Changes
The name Urmia derives from the Kingdom of [[Urartu]]. This is due to Urartian accredited fortresses and countless artifacts found spanning across Azerbaijan and into of what is today the Azerbaijan province of Iran denoting a Urartian etymology.<ref>{{cite web|title=AZERBAIJAN xii. MONUMENTS|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/azerbaijan-monuments|website=ENCYCLOPÆDIA IRANICA|publisher=AMI N.F.|accessdate=22 September 2014|archivedate=1972}}</ref> The city's Armenian population also complements the idea of a Urartian origin. According to [[Vladimir Minorsky]], there have been villages in the [[Urmia plain]] some 2000 years B.C., with their civilization under the influence of the Kingdom of Van. The excavations of the ancient ruins near Urmia led to the discovery of utensils that date back to [[20th century BC|2000 years B.C.]]. In the ancient times, the west bank of Urmia lake was called ''Gilzan'', and in the ninth century B.C. an independent government ruled there which later joined the Urartu or Mana empire; in the eighth century B.C., the area was a vassal of the [[Asuzh government]] until it joined the [[Median Empire]] after its formation. Richard Nelson Frye also suggested a Urartian origin for the name.<ref>Richard Nelson Frye, The history of ancient Iran, München (1984), 48-49</ref>
T. Burrow connected the origin of the name Urmia to [[Indo-Iranian]] urmi- "wave" and urmya- "undulating, wavy",<ref>The Proto-Indoaryans, by T. Burrow, The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, No. 2 (1973), pp. 123-140, Published by: Cambridge University Press, see 139</ref> which is due to the local Chaldean folk etymology for the name which related "Mia" to [[Syriac language|Syriac]] meaning "water." Hence ''Urmia'' simply means 'Watertown" — a befitting name for a city situated by a lake and surrounded by rivers, would be the cradle of water.<ref>{{cite journal | title=History of Assyrins in Urmia | author=Ishaya, Arianne | journal=JAAS | year=2002 | volume=XVI | issue=1}}</ref> This also suggests, that the Chaldeans referred to the Urartian influence in Urmia as ancestors of the inhabitants of the Chaldean city state [[Ur]], referenced Biblically as "Ur of the Chaldees". Further association of the Urmia/Urartian/Ur etymology from the Chaldean folk legend is the fact that the [[Urartian language]] is also referenced as the Chaldean language, a standardized simplification of Neo-Chaldean cuneiform, which originated from the accreditation to Urartian chief god [[Ḫaldi]] or Khaldi. Thus the root of Urmia is a Chaldean reference to the etymology of the Urartu/Ur Kingdoms and the Aramaic word "Mia" meaning water, which as T. Burrow noted, referenced the city that is situated by a lake and surrounded by rivers.
As of 1921, Urmia was also called, ''Urumia'' and ''Urmi''.<ref name=Sykes>{{cite book|last=Sykes|first=Percy|title=A History of Persia|year=1921|publisher=Macmillan and Company|location=London|page=67|url=http://www.wdl.org/en/item/7307/view/1/67/}}</ref> During the [[Pahlavi Dynasty]] (1925–1979), the city was called ''Rezaiyeh''<ref group=nb>Also ''Rezaeyeh'', ''Rezā’īyeh'', ''Rezâiyye''</ref> ({{lang-fa|رضائیه}}) after [[Rezā Shāh]], the dynasty's founder, whose name ultimately derives from the Islamic concept of ''[[rida]]'' via the [[The Twelve Imams|Eighth Imam]] in [[Twelver]] [[Shia Islam]], [[Ali al-Ridha]].
