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Sham Asbi (Persian: شام اسبي)[a] is a village in, and the capital of, Balghelu Rural District of the Central District of Ardabil County, Ardabil province, Iran.[4]
The locals of Sham Asbi identify the first part of the village's name with Sham, i.e. "Syria", interpreting it as "a place with Syrian horses".[5] According to Alice Assadoorian in Iran and the Caucasus, the toponym appears to be an old compound, and thus the folk etymology "can hardly be satisfying".[5] Assadoorian notes that the final –ī in the place name alludes to a patronymic formation, which allows for the resconstruction of the Middle Iranian form of the toponym as *Šāmaspīk or *Šāmāspīk, which translates as "a village belonging to (or founded by) *Šāmāsp".[5] The name *Šāmāsp is a familiar personal name, and derives from Old Iranian *S(i)yāmāspa-, i.e. "(a man) having black or dark studs" (compare Avestan Syāvaspi- and Armenian Šawasp).[5] Assadoorian argues that there was "secondary dissimilation of the initial s- to š-".[5]
Population
At the time of the 2006 National Census, the village's population was 2,148 in 511 households.[6] The following census in 2011 counted 2,609 people in 734 households.[7] The 2016 census measured the population of the village as 2,817 people in 820 households. It was the most populous village in its rural district.[2]
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