What's in a Prague street name
Every street in Prague, one by one.
recent posts (search bar on main page for about a gazillion more)
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: Shopping centres
-
Novodvorská was created in 1935 through the merger of two streets: Hlavní (Main) and Vozová (which is related to ‘vůz’, meaning wagon). Once upon a time, there was a farmstead (in present-day Lhotka, also in Prague 4). Its name was Nový dvůr (New Court). It later became a monastery. After that, it served, at different…
-
Na Pankráci was built in 1900. Even as an ex-Londoner who used to travel to Brussels an awful lot, it somehow took me until 2024 to put two and two together and work out that Pankrác is St Pancras. Pancras of Rome converted to Christianity, and was beheaded for this around 303, aged just fourteen.…
-
Originally published on X on 30 June 2024. Poříčí – meaning ‘Riverside’ – existed as a settlement by the year 1000 (its local church was mentioned in writing in 993: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/11/10/prague-1-day-261-klimentska/). It was mainly settled by German merchants, as demonstrated by the name of the trade route leading through it – Vicus Teutonicum. A second…
-
Originally published on X on 26 March 2024. Wenceslas/Václav IV became King of Bohemia in 1378, and, like his father, Charles/Karel IV, originally lived at Prague Castle. Václav’s talents included favouritism, being less popular than his father, and not getting on well with his relatives. Such a relative was Charles’s widow, Elizabeth of Pomerania, who…
-
Originally published on X on 12 February 2024. A havíř is a ‘coal miner’, or, in ‘I didn’t realise that was a specifically British word’ news, a ‘collier’. It’s actually a borrowing from the German Hauer, which is also how we get the English profession name, and surname, ‘hewer’. This house, at number 2, is…
-
Originally published on X on 8 February 2024. A příkop is a ‘ditch’ or a ‘moat’. Way back in the 1230s, work was underway to create the walls of the Old Town, and, during the process, a moat was excavated here. The moat wouldn’t be filled in until 1760, when the street was created. Originally…
-
Originally published on X on 24 and 25 January 2024 (it’s a two-partner). Václav (Wenceslas, as in ‘Good King’) was born around 907, the son of Vratislav (Wrocław-founding) and Drahomíra (pagan; murderous), and the granddaughter of Ludmila (Christian; victim of said murderousness; later saintly) and Bořivoj (the first verifiable Czech leader). He became Prince of…
-
Originally published on X on 15 January 2024. Helena Vodičkova, a singer, was born in 1947 in… no, sorry, my mistake. The street was founded around the same time as the New Town (1348), and was originally known as Pasířská (see https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/14/prague-1-day-102-mikulandska/ to find out what a ‘pasíř’ is). The name later changed to Stará…
-
Originally published on X on 7 January 2024. Until 1781, there was a moat here, which had the somewhat inconvenient effect of separating the Old Town and the New Town. Therefore, it was decided to fill the ditch and create a street in its place. Originally called Nové Aleje (New Avenue), this later turned into…
What's in a Prague street name 