What's in a Prague street name

Originally published on X on 13 March 2023.

Plavecká was built centuries ago, but wasn’t named until the mid-19th century.

We’ve covered the fact that the people of this district, Podskalí, made their living by trading in wood: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/26/prague-2-day-121-na-vytoni/.

And then we covered the history of Podskalí itself yesterday: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/26/prague-2-day-122-podskalska/.

Plavecká, meanwhile, is named after the plavci who lived here, and were an integral part of this trade arrangement. They floated the wood down the river.

Their way of life forms the backbone of the 1952 film Plavecký mariáš, presumably named after mariáš, one of the most popular card games round these parts:

Plavci can also translate as ‘swimmers’. This feels like a perfect opportunity for a quick language lesson, so: a regular swimmer is a plavec, but a mořeplavec is a seafarer and a vzduchoplavec is an aeronaut. Meanwhile, a plavecký styl is a swimming stroke.

Speaking of swimming strokes, if you swim naznak, you’re doing the backstroke, if you swim prsa, you’re doing the breaststroke, swimming kraul is, more easily, the crawl, and swimming na čubičku is doing the doggy paddle.