Nomenclature
The place-name Gnyozdovo seems to be a late medieval derivation from the Slavic word for "nest". It is first recorded in the 17th-century documents. Historians disagree as to what was the earlier name of the settlement. Those who view Gnyozdovo as the antecedent of Smolensk, believe that the name of Smolensk originally applied to Gnyozdovo. According to them, Constantine VII referred to the site of Gnyozdovo when he mentioned the fortress of Smolensk in De Administrando Imperio. The Primary Chronicle records Smolensk even earlier, in connection with Askold and Dir's raid against Kiev in 867.
Vasmer and other etymologists derive the name of Smolensk from the Smolnya River. If so, the original Slavic name for Gnyozdovo must have been different. Tatiana Jackson theorizes that it may have been derived from the name of the Svinets River, reconstructing it as Svinechsk (Свинеческъ). As the name of the river seems to be related to the Russian word for "swine" and ancient Gnyozdovo was situated on a promontory, Jackson identified this settlement with Sýrnes ("swine promontory" in Old Norse), one of seven or eight cities of Gardariki listed in the Norse geographical treatise of Hauksbók.
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