What's in a Prague street name

Originally published on Twitter on 1 May 2022.

Na Hlídce was built in 1925.

It’s the same story as yesterday’s: when this area of Prague (Balkán) was urbanised after World War I, many of the inhabitants were state employees and the street name reflected their jobs. Na hlídce means ‘on watch’ or ‘on guard’.

The nominative form is hlídka.

A stávková hlídka is a picket, and policejní hlídka means ‘police patrol’. Linking this to yesterday’s street again, hlídka and stráž can be regarded as synonyms, although I assume there are fundamental differences.

The person carrying out the hlídka would (if male) be called a hlidač. A noční hlídač would be a night watchman.

The feminine form is hlidačka, which is also used to mean ‘babysitter’.