About the name/Du nom

"Transponticae" is a plural, both nominative and vocative, form of the ad hoc collective noun transpontica, 'things cross-Black-Sea'. It is formed on the model of esca ('things to eat') - escae. The plural stays for the idea that the sea can be crossed along different trajectories and with different trajectories in mind. The vocative embodies the ambition of Transponticae to be an illocutionary act and our hope for perlocution.  In Bulgarian, it is pronounced as [transpontit͡sɛ] (and not as after Classical Latin, [transpontikɛ]). Such a pronunciation happily fits the focus of Transponticae on post-Antiquity. The 'inner form' of pontos suggests the less visible meaning of 'overcoming a difficulty, going through a peril/a marine desert'.