Siberia Some sources say that "Siberia" originates from the Siberian Tatar word for
"sleeping land" (Sib Ir).[2] Another version is that this name was the ancient
tribal name of the Sipyrs, a mysterious people, later assimilated to Siberian Tatars.
The modern usage of the name appeared in the Russian language after the conquest of the
Siberian Khanate. A further variant claims that the region was named after the Xibe people.[3]
The explanation that the name is derived from the proto-Slavic word for "north" (?????, sever)
has been put forward by the Polish historian Chycliczkowski,[4] but this explanation has been
dismissed by Anatole Baikaloff[5] on the grounds that the neighbouring Chinese,
Arabs and Mongolians (whose name for the region is similar) could not have known Russian.
His own suggestion is that the name is a combination of two words, "su" (water) and "bir"
(wild land).