What's in a Prague street name

Every street in Prague, one by one.

Category: Slavs

  • Originally published on X on 24 December 2023. The island was gradually formed by deposits of sand during the 16th century. It was initially settled by dyers, and therefore got the name of ‘Barvířský’ (a ‘dyer’ being a barvíř, derived from barva, which means colour). After flooding in 1784, walls were added to the island,…

  • Originally published on X on 3 November 2023. Before I get onto the seminar itself, here’s a (not terribly brief) guide to who would qualify as lužický: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/02/14/prague-2-day-28-luzicka/ If you don’t want to read that: Sorbs are a Slavic ethnic group who currently live in Lusatia, which is in Saxony and Brandenburg in Germany. They…

  • Originally published on Twitter on 4 December 2022. Lužická was built around 1900. From 1940 to 1945, this was Rankova, after Leopold von Ranke (1795-1886), a historian and proponent of modern, source-based history. But Lužice / Lusatia / Lausitz / Łużyce is a historical territory, nowadays split between Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic. Slavic…