What's in a Prague street name

Školní was built in 1911.

Školní is named after the elementary school at number 3, which, as implied by its website, has been operating since 1894: https://www.zsskolni.cz/.

It seems things have come full circle, and the school is now named after the street.

The school got a significant makeover in 2018: https://praha4.cz/rekonstrukce-zs-v-braniku-konci/.

This street got me thinking about a street in Prague 1 – https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/15/prague-1-day-116-skolska/, which has multiple schools on or near it, but mainly because I started wondering when your adjective of choice is ‘školský’, and when it’s ‘školní’.

‘Školský’ – by far the rarer of the two – relates to education and schools in general. So, ‘školský zákon’ is ‘school law’ and the ‘školský úřad’ is the ‘education office’. And you can probably guess what the ‘školský systém’ is.

‘Školní’, meanwhile, relates to a school. A ‘školní rok’ is the school year, a ‘školní aktovka’ is a schoolbag, and the ‘školní řád’ is the school rules.

Other examples are ‘školní lavice’ (school desk), ‘školní mládež’ (schoolchildren), ‘školní potřeby’ (school supplies), ‘školní předmět’ (school subject), ‘školní výlet’ (school trip), and – the one we all used to dread – your ‘školní vysvědčení’, or school report / mark card.

Interesting phrases include ‘povinná školní docházka’ – frequently translated as ‘compulsory education’, but literally ‘compulsory school attendance’ and the ‘školní rozhlas’, AKA the Tannoy over which a voice might boom ‘COULD XXX PLEASE COME TO THE HEADMASTER’S OFFICE IMMEDIATELY’ or similar.

I didn’t know until today that Tannoy was a British manufacturer founded in 1926, or that many English speakers in the rest of the world would have no idea what a Tannoy is. To those people, therefore: sorry, intercom.