View source for Pylos

==Name==
[[File:Griffin,_Golden_Seal_from_Pylos.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Griffin serving as Seal for the modern city of Pylos, which was found in a tomb near Pylos by Carl Blegen in 1963 (National Archaeological Museum of Athens)|alt=]]
Pylos retained its ancient name into Byzantine times, but after the [[Frankokratia|Frankish conquest]] in the early 13th century, two new names appear:<ref name="Bon"/>
* a French one, {{lang|fro|Port-de-Jonc}} ("[[Juncaceae|Rush]] Harbour") or {{lang|fro|Port-de-Junch}}, with some variants and derivatives: in Italian {{lang|it|Porto-Junco}}, {{lang|it|Zunchio}} or {{lang|it|Zonchio}}, in medieval Catalan {{lang|ca|Port Jonc}}, in Latin {{lang|la-x-medieval|Iuncum}}, {{Transliteration|grc|Zonglon/Zonglos}} ({{lang|grc-x-byzant|Ζόγγλον/ς}} or {{lang|grc-x-byzant|Ζόγκλον/ς}}) in Greek, etc. It takes that name from the marshes surrounding the place.<ref name="Bon">{{La Morée franque|pages=415–416}}</ref><ref name="Savvides1">{{cite journal |last=Savvides |first=Alexis G. K. |title=On Pylos-Navarino-Zonklon in the Byzantine period, late 6th-early 13th centuries |pages=335–338 |journal=Vyzantina |location=Thessaloniki |year=1991 |volume=16}}</ref>
* a Greek one, {{Transliteration|el|Avarinos}} ({{lang|grc-x-byzant|Ἀβαρῖνος}}), later shortened to {{Transliteration|el|Varinos}} ({{lang|el|Βαρῖνος}}) or lengthened to {{Transliteration|el|Anavarinos}} ({{lang|el|Ἀναβαρῖνος}}) by [[epenthesis]], which became {{lang|it|Navarino}} in Italian (probably by [[Rebracketing#In Greek|rebracketing]]) and {{lang|frm|Navarin}} in French.<ref name="Bon"/> Its etymology is not certain. A traditional etymology, proposed by the early 15th-century traveller [[Nompar of Caumont (1391-1446)|Nompar de Caumont]] and repeated as late as the works of [[Karl Hopf (historian)|Karl Hopf]] in the 19th century, ascribed the name to the [[Navarrese Company]], but that is clearly an error since the name was in use long before the Navarrese presence in Greece. In 1830, [[Jakob Philipp Fallmerayer|Fallmereyer]] proposed that it could originate from a body of [[Pannonian Avars|Avars]] who settled there, a view adopted by a few later scholars like [[William Miller (historian)|William Miller]].<ref>''Geschichte der Halbinsel Morea'', Vol. I, p.&nbsp;188.</ref> Modern scholarship, on the other hand, considers it more likely that it originates from a [[Slavic languages|Slavic]] name meaning "place of [[maple]]s".<ref>Max Vasmer, ''Die Slaven in Griechenland'', 1941.</ref><ref name="Bon"/><ref name="Savvides1"/> The name of {{lang|grc|Avarinos}}/{{lang|it|Navarino}}, although in use before the Frankish period, came into widespread use and eclipsed the French name of {{lang|fro|Port-de-Jonc}} and its derivations only in the 15th century, after the collapse of the Frankish [[Principality of Achaea]].<ref name="Bon"/>

In the late 14th or early 15th century, when it was held by the [[Navarrese Company]], it was also known as {{lang|frm|Château Navarres}}, and called {{Transliteration|el|Spanochori}} ({{lang|el|Σπανοχώρι}}, "village of the Spaniards") by the local Greeks.<ref name="Savvides2">{{cite journal |last=Savvides |first=Alexis G. K. |title=Notes on Navarino in the Frankish, Venetian and early Ottoman periods |pages=68–72 |journal=Ekklisiastikos Faros |location=Alexandria and Johannesburg |year=1992 |volume=74}}</ref>

Under [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] rule (1498–1685, 1715–1821), the Turkish name was {{Transliteration|ota|Anavarin[o]}} ({{lang|ota|rtl=yes|آناوارين}}). After the construction of the new Ottoman fortress ({{Transliteration|otm|Anavarin kalesi}}) in 1571/2, it became known as {{Transliteration|el|Neokastro}} ({{lang|el|Νεόκαστρο}} or {{lang|el|Νιόκαστρο}}, "new castle") among the local Greeks, while the old Frankish castle became known as {{Transliteration|el|Palaiokastro}} ({{lang|el|Παλαιόκαστρο}} or {{lang|el|Παλιόκαστρο}}, "old castle").<ref name="Savvides2"/>