What's in a Prague street name

Originally published on X on 5 December 2023.

A šeřík is a lilac tree. Lilac trees originated in south-east Europe and Asia Minor, but are often grown in the Czech Republic for ornamental purposes.

The technical word for lilac – ‘Syringa’ – comes from the Greek for ‘pipe’; ‘lilac’ comes from the French ‘lila’, denoting the flowers’ colour.

Meanwhile, it’s believed that the somewhat different Czech word, šeřík, was derived from the Russian ‘сирень’.

Anyway, the story goes that the street was named after a very noticeable lilac tree outside number 8.

It’s very much not there now.

But this street has a habit of being named after things that aren’t there anymore – in the 19th century, it was called ‘U řetězového mostu’ / ‘By the Chain Bridge’. And, as we’ll see in a couple of days time, it hasn’t been by one of those since 1901.