It is believed the name was brought to the region in the 7th century by Bulgars who applied it to the area, as a part of the First Bulgarian Empire. In Bulgarian, the archaic word "balkan" (балкан) was borrowed from Turkish and means "mountain". It may have ultimately derived from the Persian "bālkāneh" or "bālākhāna", meaning "high, above, or proud house." The name is still preserved in Central Asia with the Balkan Daglary (Balkan Mountains) and the Balkan Province of Turkmenistan. In Turkish "" means "a chain of wooded mountains"