Sea of Marmara
1
5.4
- proper noun
- The Bosporus connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara, making it a crucial waterway for maritime trade.
Examples
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Many fishing boats can be seen early in the morning on the Sea of Marmara, catching fresh fish for the local markets.
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The dolphins in the Bosphorus, following ferries and sometimes, I’ve been told, submerged submarines from the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara.
Blog text (12) -
To pass from the Black Sea into the Aegean Sea and the Mediterranean beyond, ships must pass through two narrow straits, the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles, as well as the small Sea of Marmara.
Academic text (2000) -
The city of Istanbul is located on the shores of the Sea of Marmara, making it a popular destination for tourists.
Synonyms
2
8.0
An inland sea in northwest Turkey that connects the Black Sea and the Aegean Sea
1
5.5
An inland sea in northwestern Turkey that connects the Black Sea and the Aegean Sea
1
7.7
A sea in northwest Turkey between the Black Sea and the Aegean Sea
A sea in the northwest of Turkey that connects the Black Sea to the Aegean Sea
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase 'Sea of Marmara' is a straightforward compositional place-name combining 'sea' (a large body of saltwater) with the proper noun 'Marmara'; a learner who knows these constituents will readily infer it denotes the sea associated with Marmara. The 'X of Y' naming pattern is cross-linguistically common and follows regular compositional semantics, so the meaning is transparent to B1 learners who know the parts.
Etymology
Sea of Marmara gets its name from Marmara, a word meaning 'marble', because the islands in the sea had white marble that people took long ago. Ships carried this stone and people began to call the area the 'sea of marble', so the name stuck and explains the sea's modern name.