What's in a Prague street name

Every street in Prague, one by one.

Praha 3

  • Prague 3, day 8: Na Hlídce

    Originally published on Twitter on 1 May 2022. Na Hlídce was built in 1925. It’s the same story as yesterday’s: when this area of Prague (Balkán) was urbanised after World War I, many of the inhabitants were state employees and the street name reflected their jobs. Na hlídce means ‘on watch’ or ‘on guard’. The Continue reading

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  • Prague 3, day 7: Strážní

    Originally posted on Twitter on 30 April 2022. Strážní was built in 1925. It’s also the name of a nearby tram stop. The area to the north-east of here (and immediately north of all the streets we’ve covered so far) is known as ‘Balkán’. It wasn’t urbanised until after World War I and most of Continue reading

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  • Prague 3, day 6: Hraniční

    Originally published on Twitter on 29 April 2022. Hraniční was built in 1925. ‘Border Street’ is so called because it lies on the border between the districts of Žižkov and Vysočany. I’m very much guilty of assuming that Praha 3 = Žižkov and Žižkov alone, but no, it’s got parts of Vinohrady, Vysočany and Strašnice Continue reading

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  • Prague 3, day 5: Šikmá

    Originally posted on Twitter on 28 April 2022. Šikmá was built in 1930. This street heads north-west off of Koněvova, whereas the streets we’ve covered so far point north-east. So it’s appropriate that ‘šikmý’ is an adjective that translates as ‘oblique’, ‘slanting’ or ‘inclined’. The most famous thing that uses the adjective is not this Continue reading

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  • Prague 3, day 4: Na Vrcholu

    Originally published on Twitter on 27 April 2022, when I’d just tested positive for COVID. This may get mentioned a couple of times. ‘Na vrcholu’, built in 1962, means ‘at the top’. You would think this was the top of something quite momentous. But it seems it’s just at the top of Koněvova. This isn’t Continue reading

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  • Prague 3, day 3: K Lučinám

    Originally posted on Twitter on 26 April 2022. K Lučinám was built in 1962. Like ‘luka’, a ‘lučina’ is a meadow, but the word is archaic enough to not even appear on Seznam Slovník. But it does appear in the Czech national anthem: ‘voda hučí po lučinách’ (water streams across the meadows), otherwise knows as Continue reading

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  • Prague 3, day 2: U kněžské louky

    Originally published on Twitter on 25 April 2022. ‘U kněžské louky’ was built in 1931. It roughly translates as ‘at the priestly meadow’, and was named after the original name of the land. If anyone can explain why it’s ‘louky’ with an ‘ou’, when the nearby tram stop (Kněžská luka) only has a ‘u’, you Continue reading

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  • Prague 3, day 1: Koněvova

    Starting off where it all began – this was originally posted on Twitter on 24 April 2022. Here begins a series in which I walk along the very long street immediately to the north of my flat and examine the names of the streets leading off it, one by one. We’ll start with the very Continue reading

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