Qalat (fortress)
Qalat or kalata () in Persian, and qal'a(-t) or qil'a(-t) () in Arabic, means 'fortress', 'fortification', 'castle', or simply 'fortified place'. The common English plural is "qalats". Qalats can range from forts like Rumkale to the mud-brick compound common throughout southwest Asia. The term is used in the entire Muslim world to indicate a defensive fortress. The term took various forms in different languages, such as "qala"/"qal'a" and "qalat"/"qal'at" (Persian and Arabic), "kale" (Turkish), "kaleh" and "kalleh" (Persian), "qila" (Urdu and Hindi), and often became part of place-names. It is even preserved in toponyms in places such as  Sicily, which was occupied by the Aghlabid dynasty and then the Fatimids from the ninth to the twelfth centuries. Etymology. Wolf Leslau (1987), citing (1886) and Walter Belardi (1959), offers that the Arabic word has been adopted from the Iranian (Persian) "kalata". "The Etymological Dictionary of Contemporary Turkish" written by Armenian-Turkish author Sevan Nişanyan states that the Turkish word "kale" is adapted from ḳalˁa(t), which originates from the Arabic root ḳlˁ. Nişanyan goes on to note that the Arabic word shares its origin with the Middle Persian variant "kalak", which has no written record and originates in the Akkadian  word of the same meaning "kalakku". Persian. The Persian word is "kalata". Arabic. The Arabic word takes the forms "qal'a(-t)" and "qil'a(-t)", plural "qilâ' " and "qulû' ", meaning fortress, fortification, or castle. Middle East. See the lists of castles from Saudi Arabia, Jordan (Qalʻat ar-Rabad, Qal'at al-Karak and Qal'at ash-Shawbak), Tal Afar in Iraq, the castles of Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, etc. Central Asian fortified city. A typical qala in Central Asia consisted of a tripartite city model: "kuhandiz" (citadel), "shahristan" (residential area), and "rabad" (faubourg, suburb; the regional variant for "rabat"). This city model is valid not only  for Central Asian city typology and is also used to describe similar city types elsewhere in Islamic geography. Kuhandiz (citadel). In the pre-Islamic Iran and Turkestan towns consisted of a fortress called "diz" (also means "fortress" in Persian), and the actual town which was called "shahristan". Middle Eastern Islamic geographers use the word "kuhandiz" for the oldest part of the settlements in the town centers. It later started to be used in with the meaning of citadel. The word "kuhandiz "originates from Persian () and means literally "old fortress". But the word "kuhandiz" can't be applied to solitary fortresses  which were independent of towns, as it would cause conceptual confusion. Although in Arabic the word "hisn" or "husûn" () was used to indicate fortresses which were located off towns, since Arabic terms did not have proper meaning to describe those structures, they borrowed the word "kuhandiz" during the Islamic conquest of Iran. Kuhandizes were usually built on high ground and were the last line of defence in the town. Administrative units were mostly located here. The Turkish term and the English "citadel" are synonymous. Shahristan (residential area). "Shahristan" is a combination of two words, (city) and -stan/-istan (region, area), thus  it literally means "city area". Before the Islamic conquest of Central Asia, castle-style settlements were common rather than large political and economic centers. The word used by Muslim Arabs for these fortified towns, which were protected by walls, is "qal'a". As the feudal system was transcended, this tripartite city model appeared with castle-like structures, which are called "kuhandiz", forming the core of the city. With the development in itself of the settlement within the old walls, cities without "kuhandizes" also appeared. Most of the townspeople dwelled in the "shahristan". Mesut Can states that this might be the reason  the name "shahristan" was used. Most of the buildings for recreation and worship were also located there. Qala compounds in Iran and Afghanistan. In many areas of Iran and Afghanistan, particularly in tribal areas with pre-modern building practices, the qalat compound is the standard housing unit for multi-generational families. Qalats can be quickly constructed over the course of a single season, and they can be extremely large, sometimes covering several acres. Towers may be placed at the corners or points along the walls to create a more defensible position, but most qala compounds consist only of the walls . While the foundation of a qala compound may be stone or fired brick, the walls are typically dried mud. Walls are created by laying down a row of adobe bricks with mud mortar along the entire length of the wall. By the time that the mason returns to the point of origin, the mortar is dry and the next row can be added on top of the old. Using this technique walls dozens of feet high can be built very rapidly. Turkey. Kale. In modern Turkish, () is an umbrella term that encompasses all types of fortified structures. In Turkish, the  scope of the term can vary. Today many fortified buildings are called "kale", which causes confusion. Originally the word "kale" (or in Ottoman Turkish) refers to fortresses which were built on roads, at narrow passes, and at bottlenecks, where the enemy was expected to pass by, or in cities with strategic value. Building materials of "kales" could differ according to geographical conditions. For example, Ottoman palankas were mostly built of wooden palisades. A typical kale has the same features known from Western and Eastern counterparts, such as curtain walls with towers and a gatehouse, an inner tower similar to a  keep ("bâlâhisar", "erk" or "başkule" in Turkish), battlements and embrasures, a moat and sometimes postern gates. In the 15th century, the Greek word for tower, "purgos", was adopted into Turkish as "burgaz". Ottoman towns in the Balkans and Anatolia had a tripartite city model: old castle (inner fortress), "varoş" (residential area, in modern Turkish used as 'suburb'), and outer city (suburb). Kale vs hisar, kermen. There are also other similar terms such as or . The definition of the term "hisar" is similar to that of castle, a fortified structure that acts as a residence, such as Rumelihisarı or Anadoluhisarı. The  word originates in Arabic, where it means 'fortress' and 'blockade', and from where it also made it into Persian as "hessar". Another word used for forts is "kermen", which originates from Cuman. It is known as "kirmen" in Tatar, and as "karman" in Chuvash. The Russian word "kremlin" also originates from "kermen". When toponymically examined, it can be seen that "hisar" is used for place-names in western Turkey, "kale" in eastern Turkey, and "kermen" in the Crimean peninsula.