Do you know how the names of the cities to which you planned your upcoming trip appeared? For example, where did such names as “Paris”, “Beijing”, “London”, “Madrid” or “Berlin” come from?
Historians and specialists in etymology offer different variants of the origin of names, based on the surviving data and the relationship of various languages.
BERLIN... For example, let's take Berlin, one of the largest European cities (more than 3.4 million people live here). There are 3 versions of the origin of the name ( Berlin):
BEIJING, TOKYO.
Let's talk about the capital of the PRC.
Beijing (Chin. 北京) has an ancient history. The territory, which now houses a city with a population of more than 21 million, has changed its name several times. For example, for more than 70 years in the XIV century and for more than 20 years in the XX century, it ceased to be the capital of China and was called "Beiping".
Few people know that the real Chinese name for the capital of the Middle Kingdom does not sound like "Beijing" at all. Pronounce correctly Beijing(Beijing), which translates as "Northern Capital". But in many languages, including Russian, the old name remained, not consistent with the normative northern pronunciation.
Returning to the question of the origin of the name of the city, it remains only to note that in East Asia there is a tradition according to which all names of capital cities should reflect their status. And so it happened:
PARIS... Where Paris now stands, in the 3rd century BC there was a small settlement called "Lutetia". From the Latin language, this word is translated completely unromantic - “ lutum", That is, mud or swamp.
The inhabitants of Lutetia were the Celtic tribe of the Pariseans. To prevent the city from falling to the Romans, who besieged it in the 50s BC, the Parisians burned down their settlement. But the Romans rebuilt the city again. At the beginning of the 3rd century, Lutetia began to be called the city of the Parisians ( Civitas Parisiorum), and a little later renamed Paris ( Paris).
PRAGUE... More than 1.3 million people now live in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic.
There are still debates about how and why the name of the city appeared, which has existed for about 12 centuries. The name of Prague (Czech. Praha) some historians and linguists associate it with the word “threshold” (Czech prah). In this case, some mean the threshold of the house, the second - the threshold of the river.
There is even a legend about the wise ruler Libush, who predicted the foundation of the city. After becoming the leader of the tribe, Libush sends his servants to the local forest. There they meet a man who was cutting the threshold of the house. This is how the word "Prague" appears.
There is a third hypothesis, according to which the basis of the name of the Czech capital was the word "pražení", which translates as "roasting" and refers to the bakery craft.
ROME.
The eternal city - so for the first time Rome (Italian. Roma) was named in the 1st century BC by a local poet. It has the oldest and richest history. No wonder Napoleon once said that "the history of Rome is the history of the whole world."
According to legend, the city got its name from its founder - Romulus, who was the first king of Ancient Rome. As the legend says, Romulus's mother was a priestess of the goddess Vesta, and his father was the god Mars. Romulus and his twin brother Remus were thrown out of the royal palace by an illegitimate heir. The she-wolf, who fed them with her milk, saved the children from inevitable death. Having matured, the brothers return to the palace and kill the offender, returning the rightful king - their grandfather to the throne.
However, there is another, less romantic version. The name of the city, to which all roads lead, could have come from the word "Rumon", as the Tiber River was called in ancient times. Thus, Rome literally means “city on the river”.
MADRID.
There are several versions of the origin and Spanish Madrid.
The Spanish capital, according to a number of experts, has Arab roots. Therefore, according to one of the versions, his name is based on the word “ majra", Which means" water source "in Arabic.
Initially, the name of the city sounded like "majer-it", that is, "full-flowing source". Then - as "Magerit", and finally got its final name - Madrid. But everything can be even simpler: perhaps the city itself was at one time a fortification, and its name comes from the Arabic word "madarat" - a city.
Some scholars believe that the name appeared even earlier, has not Arabic, but Old Spanish roots and comes from the word “ maderita", Which translates as" forest thickets ".
There is also a rather romantic hypothesis according to which the Greek soothsayer Manto gave birth to a son from Tiberin, the god of the Tiber River. Called Ocnia, he became the founder of the future Madrid, which was originally named after the Italian homeland of Ocnia Mantua.
LONDON.
What about London?
Its name is directly related to the name of the ancient Roman city of Londinium, the origin of which can only be guessed at. Perhaps the name appeared in memory of the ancient legendary king, whose name was Lud.
It is likely that one of the largest cities in the world owes its name to the Celts, who so called the course of the river (“ Lundonjon") And fortifications on the river (" Llyndid»).
The Roman historian Tacitus mentions in 117 an important trade center - the city of Londinium. It was renamed by the Romans in the 4th century in Augusta, and next to it a settlement of the Anglo-Saxons appeared, which they called Lundenvik. After the departure of the Romans, the Anglo-Saxons move to Augusta, abandoned by them, restore the settlement and give it a new name - Lundenburg, which later became shorter - Lunden.
Astrakhan - at different times was called: Ajitarkhan, Ashtrarkhan, Tsitrakhan. According to one of the hypotheses explaining the origin of the name of the city, the descendants of the warlike Sarmatian tribes - the Ases - lived in these parts. For military merits, they received a letter from Batu Khan - tarkhan, exempting them from duties in favor of the state.
Barnaul is the first version of the origin of the name: "good camp" or "aul Barna" (from Kazakh), if we consider that "Barn" is the name of one of the nomads of the Siberian Khanate. The second version: from the name of the river Barnaulka - "wolf river" or "wolf lake" or "muddy river".
Bryansk - from the Old Russian word D'bryansk, formed from the word "d'br" - "a mountain slope, gorge, ditch, valley or lowland, overgrown with dense forest and bushes"
Buzuluk - from the Tatar "bozau" - calf, "bosaulik" - veal enclosure
Vladimir - named after Prince Vladimir Monomakh, the founder of the city
Vologda - from Drevnepskoe - a river with white (transparent, clean) water
Vorkuta - from the Nenets language - is a bear area or an area teeming with bears.
Voronezh - there are several theories about the origin of the name. In the opinion of the 19th century linguist-Slavist I. I. Sreznevsky, the word "Voronezh" came from the word "crow." The German linguist M. Vasmer suggested that the name "Voro? Nezh" has a connection with the adjective "Vorono? Y" (black). The opinions of II Sreznevsky and M. Vasmer were united by N.P. Milonov, who suggested that the name is associated with the color of the water in the river. According to the Voronezh regional historian VP Zagorovsky, the name "Voronezh" could come from the possessive adjective "crow?" Of the possibly existing Old Slavic name "Vorone? G".
Gelendzhik - (from Arabic) helendzh - poplar or from Turkish: gelin - bride +? S? K - light
Grayvoron - from the Old Church Slavonic: "play the raven" - that is, "play the raven", or "cry of the raven", or "flock of crows."
Derbent - from Persian "narrow gate"
Yekaterinburg - named after Empress Catherine I
Yelets - from the name of the Elchik river (on old maps the river was designated as Yelets - this is how a spruce forest or a fish can be called)
Izhevsk - the name comes from the river Izh (udm. O?)
Irkutsk - the name of the city comes from the Irkut River, the hydronym has a multi-valued interpretation and is associated with Mongolian-Buryat words denoting strength, energy, spinning, spinning, turning.
Yoshkar-Ola - (from the Mari) - "red city"
Kazan - from the name of the river Kazanka
Kamyzyak - from the Turkic. "amysa", Qamyzaq - reed area
Kandalaksha - according to one version - "a dry place among the marshes by the bay", derived from the Sami words "kant" and "luht". There is also a legend about two brothers - Kant and Lahti, after whom the settlement was named: Kantalahti.
There are interpretations of the Sami origin: "kandas" in Sami means "vyuk" and "luht" - a bay, a lip, i.e. "Pack lip" (the place where reindeer were loaded in the old days)
There is a variant of the origin of the name from the Karelian word "laksha" - the bay and "kanda" - the name of the river flowing into this bay.
But in recent years, researcher A.A.
Kemerovo - probably from the Turkic "kemer" - a mountainside, a coast, a precipice, a hill, a mountain.
Kolomna - Scientific versions:
- from the surrounding of these places by the rivers Oka, Kolomenka and Moscow;
- from the Ryazan words kolomen, kolomenye - meaning the border, that is, Kolomna is a border town
- from the Finno-Ugric word kalma, meaning grave, cemetery
- from the ancient Finno-Ugric words "kol" - fish and "kolva" - a river, that is, a fish river.
- from the Lithuanian kalmas "calamus", kalmyne "thickets of calamus" or "river with thickets of calamus"
Folk etymological versions:
- from the word quarry - near the city they mined (broke) a stone
- from the river "Kolomenka", on the banks of which the market was located, in the old way - menok, that is, "a river near the mena" - Kolomenka
- from the peculiarities of the course of the Oka River, in the area of the city the Oka breaks down (Oka is broken), hence Kolomna, like the Oka is wide in the area of the city
Kashira, Oka lugova near the city of Kaluga
- from the Latin "columna" - a column, which corresponds to the historical and modern coat of arms of the city
Kumertau - the name of the city comes from the heads. K? Mertau - "coal mountain".
Magadan - the name is supposedly derived from the Oroch "mongodan" meaning sea sediment.
Maykop - from the Adyg. Myekuape (mye - apple, kuape - valley, literal translation - valley of apples)
Makhachkala - has this name since 1921 in honor of the revolutionary Makhach Dakhadaev. Previously, this area was called Anzhi-Kala - "pearl city" in the Kumyk language or "adobe fortress" in translation from Dargin.
Mozdok - the name of the settlement comes from the Circassian "mez degu" - "deep (dark) forest"
Moscow - the name of our capital comes from the name of the Moscow river, but the etymology of the origin of the hydronym has not yet been precisely established. One of the variants of the origin of this name is from the ancient Slavic root "mosk" (wet, swampy place).
Murmansk - means "city on Murman". Russian people called Norwegians and Normans "Murmans" or "Urmans". Later, the “Murman” was called the coast of the Barents Sea, and then the entire Kola Peninsula.
Murom - the name of the city comes from the Finno-Ugric tribe Muroma ?, and the word "Muroma", according to one version, comes from the Cheremis verb "Muram" - "I sing" ("Muromo" - a song), therefore "Muroma" is a place singing, fun.
Mytishchi - the name comes from the so-called mytny duty (or "myta"), levied from the merchants of Nadym - translated from Nenets, there are several meanings of the name of the city:
- "nyadei ya" is a land rich in reindeer lichen;
- "ngede ya" - a dry, elevated place where meadow grass grows.
Nalchik - translated from Kabardian and Balkarian means "horseshoe", since geographically the city is located in a semicircle of mountains, reminiscent of a horseshoe
Naryan-Mar - (from Nenets) - "red city"
Omsk - the name comes from the river Om
Penza - the name of the city is associated with the name of the Penza River, according to one version, its name is translated as "The Fire River"
Perm - the name comes from the Vepsian word pera maa - "distant land"
Ryazan - the name of the city by origin is a masculine possessive adjective P? Zan (with the suffix -jь-) from the masculine name P? Zan. The very name "R? Zan" is a short form of the passive participle from "cut" and the verb "cut", thus, "R? Zan" - "Rezanov city".
Salekhard - from n. Sale-Harad - "the city on the cape"
Samara - there is no consensus on the origin of the name of the river and the city of Samara. There are several theories:
- from the word Samur (Iran.) "beaver, otter";
- from Tatar, Chuvash. Samar, Kalmyk. Samr, Chagataisk. "Samar" - bag, Kyrgyz. "Sardar" - a basin, a jug.
- from the Mongolian words "Samar" - "nut, nut" or "samura, samaura" - mix, stir up
- from a combination of the Iranian root "sam" or "sham" or the Hungarian "semar" (desert, steppe) and the Hungarian root "ar" - that is, the steppe river
- on behalf of Noah's son Shem (Herself)
- from the name of the city of Samarkand, which, according to legend, was founded by the ruler Shamar (Samar)
- from biblical Samaria
- from the Arabic "surra min raa" - "the one who sees will be delighted"
- from the combination of the Russian word "sama" and the ancient Greek and ancient Egyptian names of the Volga river "Ra" - "full of water, like Ra herself"
- from the old Russian "Samara", "Samarka"
St. Petersburg - Tsar Peter I named the city in honor of his heavenly patron - the Apostle Peter
Saransk - from the muzzles. "Sara" - large sedge swamp, swampy floodplain
Saratov - there is no generally accepted theory about the origin of the name of the city, there are several versions:
- by the name of Sokolovaya Gora, in Tatar "sary tau" - "yellow mountain";
- from the words "sar atav" - "low-lying island" or "saryk atov" - "hawk island";
- from the Scythian-Iranian hydronym "sarat"
Serpukhov - there is no unambiguous explanation of the origin of the name of the city, there are only versions:
- from the hypothetical name "Serpokh" (derived from "Serp");
- from the name of the Serpeyka river;
- from the serpukha plant;
- from the fact that the Serpeyka river curved around the Cathedral (Red) Mountain in a sickle manner;
- from the fact that sickles were forged in the vicinity of the city;
- from the canonical name Serapion.
Smolensk - there are several versions of the origin of the city's name:
- from the name of the river Smolnya (old Slavic "smol" - black earth);
- from the ethnonym Smolyans;
- from the verb "to grind"
Sortavala - the origin of the name has not been thoroughly clarified. Versions say that, perhaps, "sortavala" is translated as "the power of the devil" - supposedly, it is to this shore that the unclean force expelled from Balaam moored.
According to another version, the name comes from the Finnish "sorttawa" (dissecting), which could refer to the bay dividing the city into two halves
Sochi - translated from the Ubykh language - is a country belonging to Sidi-Akhmet-Pasha
Suzdal - according to one version, the name comes from the Old Slavonic verb "szdati" - "to mold from clay"
Surgut - translated from the Khanty language - "fish place"
Syktyvkar - from the Komi Syktyv - Sysol; kar - city, which means - "city on Sysol"
Taganrog - the name of the city, most likely, is a combination of the words "tagan" and "horn" (meaning "cape"). Another option is from the Turkic. tо? аn - falcon
Tambov - from the Moksha "tomb" - a whirlpool
Temryuk - the city is named after its founder - Prince Temryuk, one of whose daughters was the wife of Ivan the Terrible
Togliatti - from the Greek. ??????????? - letters. "City of the cross"
Tomsk - located on the banks of the Tom River and got its name from it
Tuapse from the Adyghe "Tuapse" - "two rivers", "the area lying below the confluence of two rivers" - the Tuapse River, formed by the confluence of two mountain rivers - Chilipsi (Chilepsy) and Pshenakho (Psinef)
Tula - Dal gives the following explanation to the name: “Tula is a hidden, inaccessible place, behind, a place for protection, shelter, or for imprisonment. The name of the city may be related to this ”.
Some researchers see the similarity of the hydronym "Tula" with the Turkic names: Tuv. tulaa "swamp", "swamp", hack. tool "fish", hack. tula "swamp hummock", Shorsk. tula "dam up the water", there is the Tula river (a tributary of the Ob), which has swamps as its source
Tyumen is a word of Turkic-Mongolian origin and means ten thousand, ten thousand army (compare: the Russian word "darkness")
Ufa - from Bashkir - "dark water"
Khabarovsk - so named in honor of the 17th century explorer Erofei Khabarov
Chelyabinsk - perhaps the name of the fortress "Chelya? Ba" goes back to the Bashkir word "Sil? Be", that is, "depression; a large, shallow pit. " There are other versions:
- The Chelyabinsk fortress was named after the village of Selyaba, which stood on the river. Selyabka;
- on the site of Chelyabinsk there was the Bashkir village of Selyaba;
- the village was founded by the legendary Turkic hero Selyambey;
- the village of the Bashkir Tarkhan Taymas Shaimov, who had the honorary title of Chelyabi;
- on the site of modern Chelyabinsk there were the patrimonial lands of the Turkic hero Selyabi-Chelebi;
- the name comes from the Turkic root "chelyabi" ("selyabi"), that is, "noble"
Read - an exact translation from Sanskrit - "comprehend, understand, observe, know" (compare: the Russian word for "read")
Yaroslavl - the city is named after its founder, Prince Yaroslav the Wise.
Many names, simple and understandable to contemporaries of cities, for us remain just a set of sounds. But unearthing the truth isn't all that difficult. During the resettlement, the Russians met with many peoples, gradually assimilating them. Therefore, one should not be surprised that the names of many ancient cities contain borrowings from the languages of those peoples who lived on the territory of future settlements before the annexation of their lands to Russia.
Moscow
Moscow - founded by Prince Yuri Dolgoruky in 1147. The city got its name from the Moscow river, near which it was founded. According to the modern version, the origin of the name of the river is derived from the ancient Slavic root "mosk", which means a wet, swampy place. The ancient version of the name is Moskov.
St. Petersburg
St. Petersburg - the name of the city was given by the founder, Tsar Peter the Great in honor of his heavenly patron, the Apostle Peter. Peter I was baptized on June 29, 1672, on Peter's day, so the desire to name a new city in honor of his saint is quite understandable for the great tsar. However, initially this name was borne by a fortress based on the Hare Island, from which the construction of the city began in 1703. After the construction of the Cathedral of Peter and Paul, the fortress became known as Peter and Paul, and the name Petersburg became the name of the city built around it.
Vladimir
Named after Prince Vladimir Monomakh, the founder of the city.
Yaroslavl
The city is named after its founder, Prince Yaroslav the Wise. This is what the name says - the old possessive form from the word Yaroslav. Although, judging by the finds of archaeologists, settlements on the site of the city existed earlier
Suzdal
The ancient form of the name is Suzhdal, the spelling Souzhdal is found. The name comes from the Old Slavonic word "to sit", that is, to build.
Velikiy Novgorod
Novgorod, a new city founded by Slavic settlers in 859, but some researchers, relying on archaeological finds, date the foundation of the city to the middle of the 8th century AD. Since then, Novgorod has not changed its name. For a long time it was one of the centers of trade. There are names of the city in other languages, of which the most famous are Holmgard, as the Scandinavians called Novgorod, Ostrogard of Germanic sources and Nemogard, as the city was called in Byzantium.
Nizhny Novgorod
Founded in 1221 by Prince Georgy Vsevolodovich at the confluence of the two great rivers Volga and Oka as a stronghold for the defense of the borders of the Vladimir principality from the Mokshans, Erzyans, Mari and Volga Bulgars. The town was named Novgorod Nizov land (Nizov land Vladimir principality was called Novgorodians) - later this name was transformed into Nizhny Novgorod.
In 1932, the city received the name Gorky in honor of the writer Maxim Gorky (Alexei Maksimovich Peshkov)
In 1990, the city was renamed Nizhny Novgorod again.
Voronezh
The city, the appearance of which is associated with the organization of the protection of the territories of Russia from the steppe nomads. The archive contains an order of the boyar Nikita Romanovich Yuryev dated March 1, 1586 on the reorganization of the guard service on the southern outskirts of the Moscow state, in which it is written: Pine, before reaching Oskol, two bottoms, ordered to put the city of Livny, and on the Don on Voronezh, before reaching the Bogatovo backwater two bottoms, ordered to put Voronezh ... ". Nevertheless, the entry in the Discharge Order of 1585 "about the unsubscription of Ryazan boarding and fishing to the new city of Voronezh" proves that Voronezh already existed in 1585. Nevertheless, officially the year of foundation of Voronezh is 1586. According to one of the most probable versions, the name "Voronezh" comes from the possessive adjective "Voronezh" of the ancient Slavic name "Voroneg". Later the name Voronezh ceased to be associated with the name, and the stress moved to the second syllable. Voronezh began to call the place, and then the river. The city built on it became known as Voronezh.
Tula
Tula is the oldest city in Russia, the first mention in the chronicle dates back to 1146. Of great importance in the defense of the southern borders of the state from the raids of the Krymchaks, the restless border with Lithuania. The city is a fortress in the south, in the 14th century it was in the possession of the wife of Khan Taydula, 1503 annexation to the Muscovy, a stone Kremlin was built as the basis for the further growth of the city. In the Turkic language, Tul and Tula bears the designation of a swamp, a river. This is just one of the versions, according to Dal, the city comes from the word secret, in other words, a secret refuge hides. It seems that the word - to crouch, which has the meaning - to hide somewhere, to duck, to find shelter - has the same etymology as Tula.
Eagle
Almost everyone associates the name of the city of Oryol with a beautiful strong bird. It is no coincidence that the eagle sitting on the tower of the fortress is depicted on the coat of arms of this city. However, at present, some philologists are trying to dispute the etymology of the name, saying that the word "eagle" initially only described the features of the terrain.
Some associate the origin of the name of the city of Oryol with one legend. The fact is that by order of Ivan the Terrible, the construction of a fortress city was started, this event is attributed to 1566. The main task was to protect the borders from the raids of the Crimean Tatars. At the confluence of two rivers called Oka and Orlik, a mighty oak grew in those days, and when they began to cut it, an eagle flew from the tree. It is believed that at this moment one of the lumberjacks uttered the legendary phrase: "Here is the owner." By chance, it was in honor of this bird that Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich ordered to name the future city.
There is another version of the origin of the name of the city. Previously, the river, merging with the Oka, was called in no other way as the Oryol. It is believed that it was renamed only in 1784, after which it became known as Orlik. In 1565, having examined the surroundings of the future city, the king chose a place to start construction - the confluence of two rivers, and it was in honor of the then existing river Orel that the city got its name. Some philologists who studied the etymology of the name of the Orel River came to the conclusion that it came from the Türkic word "ayry", which means "corner" in translation. It is about the visual perception of the confluence of two rivers. Indeed, if you look at the place where the city is built from a high point, you can see an acute angle. It is no coincidence that this area was chosen for the construction of a fortress, because on both sides it is reliably protected by nature itself.
Saratov
The city was founded on July 2, 1590 by order of Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich by Grigory Zasekin and boyar Fyodor Turov, as a fortress to protect against raids of nomads. However, settlements on the site of the city have been known since much more ancient times. There is no generally accepted hypothesis of the origin of the name at the moment. In the recent past, it was believed that Saratov got its name from Sokolovaya Gora, which was called in Tatar "sary tau" - "yellow mountain". However, now this hypothesis has been refuted, since Sokolovaya was never yellow, and there was always a forest on it. There is an assumption that the name of the city came from the words "sar atav" - "low-lying island" or "saryk atov" - "hawk island". There is an assumption that Saratov got its name from the Scythian-Iranian hydronym "Sarat".
Samara
The city is named in honor of the Samara River, on the banks of which in 1586, by order of Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich, under the leadership of Prince Grigory Zasekin, the Samara town fortress began to be built. The name of the river that gave the city its name is known from earlier times as "Samur" and in 922 it is mentioned in the travel notes of the secretary of the Arab embassy to the Volga Bulgars Ahmed Ibn-Fadlan and comes from the ancient Iranian samur meaning "beaver". Russian and Turkic names of rivers in the Samara basin for this animal are not unique at the present time (such as Konduzla, Bobrovka). According to another version, the name comes from the Greek word "samar", that is, a merchant. VF Barashkov associated the name of the river with the Mongolian word Samar with the meaning of "nut, nut". The name of the river is also derived: from a combination of the Iranian root "sam" or "sham" or the Hungarian "semar" (desert, steppe) and the Hungarian root "ar" - that is, the steppe river; from the Mongolian "samura, samaura" - to mix, stir up; from the Arabic “surra min raa” - “the one who sees will be delighted”; on behalf of Noah's son Shem (Sam), who allegedly owned lands from the Volga and Samara shores to the southeast, including the countries of Asia; from biblical Samaria; from the old Russian "samara", "samarka" - long-length clothing.
In 1935 Samara was renamed Kuibyshev.
Volgograd
The name is based on the Volga River, on which the city stands.
The first name of the city, Tsaritsyn, was first mentioned by the English traveler Christopher Barro in 1579, but did not refer to the city, but to an island on the Volga. The origin of the name is usually traced to the Turkic "sary-su" (yellow water), "sary-sin" (yellow island) or to the name of the old Khazar city of Saracen, destroyed by the flood of the river. The date of foundation of the city is considered to be July 2, 1589, when the name of the Tsaritsyn Fortress was first mentioned in the tsar's charter, but excavations have shown that primitive settlements on this place existed long before the formation of the Russian state. The fortress was located slightly above the confluence of the Tsaritsa River into the Volga on the high right bank. The settlement was located at the place of the crossing over the Itil River (now the Volga) and the intersection of many trade routes, including the main Great Silk Road from China to Europe.
Izhevsk
The city is named after the Izh River, on the banks of which it is located. Grew up from the Izhevsk ironworks, founded in 1760 and the adjacent village.
Rostov-on-Don
Founded as a customs post on December 15, 1749. Later, in 1760-1701, a fortress named in honor of St. Dmitry of Rostov was built in the settlement that arose near the customs house to protect against the attacks of nomads. The name of the city of Rostov comes from the name of this fortress. To distinguish it from Rostov the Great, the city is called Rostov-on-Don.
Arkhangelsk
The first Russian settlements on Cape Pur-Navolok, on the bend of the marshy right bank of the Northern Dvina, were founded by Novgorodians back in the 12th century. By the same time, according to legend, the emergence in this place of the Archangel Michael Monastery, named after the Archangel Michael. However, the monastery was first mentioned in the chronicles only in 1419. Near the monastery were located the Pomor villages of the Nizovskaya volost - Lisostrov, Knyazhostrov, Uyma, Lylyavia and others. In 1583, due to the danger of an attack from Sweden, Ivan IV the Terrible decided to strengthen the defense of Pomorie. In the following year, 1584, according to the plan received from the tsar, the governor Pyotr Afanasyevich Nashchokin and Alexei Nikiforovich Zaleshanin-Volokhov built a fortified city around the monastery and adjacent settlements, named after the monastery as the Arkhangelsk city. Officially, this name was approved on August 1, 1613, after the city received independence in management.
Khabarovsk
It was founded in May 1858 as a military post called Khabarovka - in honor of the 17th century explorer Erofei Khabarov. The founding date is May 31, 1858. In 1880, Khabarovka received the status of a city. On November 2 (October 21, old style), 1893, the city was renamed Khabarovsk.
Kirov
The city that was "lucky" to change its names. The first name by which he was known was Khlynov. There are several versions of the origin of the name Khlynov. The first one is based on the cry of the Khly-Khly birds that lived in the region of the city's formation: ... A kite flies by and shouts: "Kylno-kylno". So the Lord Himself indicated how to name the city: Kylnov ...
According to the second, the city was given the name of the river Khlynovitsa, which flows into Vyatka nearby, which, in turn, was so named after a breakthrough on a small dam: ... water gushed through it, and the river was named Khlynovitsa ...
The third theory connects the name with the word hlyn (ushkuinik, river robber), although most experts attribute a later appearance to this word.
The second name of the city was the name Vyatka. Some researchers are inclined to believe that it came from the name of the territorial group of the Udmurts Vatka, who lived in these territories, which was derived from the Udmurt word vad “otter, beaver”. However, such an etymology is completely unrealistic from a linguistic point of view. The name Vatka itself was formed from the hydronym Vyatka. According to another version, it is associated with the Vyada people, who had close relationships with the Udmurts. Some sources mistakenly correlate the word Vyatka with the Vyatichi tribes who lived on the banks of the Oka. However, the word Vyatchane is recognized as the correct self-name, it was established as an ethno-burial to the inhabitants of the Vyatka Territory. In addition, historically, such a correlation is completely unjustified: the Vyatichi did not go so far to the east. Today, the most relevant version is L.N. Old Russian vyache "more").
The city received the name Kirov after the murder in 1934 of a native of the city of Urzhum, Vyatka Territory, Sergei Mironovich Kostrikov (Kirov).
The chronology of the renaming of the city is extremely complex and ambiguous, since there are few historical documents that confirm the fact of renaming itself. Usually, when they talk about the old names of Kirov, they use a simplified chain of transformations Khlynov - Vyatka - Kirov, and indeed, when it was founded in 1181, the city was named Khlynov. Since 1374 (the first mention of Vyatka) the word Khlynov is not found in any official document or chronicle, on the contrary, Vyatka was found on the maps of that time, and even was included in the "List of all Russian cities far and near", where it was in the section so called "Zalessky" cities after Nizhny Novgorod and Kurmysh. In 1455, a wooden Kremlin with an earthen rampart was built in Vyatka for defensive purposes, which was given the name of the nearby Khlynovitsy river. Subsequently, the name Khlynov spread to the posad part of the city, and from 1457 the whole city began to be called Khlynov. In 1780, by the highest decree of the All-Russian Empress Catherine II, the name of Vyatka was returned to the city, and the Vyatka province was transformed into the Vyatka governorate and passed from the Siberian province to the Kazan province. On December 5, 1934, by the decree of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR, Vyatka was named after Sergei Mironovich Kirov.
The city is located in a region with a large representation of national minorities, therefore, names in other languages have historically been assigned to it. In Mari it is called "Ilna" or "Ilna-Ola" ("ola" in translation from Mari means "city"). In the Udmurt language it is called “Vatka” and “Kylno”. In Tatar, the name of Kirov sounds like "Kolyn". All these names are outdated and are not used in modern speech.
Ekaterinburg
The construction of the city began in the spring of 1723, when, by decree of Emperor Peter I, the construction of the largest iron-making plant in Russia began on the banks of the Iset River. The city was born on November 7 (18), 1723, the plant-fortress was named Yekaterinburg - in honor of Empress Catherine I, wife of Peter I. “... a new fortress, which was built in the Ugric province by the Iset river, and in it factories from different factories and manufactories, named Yekaterinburg in the name, for the memory of eternal birth and for the eternal glory of her majesty, the most merciful empress sovereign; ... "On October 14, 1924, the Yekaterinburg City Council decided to rename the city to Sverdlovsk in honor of Yakov Sverdlov, a leader of the Communist Party and the Soviet state. On September 4, 1991, the name of Yekaterinburg was returned to the city. The name "Yekaterinburg" was returned to the railway station on March 30, 2010.
Chelyabinsk
The city was founded in 1736, on September 13, Colonel A. I. Tevkelev “founded the city in the Chelyabi tract from the Miyass fortress thirty versts”. The origin of this place name is ambiguous. The oldest explanation that existed among the descendants of the first settlers and old-timers says that the name of the fortress "Chelyaba" goes back to the Bashkir word "Silube", that is, "depression; a large, shallow pit. " It was given by the name of the tract. This version is supported by the notes of the German traveler I.G. Gmelin, who visited the Chelyabinsk fortress in 1742. Today, this version can be considered the most widespread. Subsequently, various alternative versions appeared: According to the researcher A.V. Orlov, the Chelyabinsk fortress was named after the village of Selyaba, which stood on the river. Selyabka.
Permian
The official date of the beginning of the construction of the Yegoshikhinsky (Yagoshikhinsky) copper-smelting plant is considered to be the day of the founding of the city - May 4 (15), 1723. Until now, the origin of the name Perm has three interpretations: either it is the Finno-Ugric expression "perra maa" - "distant land", or it is the Komi-Permian "parma", which means "taiga". Often they find a connection in the name of Perm and the ancient land of Biarmia from Viking legends. According to another hypothesis, the origin of the word is associated with the name of the hero of the Permian Komi epic Pera - a hero. In some Finno-Ugric languages “peri” means spirit (Udmurt “peri” - evil spirit, Mordovian “peri” - spirit of the winds). Perhaps the Kama Komi were called Perm because they were patronized from ancient times by the all-powerful spirit - the god Per.
Kazan
There are several versions and legends about the origin of the name of Kazan. The version of a boiling cauldron is generally accepted: the sorcerer advised the Bulgars to build a city where, without any fire, a cauldron of water dug into the ground would boil. As a result, a similar place was found on the shores of Lake Kaban. Hence the name of the city of Kazan - "kazan" in ancient Bulgarian, as well as in modern Tatar, means "cauldron". Other versions associate the name of the city with the landscape, the Tatar words "kaen" (birch) or "kaz" (goose), Prince Hasan and other variants. According to the current official version, the city was founded at least 1000 years ago. The basis for this dating is a Czech coin found during excavations on the territory of the Kazan Kremlin, dated to the reign of St. Wenceslas (presumably minted in 929-930)
Astrakhan
The history of Astrakhan dates back to the 13th century. We find the first mention of it in the Italian traveler Francesco Pegalotti, who visited Guitarhan (as Astrakhan was called in the first quarter of the 14th century) and wrote a description of his journey from Tana (Azov) to China. The city was located on the right bank of the Volga, 12 km from modern Astrakhan and at different times was called: Ajitarkhan, Ashtrarkhan, Tsitrakhan. For many years now and then there have been disputes about the origin of the name of Astrakhan. One of the theories explains the name of the city by the fact that the descendants of the warlike Sarmatian tribes - the Ases lived in these parts. For military merits, they received a letter from Batu Khan - tarkhan, exempting them from duties in favor of the state. It was a great honor. In commemoration of this event, the Ases gave the name to the city "Astarkhan". But there is a written source - a description of the Arab traveler Ibn - Batuta in 1334: “This city got its name from the Turkic hajji (pilgrim to Mecca), one of the pious who settled in this place. The Sultan gave him this place duty-free (i.e. made him a tarhan), and it became a village, then it increased and became a city. It is one of the best cities with large bazaars, built on the Itila River. " In "Walking Beyond Three Seas" Afanasy Nikitin in 1466 confirms that "Aztorkhan, Khoztoran, Astrakhan is a Russified form from Khadzhi - Tarkhan."
Ufa
According to one of the versions, initially, the ancient city, located on the territory of modern Ufa, was named Bashkort. This is indicated by a number of sources: Western European cartographers (Catalan Atlas, Mercator, the Pitsigani brothers, etc.), Eastern historians (Ibn Khaldun, “Kunkh al-Akhbar”), Bashkir sources themselves (“Bashkir history” by Kidryas Mullakayev, "Usargan tarikhy"). The modern name of the city - Ufa, was obviously a later name. So, in the Bashkir chronicle of the XVI century. "Daftar-i-Chingiz-name" palace at the mouth of the Ufa river appears under the name Ulu Oba. Here “ulu” is the oldest, the oldest, “both” is a high place, a mound. Obviously, the term "Oba" became the progenitor of the modern "Ufa". In the memorable book of the Orenburg province, published in 1865, the following version of the origin of the name of the city is given: "On the right elevated banks of Bѣloy - the city of Ufa, (the Bashkir word means" dark water ") so called long ago by the Bashkirs"
Novosibirsk
The emergence of the first Russian settlement on the territory of modern Novosibirsk dates back to the last decade of the 17th century - the beginning of Peter's rule. Called Krivoshchekovskaya (after the nickname of the Tomsk serviceman Fyodor Krenitsyn, who was called Krivoshchek for the saber scar on his face), this village, at least until 1712, served as a trade center between Russians and Teleuts, who were the owners of the lands on the other side of the Ob. This circumstance determined the nature of the settlement of the territory of the future Novosibirsk: the right bank of the Ob was not popular with Russian colonists, since there, even after the Teleuts left, the fortress of one of the tribes subordinate to them continued to stand. Apparently, the representatives of this tribe (the Russians called them "chats") were not friendly, so the pioneers of Russian colonization preferred to settle down on the left bank, where a conglomerate of two dozen villages and villages huddled together was formed. In any case, by the end of the 18th century, the territory of the modern Novosibirsk Left Bank was completely populated. The history of the right bank of the future capital of Siberia developed on April 30, 1893, when the first batch of bridge builders arrived here. This moment is considered to be the official date of birth of Novosibirsk. The working village grew up not far from the remains of the Chat fortress, near the mouth of the Kamenka river. This place was notorious and was called "Devil's Settlement", but the workers still built their own barracks, to the north of which the railway station "Ob" and the village were erected. Soon the two settlements merged. On December 28, 1903, Emperor Nicholas II issued an imperial order, according to which "the settlement of Novo-Nikolaevsk at the Ob station" was raised to the level of a countyless city with an area of 881 dessiatines of 2260 square fathoms.
Omsk
Named for the Omka River. The first Omsk fortress was founded in 1716 by a Cossack detachment under the command of I. D. Bukholts, who set out to expand and strengthen the borders of the Russian Empire by the decree of Peter I. Omsk served as a border fortress to protect against raids of nomads, until 1797 it was a prison. According to popular legend, the name comes from the abbreviation of the phrase "a remote place of exile of convicts", however, this version remains just folklore.
Krasnoyarsk
The city was built like a prison (fortress). According to the plan, the Verkhneyeniseisky fort, or Kachinsky fort, was to be named. At first, in the documents, the prison was called the New Kachinsky prison. Probably, earlier on the Kacha River there already existed a winter hut, or a yasak collection point. N.V. Latkin wrote that in 1608, in the valley of the Kacha River, a prison already existed, built by people from the Ket prison. GF Miller in his "History of Siberia" uses the names "New Kachinsky prison" and "New Kachinsky Red prison". Since the middle of the 17th century, the name "Krasny Yar" has already begun to be used. "Krasny Yar" - from the name of the place of its construction - "Khizil char", which in the language of the Kachins meant "Yar (high bank or hill, cliff) of red color". In Russian, “red” in those days also meant “beautiful”: “The place is nice, high and red. It is possible to build a sovereign de jail on that place, ”wrote Andrei Dubensky in a letter to the Tsar. The name "Krasnoyarsk" was given when receiving the status of the city.
Vladivostok
The name "Vladivostok" is derived from the words "to own" and "East". For a long time, the Russian government was looking for a stronghold in the Far East; this role was alternately performed by Okhotsk, Ayan, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Nikolaevsk-on-Amur. By the middle of the 19th century, the search for an outpost came to a standstill: none of the ports met the necessary requirement: to have a convenient and protected harbor, next to trade routes. The Aigun Treaty was concluded by the forces of the Governor-General of Eastern Siberia Nikolai Muravyov-Amursky, an active exploration of the Amur Region began, and later, as a result of the signing of the Tianjin and Peking Treaties, the territories of modern Vladivostok were annexed to Russia. The very name Vladivostok appeared in the middle of 1859, was used in newspaper articles and denoted a bay. On June 20 (July 2), 1860, the transport of the Siberian Flotilla "Mandzhur" under the command of Lieutenant-Commander Alexei Karlovich Shefner delivered a military unit to the Golden Horn Bay to establish a military post, which has now officially received the name of Vladivostok
One can truly cognize oneself only through cognition of the surrounding world. Travel helps a person in this. Everyone is free to choose their own path: someone, tired of the noise of the metropolis, goes to nature - to test himself and return to the origins of human life. Some, on the contrary, rush to places with a developed information space, where every little thing is important, where the brain works to its fullest. Many begin to study the surrounding reality from their small homeland, delve into the history of the region or region, study the surroundings. As a rule, the next stage of learning about the world is a real journey through the home country.
What were the cities in Russia called
The centuries-old history of Russia is filled with many significant events for further development. These include the period of the Tatar-Mongol yoke, Yermak's campaign to Siberia and its annexation to the territory of the Russian state, the window cut into Europe by Peter the Great, and so on. These facts are reflected in the Russian language. For example, the words "caravan", "watermelon", "noodles", "fog", to which today's people are so accustomed, were borrowed from the Tatar language. The "camp" and "resort" were once imported from modern Germany. "Marmalade" and "actor" came from France in the nineteenth century. All of the above refers to the category of everyday words often used in colloquial speech. We don’t think about their origin, just as we don’t think about the origin of the names of cities.
Similar historical situations have influenced place names as well. So, "Derbent" is the Persian "narrow gate". "Chita" is understood as well as "read", from Sanskrit it is translated as "comprehend" or "know". "Murom" comes from the Cheremis "murom", which means "a place of fun and songs". "Perm" in translation from Vepsian means "distant land". "Ufa" literally from Bashkir means "dark water". There are many such examples, and, digging a little deeper, you begin to understand how the names of cities and the history, culture and traditions of the peoples living in this place are connected.
Other countries can boast of an eventful history - the place names in them have a special sense of humor. In America, for example, there is a town whose name translates as "why". In Canada, you can stumble upon "the abyss of the bison crashed to death." The name of the German commune, as it were, calls tourists to action - it translates as "kissing". It is worth noting that the names of cities by the name of the founder also exist abroad. In America, you can stumble upon a small town of Quincy, named after John Quincy Adams, who holds the post of Secretary of State of the United States of America.
“Mother Russia is wide and immense,” our ancestors used to say. The newly made tourist is convinced of this. The number of settlements, small and large, is in the thousands. This is where the real discoveries begin regarding uncommon toponyms. What are the villages of Taz and Bolshie Pupsy, the Tukhlyanka river, the village of Tako ... Often geographical names reflect the history of a place. So, the name (Kharkiv region) comes from the Tatar "guzun" - ferry. Knowing this, one can understand that much earlier in this place there was an important crossing over the local river. However, such conclusions can only be drawn by linguists. More interesting for ordinary people are the names of cities by the name of the founder, because they indicate a specific historical person.
People's love
Geographical names always carry some specific meaning. Like the names of important city streets, cities named after a particular person recognize that person's merits. Sometimes you have to sacrifice historical place names. This fact demonstrates the deep respect of the inhabitants of the settlement for the bearer of the name given to their small homeland. In this regard, a reasonable question arises: which cities are named after people?
Long live the revolution!
Most of the renaming of cities and towns dates back to the twentieth century. The leaders of the revolutionary movement enjoyed the greatest respect at that time, and, according to popular opinion, it was their names that should adorn the names of settlements. A wave of change in toponyms swept the RSFSR, in this regard, it is appropriate to answer the previously asked question (which cities are named after people) with a list:
- Leningrad (formerly St. Petersburg);
- Ulyanovsk (formerly - Simbirsk);
- the village of Karl Marx (located in the Tver region);
- Sverdlovsk (formerly and currently - Yekaterinburg);
- Kuibyshev (formerly and currently - Samara);
- Kaliningrad (formerly - Königsberg);
- Dzerzhinsk (formerly Rastyapino, Chernoe);
- Frunze (currently - Bishkek);
- Makhachkala (formerly Anzhi-Kala).
Thus, the origin of the names of Russian cities is not always exclusively etymological. There are also known renames associated with the life and work of significant persons. For example, the names of V.G.Belinsky and A.S. Pushkin were assigned to the cities to which the data are directly related. Khabarovsk is named after the seventeenth century explorer who discovered this city. The name of the Ukrainian city of Pereyaslav was later added to the surname of Bogdan Khmelnitsky, who contributed to the reunification of Ukraine and the Russian Empire.
City names by founder name
As mentioned above, while traveling around the Russian Federation, you can discover incredible, at first glance, geographical names. In addition to funny and vaguely familiar toponyms formed from borrowed words or from the names of famous historical figures, there are also proper names. It is logical to assume that they were named after their founder. Obviously, the origin of the names of Russian cities can have a very different background.
Yuryev-Polsky
This provincial town in the north of the Vladimir region is a treasure trove of cultural and historical heritage of Russia. It was founded in the middle of the twelfth century by the great Moscow prince - Yuri Dolgoruky. The name of the city comes from the name of the founder. An example of the description of the area surrounding the town is "Russian field-pole", therefore this primordially Russian settlement has a rare compound name. One of the main attractions of Yuryev-Polsky is St. George's Cathedral - a unique architectural monument of Ancient Russia, the date of construction of which dates back to the second quarter of the thirteenth century. No less important is the Archangel Michael Monastery, on the territory of which ancient churches are located.
The churches of Nikita the Martyr and the Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos deserve close attention. The construction of a complex of two buildings dates back to the end of the eighteenth century, which is what distinguishes the churches from other architectural monuments. And if the Church of the Intercession was erected in the image of traditional Russian cathedrals, then the Church of Nikita the Martyr is a building designed in the Empire style, with a red brick bell tower that towers over the entire city.
Vladimir
Like the previous one, it is part of the Golden Ring of Russia. It was named after Vladimir Monomakh, whose reign dates back to the eleventh century. Vladimir is located in the region of two hundred kilometers east of Moscow. Many trials fell to his lot, which predetermined the course of the history of the whole country. The fact is that Vladimir was one of the most influential cities in Russia during the period of feudal fragmentation. In those days, large administrative centers fought with each other for power in the state. In the end, Moscow was victorious. However, this majestic city fully claimed the title of the capital.
The centuries-old history of Vladimir is reflected in the rich culture of the city. Now thousands of tourists come here to see with their own eyes the Assumption Cathedral, built in the twelfth century, the Golden Gate, which is rightfully considered a masterpiece of architecture of Ancient Russia, the Patriarch's Gardens, the Water Tower ... The list of Vladimir's sights is not limited to this, the city has something to show to the whole world !
St. Petersburg
The list of city names by the name of the founder includes the cultural capital of Russia - St. Petersburg. The first stone on the site of the future city was laid by Peter the Great himself; now the majestic Peter and Paul Fortress rises on that very spot. It is worth noting that the first emperor of the Russian Empire named the city not by his own name, but by the name of his patron, the Apostle Peter. Nevertheless, everyone who meets St. Petersburg understands the city's connection with the great reformer of the Russian state. And it will take more than one page to list even a small part of the sights of St. Petersburg - it is better to see everything with your own eyes.
Temryuk
This small city is located at the mouth of the Kuban, not far from Krasnodar, on the shores of the Azov Sea. This settlement was founded by Prince Temryuk, son-in-law of Ivan the Terrible. At the moment, Temryuk is famous for its breathtaking landscapes and mud volcanoes. Many travelers come to this town to find peace of mind: fields, sea, forests - what else does a person need to feel truly free?
Yaroslavl
There are many names of cities by the name of the founder in Russia. Yaroslavl is not the last on this list. It was founded back in the eleventh century by Yaroslav the Wise, who was nicknamed so for his significant contribution to the culture of the country. In terms of reputation, the city is in no way inferior to its founder - countless sights clearly demonstrate how old and majestic Yaroslavl is. Travelers from all over the world come here to see the Church of Peter and Paul, "House with Lions", Peter and Paul Park, which carefully preserves the heritage of the great Emperor Peter Alekseevich.
But in Yaroslavl, modernity is in no way inferior to the historical heritage. So, here you can see the unique Yaroslavl Zoo - the only landscape-type zoo in Russia. The Yaroslavl station building is an architectural complex - a monument of modern monumental art. The Yaroslavl Museum-Reserve is rightfully called the heart of the city. Located in the very center, it carefully protects the oldest Spaso-Preobrazhensky monastery and several churches. Antiquity side by side with modernity - this is what the real Yaroslavl is.
Everywhere you look - everywhere you look
The variety of geographical names in Russia is amazing. A person who goes on a trip to his native country for the first time constantly discovers something new for himself. There are funny toponyms, whose meaning can be understood only by looking in an etymological dictionary or reference book on history, and a settlement, whose name has changed depending on the course of modern history, and the name of the city by the name of the founder ... The list is long. It's better to take the time and see it all with your own eyes.
Russia has a great many different cities. Some are heard by everyone, and not everyone knows about the existence of some. But here we will not discuss the cities that no one knows about. Here we will try to tell you about the origin of the names of some cities in Russia.
1.Moscow- The capital of our Motherland. The name of the capital comes from the Moskva River, and not vice versa, as many think. But why the river was called Moscow is still debated. The most widespread opinion is that the word comes from the ancient Slavic root "mosk" - a wet or swampy place.
2. St. Petersburg - The city was named by Peter I in honor of the holy Apostle Peter, and not in honor of himself, as many people again think.
3. Yaroslavl- The city was named after its founder Yaroslav the Wise.
4. Khabarovsk- The city is named in honor of Erovei Khabarov, an explorer.
5. Ufa- translated from Bashkir means "Dark Water".
6. Yekaterinburg - The city is named after Empress Catherine I.
7. Smolensk- there are several versions of the origin of this city. The most common is from the name of the river Smolnya (Chernozem). The second version comes from the ethnic group - Smolyan.
8. Penza- as Moscow was named after the river, respectively Penza. The word itself is translated as "Water of Fire".
9. Omsk- the same. The name comes from the river - Om.
10. Perm- comes from the Vespa word "Pera Maa", which translates as "Distant Land".
11. Murmansk- a city on Murman. Initially, the Norwegians were called Murmans, and later they began to call the coast of the Barents Sea that way.
12. Kolomna- there are several versions of the origin of the names of this city. The first version - the name comes from the Kolomenka River. This river was located near the market (then it was called the menok), that is, it turned out "a river near the menok". The second version says that there was a quarry nearby, after which the city was named. From the Latin "columna", which means "Column", which is depicted on the coat of arms of the city.
13. Yoshkar-Ola - The Red City (from the Mari).
14. Gelendzhik - translated from Arabic (Helendzh) means "Poplar".
15. Vorkuta- translated from German "Bear area".
16. Vologda- "river with white (clean) water" in Old Speech.
17. Vladimir- everything is clear here. The city is named after the ruler Vladimir Monomakh.
18. Barnaul- There are two versions of the origin. According to the first version, the name comes from the camp, which was called "Aul Barna" (Barn is one of the nomads of the Siberian Khanate). The second version says that the name comes from the river "Barnaulka", which means "Wolf River" or "Mutnaya River".
19. Arkhangelsk - the name of the city was given in honor of the Archangel Michael.
20. Chelyabinsk - comes from the name of the fortress "Chelyaba", which translates as "Hollow" or "Deep pit".
21. Bryansk- the name of the city comes from the word D'bryansk, which in turn comes from the word Dbr, which means a cliff, a ditch, a slope.
22. Irkutsk- translated from Buryat means "Capricious".
23. Kaliningrad - as you already understood, in honor of Mikhail Ivanovich Kalinin.
24. Kemerovo- from the Turkic "Kemer" - slope, precipice. (Essentially the same as Bryansk).
25. Kursk- the name comes from the popular term "Kurya", which means "river bay" or "backwater".
26. Lipetsk- like many old cities, this city was named after the river. In this case, it was the Lipovka River.
27. Ryazan- here again there is no common opinion. One opinion says that the name of the city is formed from the word "Ryasa" - swamp, or from the word "Ryaska" - river algae. Another opinion says that the name is derived from the word "Erzya" - the name of the Mordovian ethnos.
28. Ulyanovsk - the city is named after Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (Ulyanov).
29. Krasnoyarsk - the city is named from the phrase "Red Yar". Yar in the language of the Kachin people meant a high bank or a hill. That is, Krasnoyarsk can be translated as "Red Coast" or "Red Coast".
30. Stavropol - the name is formed by the merger of two words - "Stavros", which translates as "Cross", and "Polis", which translates as a city, that is, "City of the Cross".
Today this is all that concerns the origin of the names of cities in Russia. In the next posts we will look at the names of other cities.