The First Mentions of the Area and the Minaret of Buran
Legends about the "Burana Tower" The term minaret, widely used in European contexts, originates from the Arabic word minar (a place where something is lit — a lantern, lighthouse) or miiara (a watchtower, pillar, minaret of a mosque). In the latter sense, in local pronunciation among Tajiks and Uzbeks, it is meiaré, and among some Turkic ethnic groups in Central Asia, it is men ar. Among the local population living in the former northern Kyrgyz region of Jeni-Su (Semirechye), and in