What's in a Prague street name
Every street in Prague, one by one.
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I could talk about myself for ages, or I could point out that https://english.radio.cz/ed-ley-englishman-recording-stories-pragues-streets-one-one-8806941 is over two years old but still largely stands (other than the Twitter links).
Category: Malá Strana
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Originally published on X on 18 December 2023. Malostranské is the adjective to denote Malá Strana, which we’re about three days away from leaving before we head over to the other side of the river. And a nábřeží is an embankment. The name ‘Malostranské nábřeží’ has been applied since 1905. This was about 18 years…
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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…
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Originally published on X on 4 December 2023. Anyone who hoped, after yesterday’s thread, that we’d be avoiding the big topics today may wish to stop reading now – a vítěz / vítězka is a winner, and a vítězství is a victory. And we’re talking 1918 here, so let’s do a quick rundown (which doesn’t…
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Originally published on X on 3 December 2023. I think the best way to start this one is to take a look at two of the plaques on the ground. Between 1948 and 1989, 205,486 people were convicted. 248 were executed, and a further 4,500 died in prison. 327 people died trying to cross Czechoslovakia’s…
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Originally published on X on 2 December 2023. Time for a quick language lesson: a řeka is a river. If you want to use ‘river’ as an adjective, though, then říční is your friend – as in říční přístav (river port), říční síť (river system) or říční koryto (river bed). And that map at the…
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Originally published on X on 1 December 2023. In 1863, a group of artistically-minded Czechs set up their own association, Umelecká beseda, or Artistic Forum. (Note that, if I don’t mention these people by name in this thread, it’s because they’re almost certain to come up in a thread of their own one day) A…
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Originally published on X on 30 November 2023. Viktorin Kornel ze Všehrd was born around 1460 in Chrudim (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2023/06/24/prague-3-day-177-chrudimska/), and not, as this stupid spellcheck wants me to write, in Cherubim. He got a degree from the University of Prague in 1483, after which he started teaching there. However, he soon left to pursue a…
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Originally published on X on 29 November 2023. A lanová dráha is a funicular, i.e. a type of cable railway whose track goes along a steep slope. Which could mean that this street name needs no further explanation, but there’s no fun in that, so I’ll continue. In 1891, Prague held a world’s fair, called…
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Originally published on X on 27 November 2023. Josef Vojtěch Hellich was born in Choltice, 15 kilometres south-west of Pardubice, in 1807. He studied drawing and painting at Prague’s Academy of Fine Arts from 1825 to 1829, and then continued his studies in Vienna until 1833. After that, he went on a study tour, starting…
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Originally published on X on 26 November 2023. František Martin Pelcl was born in Rychnov nad Kněžnou, in Hradec Králové Region, in 1734. In 1755, he started studying theology in Prague, soon switching to law. After escaping to Vienna for a few months in 1757, he returned, but his father died and studying was no…
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Originally published on X on 25 November 2023. Malá Strana was founded as a royal town in 1257, but the surrounding area had been inhabited for centuries. And that surrounding area had several villages, including, among others, Újezd and Nebovidy, the latter of which was located around where the street is now. A nebovid would…
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Originally published on X on 24 November 2023. Kryštof Harant z Polžice a Bezdružice was born in Klenová, now in Plzeň Region, in 1564. He grew up in North Tyrol, and worked as a courtier for Ferdinand II, Archduke of Austria. Returning to Bohemia in 1584, he tried to get a job at the court…
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Originally published on X on 23 November 2023. Prokop was born around the year 1000 in Chotouň, near Kouřim (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2023/03/08/prague-3-day-170-kourimska/) in Kolín District. He worked as a priest, but then left the profession and became a hermit. Despite his reclusive life, he became known to Oldřich, Prince of Bohemia (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/20/prague-2-day-80-oldrichova/). How do we know this?…
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Originally published on X on 22 November 2023. A lázeň is a bath or a spa. You may know of Mariánské Lázně in western Bohemia, or, a bit closer to home, Karlovy Lázně, formerly a spa but now the biggest nightclub in Central Europe. And, from 1345, there was at least one bath house here.…
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Originally published on X on 21 November 2023. For brief bits and pieces about the Knights of Malta in the Czech Lands, see https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/10/prague-1-day-71-velkoprevorske-namesti/. The Knights Hospitaller arrived in Bohemia in the 12th century (when their headquarters were still in Jerusalem). The Grand Priory was created in 1626, and they moved into their palace here…
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Originally published on X on 20 November 2023. The Nostitz / Nostic family were first mentioned in 1280, originating in Upper Lusatia (now in Germany – take a look at https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/02/14/prague-2-day-28-luzicka/ for a primer). Around 1600, the family started to make a career at the Bohemian court; their conversion to Catholicism would be useful to…
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Originally published on X on 19 November 2023. As has been covered a few times in the last few days, the island of Kampa came into being when a canal, Čertovka, was created, aiming to increase the water supply for the mills round here: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/09/prague-1-day-69-na-kampe/. In Renaissance times, there was a miller called Václav Sova…
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Originally published on X on 18 November 2023. A převor is a prior – a word whose meaning differs depending on what kind of monastery they’re in. Among Dominicans, Augustinians, Brothers of Mercy and other Catholic orders, a prior is any monastic superior. Among Premonstratensians, Benedictines and Cistercians, however, a prior would be directly subordinate…
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Originally published on X on 16 November 2023. Hrozny are ‘grapes’, not to be confused with hrozný, which means ‘awful’. And hroznová is the feminine adjective from hrozny, meaning that this is Grape Street. We’re not in a vineyard here – though come to Kampa during one of its French markets and you’d be forgiven…
What's in a Prague street name 