What's in a Prague street name

U dubu was built in 1925.

A ‘dub’ is an oak tree.

Once upon a time, Slavs venerated oak trees which were dedicated to Perun, who was the god of the sky, thunder, lightning, storms, rain, law, war and, yes, oak trees (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2023/12/23/prague-3-day-183-perunova/).

But oaks aren’t just important to the Slavs – the oak is the national tree of Bulgaria, Croatia, Poland and Serbia, yes, but also of Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Spain, the United Kingdom and United States.

In April, oak trees often shed their leaves and grow new ones. This is why the Czechs call the month ‘duben’.

In terms of round here, ‘U dubu’ translates as ‘by the oak tree’, an erstwhile local name whose origins are self-explanatory.

Oh, and song alert.

Before we finish: in Irish, a grove consisting of oak trees is called a ‘doire’ – which is where Derry gets its name.