Tüfekçi () is a neighbourhood of the municipality and district of

Dernekpazarı Dernekpazarı (formerly: ''Kondu'', ''Kondualtı'') is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district of Trabzon Province, Turkey. Its area is 89 km2, and its population is 3,761 (2022). The current mayor of the town is Mehmet Aşık (Justic ...

Trabzon Province Trabzon Province () is a Provinces of Turkey, province and Metropolitan municipalities in Turkey, metropolitan municipality of Turkey on the Black Sea coast. Its area is 4,628 km2, and its population is 818,023 (2022). Located in a strategic ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. Its population is 156 (2022). "Tüfekçi" literally means "

riflemen A rifleman is an infantry soldier armed with a rifled long gun. Although the rifleman role had its origin with 16th century hand cannoneers and 17th century musketeers, the term originated in the 18th century with the introduction of the r ...

" or "

gunsmith A gunsmith is a person who repairs, modifies, designs, or builds guns. The occupation differs from an armorer, who usually replaces only worn parts in standard firearms. Gunsmiths do modifications and changes to a firearm that may require a very ...

" in Turkish, evidently referring to the profession of at least some early inhabitants of the village. Tüfekçi's older name was Arsela. Perhaps coincidentally, a village named Arşela existed on the west coast of the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

. Arsela is a place that was mentioned in a panegyric text written for the Thracian god Sabazius. It takes the form of Arselenos on another epitaph, which was found in

Nova Zagora Nova Zagora ( ) is a town located in the southeastern plains of Bulgaria, in Sliven Province. It is the administrative centre of Nova Zagora Municipality. As of December 2009, the town had a population of 19,562 inhabitants, while the entire mun ...

. Ivan Duridanov has claimed that the river names Arsio, Arse in Old Prussia, Arsen and Arsia in

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

and Arsina in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

are derivation of the root ors-, ers “(for water) flow, damp” in the

Indo-European The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the northern Indian subcontinent, most of Europe, and the Iranian plateau with additional native branches found in regions such as Sri Lanka, the Maldives, parts of Central Asia (e. ...

language family A language family is a group of languages related through descent from a common ancestor, called the proto-language of that family. The term ''family'' is a metaphor borrowed from biology, with the tree model used in historical linguistics ...

(

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

arşati) and ars- in the Thracian language. He connected these words to place names such as Arsa, Arsaza, Arsena, Arsila in Dacia (an ancient region in

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

covering territories north and west of Arsela) (Duridanov, 1976). A more recent use of the name is Arsela Peak in

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

, named after the named after the

Thracian The Thracians (; ; ) were an Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Southeast Europe in ancient history.. "The Thracians were an Indo-European people who occupied the area that today is shared between north-eastern Greece, ...

settlement of Arsela in Southern Bulgaria.

References

Özhan Öztürk Özhan Öztürk (born 1968, Istanbul) is a Turkish writer and researcher. He is known for his work on the culture and folklore of Turkey’s Black Sea region. Born in Istanbul to a family with roots in the Black Sea region, Özhan Öztürk g ...

"Karadeniz: Ansiklopedik Sözlük". 2 Vol. Heyamola Publishing. Istanbul. 2005. . Neighbourhoods in Dernekpazarı District {{Trabzon-geo-stub