How Armenian “Pakhlava” Became Turkish “Baklava”

In Eastern Armenian, baklava is called pakhlava while in Western Armenian, it is called bakhlava. The Turkish language doesn’t have the “kh” sound, so “bakhlava” became “baklava”. This name was then adopted by other languages and peoples.

Baklava was patented in the city of Gaziantep, Turkey. Let’s see what the history of the city is.

In February 1921, the Turkish government gave the city the غازى عينتاب, «Ghazi Ayintab» rank to mark its resistance against the French siege during the Franco-Turkish War. In 1928, the city received the name Gaziantep.

The city was previously and is now informally called Antep. The name of the city is theorized to have been derived from the Hittite “khantap”, meaning “king’s land”. The Hittite word was at some point adopted by Persians and received a new meaning – “full of springs”. So, the land of Gaziantep was a part of the Hittite Kingdom. Moreover, the first baklava was made by Hittites.

And who are the direct ancestors of Hittites? The direct ancestors of Hittites are Armenians.

Pakhlava is one of the most famous and exquisite dishes of Armenian and eastern cuisine. In Armenia, there are several widespread variations of pakhlava, including Yerevan and Gavar. The main secret of Armenian pakhlava is the right number of layers of dough – for example, Gavar pakhlava has 48 layers while Yerevan pakhlava features 28. Source: narinnamkn