Habitual words, nouns and adjectives, the names of rivers and settlements often become the object of study of etymologists. Scientists want to get to the bottom of the essence of the origin of a concept. Well, for example. Why was the city called the city? To answer this question, let's see how the words are transformed and where the letters go.
A and B were sitting on a pipe, or Why the city was called a city
The simplest explanation is that the word "garden" (fence) eventually lost the letter "o". Continuing the etymological “excavations” and following popular logic, we can draw a parallel and recall that the “outskirts” (entrance to the village) came from the colloquial reduction of the phrase “near the face”. If the city is a kind of settlement for the elect with a strong fence, for example, a palace or a fortress, then the fence (or garden) means "near the city", that is, near a fenced territory, outside it. That is why the city was called the city.
Most often, the population of such objects was artisans and merchants. When the number of residents around the city increased, they built a new fence for protection - the wall. So the city grew around a central, walled complex of buildings.
Did the Chinese live in ancient Moscow?
And Moscow was built in rings, as evidenced by the preserved designations: Garden Ring, Boulevard Ring , etc. In the 15th century, Ivan III expelled families of artisans, townsmen and merchants from the Kremlin. The construction of the next wall was completed by Italian builders in 1538. The area received an interesting name - Kitay Gorod, and the wall itself was called Kitaygorodskaya. Today this territory belongs to the Tver region and is the administrative, cultural and business center of Moscow. Why was they called China Town? The toponym arose from a mixture of Russian-Italian words and means “city wall”. According to one version, the word “China” is of Turkic origin and literally translates as a fortress, a fortified place. And according to another hypothesis, it came from the East Slavic words “whale”, “whale”, which means “like wattle”, that is, built according to the wattle principle. Such strong wicker walls were installed at some distance from each other, and the gap between them was filled with earth, large stones, rubble and clay. The result was a very solid wall, sometimes even cannonballs could not penetrate . Thus, there were no Chinese in Moscow.
Still an interesting science - etymology! As a result of research, different names become clear. Including you can figure out why the city was called a city. But back to our toponym.
After Moscow became the capital of the USSR in 1922, a major restructuring and reconstruction of urban space began. The white stone wall of Kitai Gorod was completely demolished in 1934. Some of the remains of this building have been preserved on Sq. Revolution, in Theater Passage and in the subway passage from the Kitay-Gorod station to the Varvarka side.
On the banks of a swampy river
“The city will be built here, we will call it Moscow, by the name of the river!” - said Yuri Dolgoruky. This is how historical chronicles describe the great urban development. In fact, small villages along the banks of the river existed long before this momentous event of 1147. Why they called the city of Moscow, it is understandable - it bears the name of the river on which it is built. And what exactly does this word mean? There are a huge number of hypotheses clarifying the origin of the name. Etymologists and other researchers still continue to understand the history of its formation and significance. So what does this word mean? And why was the city called the city, and not, say, a suburb?
There is no disagreement about the second syllable. It is believed that the particle "-wa", meaning "wet" or "water", is borrowed from the language of the Komi peoples . And the first syllable is interpreted differently. Consider several versions:
- “Mosk” - “dark” or “black” in the Baltic languages;
- among the Komi peoples, this translates as “cow”;
- among the Mari, this is “mesca” (bear);
- translation from Czech - “raw bread”;
- in Slovaks the word has the meaning "puddle"
- among the Erzya people, “mazy” is beautiful, “kuva” is a place.
- in the Proto-Slavic language, “mosk” is a “marshland”.
Following simple logic, it turns out that Moscow is a river with slushy, swampy shores, or simply “swampy water”. This version is confirmed by the fact that the river takes its beginning from the Starkovsky swamp.
At first there was just a fortress
Another Russian city, the history of the name of which quite often excites the consciousness of inquisitive minds, is Petersburg. In the valley of the Neva River, conquered from Sweden and annexed to the Russian Empire, Peter I ordered the construction of a fortified city. From the moment of construction (1703) and until the 1720th fortress was called St. Peter Burkh. Later this name changed repeatedly, which did not detract from the importance of this object. What good did the creation of a new city on the banks of the Neva bring ?
- Russia got access to new sea routes.
- Shipbuilding began to develop actively.
- The future Peter and Paul Fortress became a reliable barrier for the conquerors.
Subsequently, a beautiful city grew from this fort, which is now called the northern capital of Russia.
St. Peter Burkh, aka St. Petersburg, aka Petrograd, Leningrad and Petersburg
From 1720 to 1914, the capital of the Russian Empire was called St. Petersburg. “Saint” is a saint, “Peter” is Peter, “burkh” is a city, we get “the city of St. Peter”. Comments seem to be superfluous, because everything is clear already. The capital was given the name of its founder. That is why the city was called Petersburg.