| Official Name: | Sham Asbi |
| Native Name: | Persian: شام اسبي |
| Settlement Type: | Village |
| Pushpin Map: | Iran |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | Iran |
| Subdivision Type1: | Province |
| Subdivision Name1: | Ardabil |
| Subdivision Type2: | County |
| Subdivision Name2: | Ardabil |
| Subdivision Type3: | District |
| Subdivision Name3: | Central |
| Subdivision Type4: | Rural District |
| Subdivision Name4: | Balghelu |
| Population As Of: | 2016 |
| Population Total: | 2817 |
| Population Density Km2: | auto |
| Timezone: | IRST |
| Utc Offset: | +3:30 |
| Coordinates: | 38.1933°N 48.2439°W |
| Coordinates Footnotes: | [1] |
Sham Asbi (Persian: شام اسبي) is a village in, and the capital of, Balghelu Rural District of the Central District of Ardabil County, Ardabil province, Iran.[2]
The locals of Sham Asbi identify the first part of the village's name with Sham, i.e. "Syria", interpreting it as "a place with Syrian horses".[3] According to Alice Assadoorian in Iran and the Caucasus, the toponym appears to be an old compound, and thus the folk etymology "can hardly be satisfying".[3] Assadoorian notes that the final –ī in the place name alludes to a patronymic formation, which allows for the resconstruction of the Middle Iranian form of the toponym as *Šāmaspīk or *Šāmāspīk, which translates as "a village belonging to (or founded by) *Šāmāsp".[3] The name *Šāmāsp is a familiar personal name, and derives from Old Iranian *S(i)yāmāspa-, i.e. "(a man) having black or dark studs" (compare Avestan Syāvaspi- and Armenian Šawasp).[3] Assadoorian argues that there was "secondary dissimilation of the initial s- to š-".[3]
At the time of the 2006 National Census, the village's population was 2,148 in 511 households.[4] The following census in 2011 counted 2,609 people in 734 households.[5] The 2016 census measured the population of the village as 2,817 people in 820 households. It was the most populous village in its rural district.[6]