The Hrazdan is a major river of Armenia

Armenia

Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...

. It starts at the northwest extremity of Lake Sevan

Lake Sevan

Lake Sevan is the largest lake in Armenia and the Caucasus region. It is one of the largest high-altitude lakes in the world.Lake Sevan is situated in the central part of the Republic of Armenia, inside the Gegharkunik Province, at the altitude of 1,900m above sea level...

 and flows south through the Kotayk marz and Armenia's capital, Yerevan

Yerevan

Yerevan is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's oldest continuously-inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural, and industrial center of the country...

. It then joins the Aras River along the border with Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

. A Hydro-electric plant is located on the Hrazdan river. Hrazdan river is one of Armenia's most important rivers because fishing

Fishing

Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....

 operations and hydro-electric plants are located along the banks of the river. Moreover, the river's waters are in demand for the irrigation

Irrigation

Irrigation may be defined as the science of artificial application of water to the land or soil. It is used to assist in the growing of agricultural crops, maintenance of landscapes, and revegetation of disturbed soils in dry areas and during periods of inadequate rainfall...

 of crops.

Name

In 7th century BC

7th century BC

The 7th century BC started the first day of 700 BC and ended the last day of 601 BC.The Assyrian Empire continued to dominate the Near East during this century, exercising formidable power over neighbors like Babylon and Egypt. In the last two decades of the century, however, the empire began to...

, king of Urartu

Urartu

Urartu , corresponding to Ararat or Kingdom of Van was an Iron Age kingdom centered around Lake Van in the Armenian Highland....

 Rusa II

Rusa II

Rusa II was king of Urartu between around 680 BC and 639 BC. It was during his reign that the massive fortress complex, Karmir-Blur, was constructed....

 order to grub a channel from Aza country (in Ararat plain

Ararat plain

The Ararat plain is one of the largest of the Armenian Plateau, stretches west of the Sevan basin, at the foothills of the Gegham mountains. In the north the plain borders on Mount Aragats, and in the south, on Mount Ararat...

) to Kuera (Valley of Kuarlini, now Ejmiatsin). That river was called Ildarunia in Rusa II’s inscription. Ildarunia was a local ancient name of Hrazdan River.
First time the name Hrazdan was mentioned by Movses Khorenatsi

Movses Khorenatsi

Moses of Chorene, also Moses of Khoren, Moses Chorenensis, or Movses Khorenatsi , or a 7th to 9th century date) was an Armenian historian, and author of the History of Armenia....

 as "House of Varuzhanyants in he bank of Hrazdan River" .
Hrazdan River like Kasagh River, Metsamor River, Urtsadzor River, Arpa River

Arpa River

The Arpa is a river that flows through Armenia and Azerbaijan's Nakhichevan exclave. It originates in the Vayots Dzor province of Armenia and serves as a left tributary of the Aras River...

, flows to Araks River

Araks River

The Aras , is a river located in and along the countries of Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Iran. Its total length is...

. Anania Shirakatsi

Anania Shirakatsi

Anania Shirakatsi was an Armenian mathematician, astronomer and geographer. He is commonly attributed to having written the Geography .-Life:Scholars are split on where exactly Anania was born...

 mentioned the same location of Hrazdan River with the name Aspahen in his inscription as "Aspahen River that is Khozmor" . Aspahen had two names Metsamor and Khozmor. The suffix –mor means water. Khoz is an ancient name of planet Mars

Mars

Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...

 in Armenian.
During the era of Persian influence on Armenian the name of the river changed. The new name was Phrazdana. The first two letters "Phr" changed to "Hr", so the name changed to Hrazdan.
During new Persian language era Hrazdan receive a new name Mangu (stony river). In Yerevan’s dialect Mangu changed to Zangu (Zengi in Turkish and Persian, means "black man").
Thus the names Ildarunia, Metsamor and Khozmor are local Armenian words, but Aspahen, Hrazdan and Zangu were foreign words with Armenian influence.

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