Origin of the Name
There are at least six versions of the origin of the city�s name. One of the best known is that the name is derived from the name of Gomeyuk stream, which flowed into the Sozh river near the foot of the hill where the first settlement was founded. Other Belarusian cities� names are formed on these lines: for example, Minsk�s name is derived from the river Menka, Polotsk�s � from the Palata river, Vitebsk�s � from the Vitba river. In historical sources from 1142 to the 16th century Gomel is named as Gom', Gomye, Gomiy, Gomey, Gomyi. These forms are tentatively explained as derivatives of an unattested *gom? of uncertain meaning. The modern form of the city�s name has been used only since the 16th�17th centuries.
Gomel under Kievan Rus'
Gomel was founded at the end of the 1st millennium AD on the lands of the Eastern Slavic tribal union of Radimichs. It laid on the banks of the Sozh river and the Gomeyuk stream. Sozh's high left bank cut with canyons made a natural fortification. Some time Gomel was the capital of the Gomel Principality, then it went to the Principality of Chernigov. Gomel is first mentioned in the Hypatian Codex under the year of 1142 as the territory of Chernigov princes. For some time Gomel was captured by Smolensk prince Rostislav Mstislavich but then was re-captured by Iziaslav III Davidovich after whose death it belonged to Sviatoslav Olgovich and then to Sviatoslav's son Oleg. Under Oleg Gomel went to the Principality of Novhorod-Siverskyi. The next owner of Gomel was Igor Svyatoslavich � the hero of "The Tale of Igor's Campaign". During this period the town was a fortificated point and the centre of volost. In 12th�13th centuries the city's area was not less that 40 ha, it had various crafts developed and was connected by trading ways with the cities of Northern and Southern Rus'. From archeological data the city was badly damaged during the Mongol-Tatar assault in the first half of the
