Bu makale esas itibariyle onomastik bir çalışmadır. Pontos teriminin antikçağdaki anlamını ve bu anlamın Karadeniz’e gelinceye değin zaman içinde geçirdiği evreleri inceler. Bunu yaparken de en eski devirlerden itibaren bu terim üzerine yapılan önyargıları, varsayımları ve gerçekleri içerir

The most common name in Byzantine sources was simply Pontos (the sea). That usage made its way also into Arabic texts as Bahri Bundus, which amounts to the intriguingly redundant “Sea Sea”. But many other names were in use in the Middle Ages, especially in Arabic and Ottoman writings, and were often associated with particularly prominent cities, whence Sea of Trabzon and Sea of Constantinopolis, etc. The destination “Great Sea” also appears in the Middle Ages in various forms, including the Italian Mare Maius or Mare Maggiore. Still other names were derived from whichever group happened to dominate around the coasts in a particular time, such as Scythian Sea, Sarmatian Sea, and Sea of the Khazars, of the Bulgars, of the Georgians, etc. Compared to all these versions, the term “Black Sea” is rather young. It appears already in early Ottoman sources in various forms. Its first appearance in western European language comes at the end of the fourteenth century, although it did not receive broad currency at that time. However, three centuries later it started to be used widely throughout the entire word. Since then in any language the name of the sea has same meaning as “Black Sea