or BOSPORES, in Geography, a long and narrow channel running in between two lands, or separating two continents, and by which two seas, or a gulf and a sea, communicate with each other. In this sense Bosphorus means a channel or strait, and is synonymous with what the Italians call fero, the Latins fretum, and the French pas or minche. The word is Greek, βόσπορος, being formed of βος, an ox, and πορος, passage, probably from an idea that an ox or bullock might swim across.

The name of Bosphorus is chiefly confined to two straits, namely, the Bosphorus of Thrace, commonly called the Strait of Constantinople, or Channel of the Black Sea; and the Cimmerian or Scythian Bosphorus, now known by the name of the Strait of Jenikale. The origin of the name is not disputed; but various mythological legends, some of them absurd enough, were invented to account for its first application.