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: Prague 3

  • Prague 3, day 49: Buková

    Originally published on Twitter on 11 June 2022. Buková was built in 1962. We’re still on the trees, and a buk is a beech (Fagus). In Central Europe, the beech is the main feature of deciduous forests. In the Czech Republic, the tree has also given its name to a village of 303 people in…

  • Prague 3, day 48: Pod Lipami

    Originally published on 10 June 2022. Pod Lipami was built in 1925. Continuing yesterday’s tree theme (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2022/11/20/prague-3-day-47-osikova/), ‘Pod lipami’ translates as ‘under the linden trees’. Which makes this Prague’s answer to Berlin’s famous ‘Unter den Linden’ (except it doesn’t). If we’re talking about lindens in different languages, the Romanian for ‘linden’ is tei, and ‘love…

  • Prague 3, day 47: Osiková

    Originally published on Twitter on 9 June 2022. Special ‘unintentional advertising for Kaufland’ edition: Osiková, a relative newbie built in 1976. An osika is an aspen tree, or ‘Populus tremula’. It’s a tree from the willow family. Other Czech names for the tree are topol osika (aspen poplar) or osika obecná (common aspen). I’m no…

  • Prague 3, day 46: Nad Ohradou

    Originally published on Twitter on 8 June 2022. Nad Ohradou was built in 1975. You can find out about Ohrada, a vineyard that was first mentioned in 1455, and which this street is ‘above’, here: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2022/11/19/prague-3-day-11-na-ohrade/. Except that there’s actually new stuff to say about Ohrada in the month since I originally tweeted about it.…

  • Prague 3, day 45: Kunešova

    Kunešova was built in 1977, making it the newest street to date. And we’re back on the Hussites! Kuneš z Bělovic (born in the 14th century) was a comrade of Jan Žižka. The first written mention of him is from 1422, when he tried to overthrow Sigismund Korybut (Zikmund Korybutovič), who was acknowledged as governor of…

  • Prague 3, day 44: V Bezpečí

    Originally published on Twitter on 6 June 2022. V Bezpečí was built in 1938, and translates as ‘in safety’. Two options come to mind. Firstly, I’ve mentioned more than once that it’s really lovely and quiet round here. On the other hand, the street is close to Strážní (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2022/11/19/prague-3-day-7-strazni/), and stráž means ‘guard’. It’s also…

  • Prague 3, day 43: Na Vlastním

    Originally published on Twitter on 5 June 2022. Na Vlastním was built in 1925. To tell the story, you may wish to go back to https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2022/11/19/prague-3-day-32-v-domove/, which describes how this neighbourhood came about. Apparently, Vlastní, like Domov, was a construction cooperative that built a large number of the homes round here. (Do go for a…

  • Prague 3, day 42: Pod Vrcholem

    Originally published on Twitter on 4 June 2022. Pod Vrcholem was built in 1925. Under the same peak as yesterday (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2022/11/20/prague-3-day-41-k-vrcholu/). That’s about it. And I promise there’s more gripping stuff to come.

  • Prague 3, day 41: K Vrcholu

    Originally published on Twitter on 3 June 2022. K Vrcholu was built in 1938, and translates as ‘to the peak’. We can keep this quite brief, as this is seemingly the same peak that ‘Na vrcholu’ is located on (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2022/11/19/prague-3-day-4-na-vrcholu/). Although I’m pretty sure that the southernmost part of Na vrcholu is lower than any…

  • Prague 3, day 40: K Chmelnici

    Originally published on Twitter on 2 June 2022. K Chmelnici was built in 1962. A chmelnice is a ‘hop garden’ (as in ‘beer’, not ‘skip and jump’, because Czech Republic). Chmel is the common hop, or humulus lupulus. Hop gardens are quite expensive to maintain, as hops are a climbing plant, so they need to…

  • Prague 3, day 39: Na Balkáně

    Originally published on Twitter on 1 June 2022. Na Balkáně was built in 1925, and translates as ‘In the Balkans’. ‘Balkán’ is indeed the name of this part of Prague, which is located mainly in Vysočany but also partially in Žižkov. Na Balkáně is home to a gardening settlement, founded in 1938, and one of…

  • Prague 3, day 38: Na Lučinách

    Originally published on Twitter on 31 May 2022. Na Lučinách was built in 1947. It translates as ‘in the meadows’, or, literally, ‘on the meadows’. If you walk towards the meadows on K Lučínám (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2022/11/19/prague-3-day-3-k-lucinam/), you end up in the meadows in Na Lučinách! Or you end up where the meadows were. I’m as supportive…

  • Prague 3, day 37: Nad Lukami

    Originally published on Twitter on 30 May 2022. Nad Lukami was built in 1938, and translates as ‘Above the meadows’. We’ve already been by/at/near the (priestly) meadow: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2022/11/18/prague-3-day-2-u-knezske-louky/. We’ve also headed towards them: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2022/11/19/prague-3-day-3-k-lucinam/. I probably didn’t write these in a logical order. And, whatever this meadow was when it still existed, it seems to…

  • Prague 3, day 36: V Okruží

    Originally published on Twitter on 29 May 2022. V Okruží was built in 1931. Does anybody like bad translations? Because the internet is giving me ‘in a ruff’. Which, if you replace the ‘r’ with an ‘h’, describes me as I try to make sense of this. Thankfully, my Lingea dictionary gives me the much…

  • Prague 3, day 35: Křivá

    Originally posted on Twitter on 28 May 2022. Křivá was built in 1931. Křivá means ‘crooked’, which is a reasonable representation of the street’s shape. It can also mean ‘trumped up’, but, as proved by the photo above, this is not a street that I have invented. Promise. As with Luční yesterday (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2022/11/19/prague-3-day-34-lucni/), there was…

  • Prague 3, day 33: Spojovací

    Originally published on Twitter on 26 May 2022. Spojovací was created in 1933. The literal translation would be ‘connecting’, although Google Translate seriously wants me to consider ‘syndetic’. Which is awesome. Spojovací was created by literally joining two other roads: Lipanská (there is another Lipanská in Žižkov, of course) and Husova. Not That Lipanská was,…

  • Prague 3, day 32: V Domově

    Originally published on Twitter on 25 May 2022. V Domově was built in 1925. Sometimes it’s easy to forget that Prague didn’t become the capital of an independent country until 1918, and that the civil service had previously been based in Vienna. As Prague gained in importance, its population grew rapidly too. In 1920, it…

  • Prague 3, day 31: V Jezerách

    Originally published on Twitter on 24 May 2022. V Jezerách was built in 1925. I was going to say that this means ‘In the lakes’ and move on, but that would be v jezerech with a second e and not an á. One lake is a jezero, two lakes are jezera, and a small lake…

  • Prague 3, day 30: Na Jarově

    Originally published on Twitter on 23 May 2022. Na Jarově was built in 1925. It translates as ‘In Jarov’ or ‘On Jarov’ (in Czech, you tend to be in a town, but on a district). Jarov is the easternmost area of Žižkov, stretching east from V Zahrádkách (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2022/11/19/prague-3-day-29-v-zahradkach/) until Žižkov becomes Hrdlořezy*. Jarov was the…

  • Prague 3, day 29: V Zahrádkách

    Originally published on Twitter on 22 May 2022. V Zahrádkách was built in 1925. Road leading off Koněvova in ‘not named after a Hussite’ shocker. V Zahrádkách translates as as ‘in the gardens’. But a zahrádka is smaller than a zahrada (the standard term for ‘garden’). So it’s a small garden, a back garden, or,…