What's in a Prague street name

Originally published on X on 17 March 2023.

The original Benátská was built as far back as 1489.

By the 19th century, there was a Velká Benátská, which ceased to exist when the Botanical Gardens were built. There was also a Malá Benátská, and the present-day street more or less follows that street’s pattern.

Benátky is Venice, or, rather, Benátky *are* Venice (see later on).

The area used to consist of wetlands and swamps, which presumably made whoever named the street think of there.

I went to Venice once. The food was severe tourist trap territory. But I also got that kind of photo that makes you feel like being in a tourist trap is entirely worth it.

Quite enjoyed this moment too.

In Czech, Benátky is plural. It’s in good company with international cities, as it’s joined by Antverpy, Atény (Athens), Cáchy (Aachen), Brémy (Bremen), Drážďany (Dresden) and Helsinky.

A memo which, however, never made it to Tbilisi or Miami, which are singular.

This also applies to about eight billion place names in the Czech Republic (and Slovakia, and Poland) too – but listing them here will leave me without material for some of my future street name posts, so I’ll shut up for now.