What's in a Prague street name

Originally published on X on 30 December 2023.

Remember a tanner and his family being brought up yesterday (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/13/prague-1-day-97-pstrossova/)? Well, we’re still on this topic.

Jircha is tanned leather, derived from the Latin ‘hircus’, which is a buck or male goat. So a jirchář is a tanner, but is not exactly as the same as a koželuh, the standard word for ‘tanner’.

A koželuh – or a černokožešník (‘black leather craftsman’) – uses so-called tan, obtained from the bark of trees, to process leather.

A jirchář – or a bělokožešník (one who works with white hides) – processed hides using a solution of alum, water, egg yolks and flour. Apparently such a person would now be known as a ‘currier’.

And, of course, working as a jirchář or koželuh is what Wikipedia (quite wonderfully) refers to as an ‘odoriferous trade’, which is why it makes sense for it to be carried out near water.

In the 14th and 15th centuries, the street was known by another name, which, while also reflecting its tanners, was somewhat less complimentary: Smradařská (something like ‘Stinkers’ Street’).

But clearly somebody sensed that an image overhaul was needed, as, in the time of Charles IV, tanners were brought to work here from Calabria, and the street later came to be known as V Kalábrii.

Having been known as Jirchářská Prostřední from 1850 to 1870, it’s had its current name since 1870, which was quite a big year for renaming of streets.

V Jirchářích includes St. Michael’s Church in Jircháře, which is the home of the Czech, Slovak and English congregation of the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in the Czech Republic.

Anybody playing Embassy Bingo will have an opportunity to tick Mexico off the list if they pass by number 151: https://embamex.sre.gob.mx/republicacheca/index.php/es/

Marvellously, their website includes a ‘Directorio de Restaurantes Mexicanos’.