Talk:Al-Mazraa, Syria

A fact from Al-Mazraa, Syria appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 17 September 2012 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that Sultan al-Atrash's decisive victory near the town of al-Mazraa in 1925, inspired Syrian nationalists in Damascus and the countryside to join the rebellion against the French occupation?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2012/September. The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Battle of al-Mazraa.

Wikipedia

Is this Es Sijine?

It look as if it was marked as Es Sijine on this map? And that was a 1596 village (p219) Huldra (talk) 22:05, 18 April 2016 (UTC)[reply]

User:Al Ameer son and User:Zero0000: care to take a look? Is this mz15 Sijni on p. 219? Huldra (talk) 22:48, 18 April 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I see "Mazraâ" on the map about 1km SE of Es Sijine. It would be good to have a source explaining the relationship. Zero^talk 23:06, 18 April 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, but "Mazraâ" was just a small structure, while Es Sijine was a (rather large) village. Nothing like Es Sijine appear on present google-maps. I suspect it changed name, Huldra (talk) 23:13, 18 April 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I'll try to look into it. So far, the only source I've found on "Sijne" of Hauran is this pp. 310–311 and 322–323. It's in French though :( This source places "Es Sijine" in the same spot as al-Mazra'a, don't know if that means anything considering that the source is not the best [1]. --Al Ameer (talk) 23:43, 18 April 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I think "Mazraa" just means "farm", or some type of farm, so perhaps what is written on the map is not a place name. Zero^talk 23:58, 18 April 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I think you are right about "Mazraa", see Palmer in Mazra'a. I also think that "Sijin" means something like "prison"....which makes it understandable that they would prefer the name Al-Mazraa. I will add the 1596 data later, Huldra (talk) 01:17, 19 April 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I see that the Arabic article says the original name was Sijine. I asked Makeandtoss to help. Zero^talk 12:40, 19 April 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Arabic article says that this place was previously called Es Sijne, aka prison, and was only recently named Mazra'a. The article mentions two possible reasons why it was called prison, either because there was a prison or because there was a spring that one day suddenly dried. And that its called Mazra'a due to its proximity to Battle of al-Mazra'a. Makeandtoss (talk) 13:05, 19 April 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks Makeandtoss. Now I remember that in the 2004 census, the village's name was listed as Al-Mazraa and its official alternative name is Sijn. The CBS source is a dead link but I'll find an archive.

Also, I found some sources about "Sijn" including that it was "completely destroyed" by the Ottomans in the 1910 Druze revolt, but by 1919 it had been restored and had a pop of 300 Druze and 100 Christians. Wish I could find a source that mentions the transition from Sijn to Mazraa though. --Al Ameer (talk) 13:16, 19 April 2016 (UTC) Al Ameer (talk) 13:16, 19 April 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I found an Arabic source mentioning the transition [2]. Makeandtoss (talk) 13:30, 19 April 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Nice find, Makeandtoss ;) I'll add it to the article. Well this has been a fruitful discussion @Huldra and Zero0000:. I'll begin expanding with the new info. --Al Ameer (talk) 15:17, 19 April 2016 (UTC)[reply]