black Sea", Turkish Kara Deniz, Russian Чёрное море, Bulgarian Черно море, Cherno more, Georgian შავი ზღვა, shavi zghva, Ukrainian Chorne More, Romanian Marea Neagră, Laz Ucha Zuğa (or simple Zuğa "Sea"), Ubykh . This type cannot be traced to an earlier date than the 13th century, but there are indications that it may be considerably older, cf. below.

Strabo (1.2.10) reports that in antiquity, the Black Sea was often just called "the Sea" (pontos), just like Homer was often simply called "the Poet". For the most part, Graeco-Roman tradition refers to the Black Sea as (Euxeinos Pontos) "Hospitable sea". This is a euphemism replacing an earlier Pontos Axeinos "Inhospitable Sea", first attested in Pindar (early 5th century BC). Strabo (7.3.6) thinks that the Black Sea was called "inhospitable" before Greek colonization because it was difficult to navigate, and because its shores were inhabited by savage tribes, and that the name was changed to "hospitable" after the Milesians had colonized, as it were making it part of the Greek civilization. It is, however, likely that the name Axeinos arose by popular etymology from an Iranian axšaina- meaning "dark"; the designation "Black Sea" would, after all, go back to Antiquity. The motive for the name may be an ancient assignment of colours to the direction of the compass, "black" referring to the north, and "red" referring to the south. Herodotus on one occasion uses Red Sea and "Southern Sea" interchangeably. Cf. Schmitt 1996.

 

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