What's in a Prague street name

Originally published on X on 16 April 2023.

In the late 1700s, this street – or its precursor – was known as ‘U cihelny’, after a nearby brickyard (and if you want to know about a former brickyard in Prague 3, take a peek at https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2022/11/21/prague-3-day-69-u-stare-cihelny/).

The name Náplavka appeared in the 19th century, after which Náplavní came into being.

Náplavka is, to most of us, ‘that place along the Vltava with all the bars and stuff’, but it really just translates as ‘embankment’.

What differentiates it from a nábřeží – also translated as ‘embankment’ – is that it’s lower.

A náplavka can be used for landing and mooring ships, but also, as many of us know, for getting rather merry at a beer festival or attending a farmer’s market.

The word is a diminutive of náplava, meaning alluvium, i.e. the sediment that’s deposited along the banks of the river.