Cities of Russia. Origin of names

Many names, simple and understandable to contemporaries of cities, for us remain just a set of sounds. But unearthing the truth is not so difficult. During the resettlement, the Russians met with many peoples, gradually assimilating them. Therefore, one should not be surprised that in the names of many ancient cities there are borrowings from the languages ​​of those peoples who lived on the territory of future settlements before joining their lands to Russia.

Moscow - founded by Prince Yuri Dolgoruky in 1147. The city was named after the Moscow River, near which it was founded. The origin of the name of the river according to the modern version is derived from the ancient Slavic root "mosk", which means a wet, swampy place.
The ancient version of the name is Moskov.

3. 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 the new city in honor of his saint is quite understandable for the great tsar. However, initially this name was given to a fortress based on Hare Island, from which the construction of the city began in 1703.
year. 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.

4.Vladimir

It is named after Prince Vladimir Monomakh, the founder of the city.

5.Yaroslavl

The city is named after the founder, Prince Yaroslav the Wise. What the name also says is the old possessive form from the word Yaroslav. Although, judging by the finds of archaeologists, settlements on the site of the city existed earlier.

6.Suzdal

The ancient form of the name is Suzhdal, the spelling Souzhdal is found. The name comes from the word Old Slavonic word"to grow", that is, to build.

7.Veliky Novgorod

Novgorod, a new city founded by Slavic settlers in 859, but some researchers, relying on archaeological finds, attribute the foundation of the city to the middle of the 8th century AD. Novgorod has not changed its name since then. 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.

8.Nizhny Novgorod

It was 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 Moksha, Erzya, Mari and Volga Bulgars. The town was named Novgorod of the Nizovsky land (Nizovsky land of the Vladimir principality was called by the Novgorodians) - later this name was transformed into Nizhny Novgorod.
In 1932, the city received the name Gorky in honor of the writer Maxim Gorky (Alexey Maksimovich Peshkov)
In 1990, the city again became known as Nizhny Novgorod.

9.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 the 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. However, the entry in the Order of 1585 "about the unsubscribing of Ryazan side boats and fishing grounds to the new city of Voronezh" proves that Voronezh already existed in 1585. Nevertheless, 1586 is officially considered the year of foundation of Voronezh. According to one of
The most likely versions of the name "Voronezh" came from the possessive adjective "Voronezh" of the Old Slavic name "Voroneg".
In the future, the name "Voronezh" ceased to be associated with the name, and the stress moved to the second syllable. Voronezh began to be called the place, and then the river. The city built on it became known as Voronezh.

10. Saratov

The city was founded on July 2, 1590 by order of Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich Grigory Zasekin and boyar Fyodor Turov, as a fortress to protect against nomadic raids. However, settlements on the site of the city have been known since much more ancient times. There is currently no generally accepted hypothesis for the origin of the name. In the recent past, it was believed that Saratov got its name from Sokolova Mountain, which was called in Tatar "sary tau" - "yellow mountain". However, now this hypothesis has been refuted, since Sokolovaya has never been yellow, and a forest has always grown on it. There is an assumption that the name of the city comes 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".

11. Samara

The city is named after 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 has been known since earlier times as "Samur" and in 922 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 the rivers in the Samara basin for this animal are not single at the present time (such as Konduzla, Bobrovka). According to another version, the name comes from the Greek word "samar", that is, a merchant. V. F. Barashkov associated the name of the river with the Mongolian word Samar with the meaning "nut, walnut". The name of the river is also derived: from the Mongolian "samura, samaura" - to mix, stir up; from the Arabic "surra min raa" - "he who sees will be delighted"; on behalf of the son of Noah Sim (Sama), 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-sleeved clothes.
In 1935 Samara was renamed Kuibyshev.
On January 28, 1991, the name Samara was returned to the city.

12.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 Saratsin, 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 Tsaritsyno Fortress was first mentioned in the royal charter, but excavations have shown that primitive settlements existed on this site 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 site of a 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.
On April 10, 1925, the city was renamed Stalingrad.
On November 10, 1961 the city was named Volgograd.

13.Izhevsk

The city is named after the Izh River, on the banks of which it is located. He grew up from the Izhevsk ironworks, founded in 1760 and the adjacent village.

14. Rostov-on-Don

It was founded as a customs post on December 15, 1749. Later, in 1760-1701, to protect against attacks by nomads in the settlement that arose near the customs, a fortress was built, named after St. Dmitry of Rostov. From the name of this fortress came the name of the city of Rostov. To distinguish it from Rostov the Great, the city is called Rostov-on-Don.

15. 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 as early as the 12th century. By the same time, according to legend, the emergence of the Archangel Michael Monastery in this place, named after the Archangel Michael, dates back to the same time. However, the monastery was first mentioned in chronicles only in 1419. Near the monastery there were Pomeranian villages of the Nizovskaya volost - Lisostrov, Knyazhostrov, Uima, Lyavlya 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, in 1584, according to the plan received from the tsar, the governors Peter Afanasyevich Nashchokin and Aleksey Nikiforovich Zaleshanin-Volokhov built a fortified city around the monastery and adjacent settlements, named the Arkhangelsk city in honor of the monastery. Officially, this name was approved on August 1, 1613, after the city received independence in governance.

16. Khabarovsk

Founded in May 1858 as a military post, called Khabarovka - in honor of the 17th century explorer Yerofey Khabarov. The founding date is May 31, 1858. In 1880 Khabarovka received the status of a city. On November 2 (October 21 according to the old style), 1893, the city was renamed Khabarovsk.

17. Kirov

The city that was "lucky" to change names. The first name by which he is known was the name Khlynov. There are several versions of the origin of the name Khlynov. The first one is based on the cry of hly-khly birds that lived in the area where the city was formed. According to the second, the city was given the name of the Khlynovitsy river, which flows into the nearby Vyatka. The third theory connects the name with the word khlyn (ushkuynik, river robber), although most experts attribute a later appearance to this word.
The second name of the city was the name Vyatka. Today, the most relevant version is L. N. Makarova - she considers the original toponym to be the name of the river (Old Russian in origin) with the meaning "big" (cf. other Russian more "more").
The name Kirov was given to the city after the murder in 1934 of a native of the city of Urzhum in the Vyatka region, Sergei Mironovich Kostrikov (Kirov).
The chronology of the renaming of the city is extremely complex and ambiguous, since few historical documents have been preserved confirming the very fact of the renaming. Usually, when they talk about the old names of Kirov, they use the simplified chain of transformations Khlynov - Vyatka - Kirov, and indeed, when it was founded in 1181, the city was named Khlynov. Starting from 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 was even included in the "List of all Russian cities far and near", where it was in the section 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
near the Khlynovitsy river. Subsequently, the name Khlynov spread to the township part of the city, and since 1457 the whole city
began to be called Khlynov. In 1780, by the highest decree of the Empress of All Russia Catherine II, the name of Vyatka was returned to the city, and the Vyatka province was transformed into the Vyatka governorship and passed from the Siberian province to the Kazan province. On December 5, 1934, by decree of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR, Vyatka was named after Sergei Mironovich Kirov.

18.Ekaterinburg

The construction of the city began in the spring of 1723, when, by decree of Emperor Peter I, the construction of Russia's largest ironworks began on the banks of the Iset River. The date of birth of the city was November 7 (18), 1723, the factory-fortress was named Yekaterinburg - in honor of Empress Catherine I, wife of Peter I. and manufactories, named in the name of Yekaterinburg, for the memory of eternal childbirth and for the eternal glory of her majesty, the most merciful sovereign empress; ... "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 Yekaterinburg was returned to the city. The name "Yekaterinburg" was returned to the railway station on March 30, 2010.

19.Chelyabinsk

The city was founded in 1736, on September 13, Colonel A.I. Tevkelev "founded the city in the Chelyaby tract from the Miyasskaya fortress thirty miles away." The origin of this toponym is ambiguous. The oldest explanation, which 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 "Silabe", that is, "depression; large, shallow hole. 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. To date, this version can be considered the most common. 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.

20. Perm

The official date of the beginning of the construction of the Egoshikha (Yagoshikha) copper smelter - May 4 (15), 1723 is considered the day of the foundation of the city. Until now, the origin of the name Perm has three interpretations: either it is the Finno-Ugric expression "pera maa" - "far land", or it is the Komi-Permyak "parma", which means "taiga". Often they find a connection in the name of Perm and the ancient land of Biarmia from the legends of the Vikings. According to another hypothesis, the origin of the word is associated with the name of the hero of the Komi-Permyak epic Pera - the hero. In some
In the Finno-Ugric languages, "peri" means spirit (Udmurt "peri" - an evil spirit, Mordovian "peri" - the spirit of the winds). Perhaps the Kama Komi were called Permians because they were patronized from ancient times by the all-powerful spirit - the god Per.

21.Kazan

There are several versions and legends about the origin of the name of Kazan. The version of a boiled cauldron is generally accepted: the sorcerer advised the Bulgars to build a city where a cauldron with water dug into the ground would boil without any fire. As a result, a similar place was found on the shore of Lake Kaban. From here came the name of the city of Kazan - "cauldron" 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 Hassan and other variants. According to the current official version, the city was founded at least 1000 years ago. The basis for such 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)

22. Astrakhan

The history of Astrakhan dates back to the 13th century. We find the first mention of it by the Italian traveler Francesco Pegalotti, who visited Gitarkhan (as Astrakhan was called in the first quarter of the 14th century) and compiled 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 disputes flare up about the origin of the name 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 from Batu Khan a letter - 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 "As-tarkhan". But there is a written source - a description of the Arab traveler Ibn - Batuta in 1334: “This city got its name from the Turkic haji (pilgrim to Mecca), one of the pious who settled in this place. The Sultan gave him this place duty-free (i.e. made it a tarkhan), and it became a village, then it increased and became a city.
This is one of the best cities with large bazaars, built on the Itil River. In "Journey Beyond Three Seas" Afanasy Nikitin in 1466 confirms that "Aztorkhan, Khoztoran, Astrakhan is a Russified form from Hadji-Tarkhan".

According to one version, originally ancient city, located on the territory of modern Ufa, was named Bashkort. This is indicated whole line sources: Western European cartographers (Catalan Atlas, Mercator, Pitsigani brothers, etc.), Eastern historians (Ibn Khaldun, "Kunkh al-Akhbar"), Bashkir sources themselves ("Bashkir History" by Kidryas Mullakaev, "Usargan Tarihi") . Modern name 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" - elder, ancient, "both" - high place, barrow.
Obviously, the term "Both" became the progenitor of the modern "Ufa". In the memorial book of the Orenburg province, published in 1865, the following version of the origin of the city's name is given: "On the right elevated banks of the Belaya - the city of Ufa, (the word is Bashkir, it means" dark water ") so named long ago by the Bashkirs"

24.Orenburg

There are different versions of the origin of the name Orenburg. The classical version is: a fortress on the river Or. The author of the phrase Orenburg, in all likelihood, is the founder of the city, I.K. Kirilov. In 1734, in accordance with his project, a package of government documents was developed on the foundation of a fortress city at the confluence of the Or and Yaik (Ural) rivers. On June 7, 1734, Empress Anna Ioannovna signed the “Privilege to Orenburg”, and although the construction site of the main fortress of the region was later transferred downstream of the Yaik (Ural) several times, the name of the city established by the “Privilege” has been preserved to this day behind the fortress founded in 1743 at the mouth of the Sakmara River.
From 1938 to 1957, the city was called Chkalov, in honor of the famous Soviet pilot Valery Chkalov, although he was not only not born and did not live in Orenburg, but he had never even been to this city. A bronze sculpture of V.P. Chkalov, six meters high on a seven-meter pedestal, was installed in honor of the 50th anniversary of his birth in 1954 on the Boulevard (Ural river embankment)

25.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. Named 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 trading center between the Russians and the 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 even after the departure of the Teleuts, the fortress of one of the tribes subordinate to them continued to stand there. 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. On December 28, 1903, Emperor Nicholas II issued the highest command, according to which “the settlement of Novo-Nikolaevsk at the Ob station” was elevated to the degree of a city without a county.
November 17, 1925 the city was renamed Novosibirsk.

Named after the Omka River. The first Omsk fortress was founded in 1716 by a Cossack detachment under the command of I. D. Buholts, who went to expand and strengthen the borders Russian Empire by personal decree of Peter I. Omsk served as a border fortress to protect against nomadic raids, until 1797 it was a prison. According to folk legend, the name comes from an abbreviation of the phrase "a remote place of exile for convicts", however, this version remains just folklore.

The city was built as a prison (fortress). According to the plan, the Upper Yenisei prison, or Kachinsky prison, was to be named. At first, in the documents, the prison was called the New Kachinsky prison. Probably, earlier on the river Kacha there already existed a winter hut, or a collection point for yasak. N.V. Latkin wrote that in 1608 there was already a prison in the valley of the Kacha River, built by people from the Ket prison.
G. F. Miller in the "History of Siberia" uses the names "New Kachinsky Ostrog" and "New Kachinsky Krasny Ostrog." "Krasny Yar" - from the name of the place of its construction - "Khyzyl char", which in the language of the Kachin people 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 prison on that place, ”Andrei Dubensky wrote in a letter to the tsar.
The name "Krasnoyarsk" was given upon obtaining the status of a city.

28. Vladivostok

The name "Vladivostok" is formed from the words "own" and "East". For a long time Russian government 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, close to trade routes. The forces of the Governor-General of Eastern Siberia, Nikolai Muravyov-Amursky, concluded the Aigun Treaty, began active exploration of the Amur region, and later, as a result of the signing of the Tianjin and Beijing treatises, 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 the bay. On June 20 (July 2), 1860, the transport of the Siberian flotilla "Manjur" under the command of Lieutenant Commander Aleksey Karlovich Shefner delivered a military unit to the Golden Horn Bay to establish a military post, which now officially received the name Vladivostok.

The city is named Chita because it is located on the banks of the Chita River. But there are still disputes over what the word chita means.
V different time and in different sources the city was called differently. Most likely the word chita comes from one of the local languages.
The most common is the Orochen word chita - “birch bark rug”, which suggests that somewhere in the valley of the Chita River there was birch bark of a special quality. The Evenki word chata or chatala means "clay", they also mean mud (on the shore), shale, coal. At the same time, the mud is not only of very high quality, but also more of a bluish color, and “blue” in Evenki sounds like chaturin and chatum. There is also the word chate - “black earth (coal shale), coal”, which is associated primarily with the Chernovsky brown coal deposit, located near Chita. There is a word chit in the Uyghur language, which was used to call the fortresses built by the Uyghurs.
Chaata-chyt means "dwelling" in modern Uyghur.

The name of the city is associated with the name of the Penza River, on the steep bank of which the fortress was built. The river bore this name long before the appearance of the settlement. There are several hypotheses about the origin of the hydronym Penza. According to one, the name comes from Mordovian words with the meaning "edge, onets, border, end of the path", or "swampy, swampy." ". Also, the name could come from a personal male ancient Mordovian name
Piyanza, Piyanza. There is a version of the origin from the Proto-Uralic language, for example, Pensas - in Karelian it means "bush".

31. Kursk

Etymologically, other Russian Kursk comes from the name of the Kur River. Kursk is located on two hills, on the right bank of the Tuskari River, at the confluence of the Kur River. The phrase: Kur-Tuskar (Kursk). The hydronym is possibly associated with the folk term kurya - “river bay, narrow channel of the river, backwater.” Although according to legend, it was the Kur that was once a full-flowing, navigable river, and then became shallow. Folk etymology explains the name of the city from the partridge bird, tying the name to their abundance here in antiquity.

Folk etymology connects the name of the city with the events that took place during its founding in 1566. By order of Tsar Ivan the Terrible, the construction of a fortress city began to protect the southern borders of the Russian state from the raids of the Crimean Tatars. When they began to cut down an oak that grew on the bank at the confluence of the two rivers Oka and Orlik, an eagle flew from the top of the tree. And here is the owner - said one of the men. Ivan Vasilyevich ordered to name the city after the bird.
According to the scientific version, the name may come from the hydronym of the river Orel (Orel) - the left tributary of the Oka, mentioned in the "Book of the Big Drawing" (1627), and from the 2nd half of the 19th century as Orlik. And also two
version. The Turkic version derives the name of the area at the confluence of two rivers from airyly “angular”, airy (ayyr) “to separate, bifurcate, fork.” The Baltic version compares the name that the golyad tribe could have left with Lit. erlos “hay meadow”, “Eagle "and arelis (Prussian) "Eagle".

1. Moscow is the capital of our Motherland. The name of the capital comes from the Moscow River, and not vice versa, as many people think. But why the river was called Moscow is still debated. The most common 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 again, many people think.

3. Yaroslavl - The city was named after its founder Yaroslav the Wise.

4. Khabarovsk - The city is named after 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 - like Moscow was named after the river, respectively, Penza. The word itself translates as "Fire Water".

9. Omsk - the same. The name comes from the river - Om.

10. Perm - comes from the Vespian word "Pera Maa", which translates as "Far Land".

11. Murmansk is 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 Menok), that is, it turned out to be “a river near 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 - Red city (from Mari).

14. Gelendzhik - translated from Arabic (Helendzh) means "Poplar".

15. Vorkuta - translated from German "Bear area".

16. Vologda - "river with white (clear) water" translated into ancient Vespian.

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 Khanate of Siberia). The second version says that the name comes from the river "Barnaulka", which means "Wolf River" or "Muddy 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 "Depression" or "Deep Pit".

21. Bryansk - the name of the city comes from the word Dbryansk, which in turn comes from the word Dbr, which means a cliff, a ditch, a slope.

22. Irkutsk - translated from Buryat means "Cranky".

23. Kaliningrad - as you already understood, in honor of Mikhail Ivanovich Kalinin.

24. Kemerovo - from the Turkic "Kemer" - a slope, a cliff. (Essentially the same as Bryansk).

25. Kursk - the name comes from the folk 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 and unanimous opinion. One opinion says that the name of the city is derived 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 ethnic group.

28. Ulyanovsk - the city is named after Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (Ulyanov).

29. Krasnoyarsk - the city is named from the phrase "Krasny Yar". Yar in the language of the Kachins meant a high bank or 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, "Cross City".

For the first time the name "Moscow" is mentioned in the Ipatiev Chronicle. It says that on Saturday, April 4, 1147, the Rostov-Suzdal Prince Yuri Dolgoruky invited Novgorod-Seversky to a meeting in Moscow Prince Svyatoslav Olgovich: "And so the squad of Svyatoslavl was entangled, and having sent Gyurgia a speech: come to me brother in Moscow." And although a settlement on the site of Moscow existed long before the 12th century, it was this date that became the beginning of the history of the city called Moscow for linguists.

Monument to the founder of Moscow Yuri Dolgoruky. Installed in 1954 on Sovetskaya Square (now Tverskaya). Sculptors A.P. Antropov, N.L. Stamm and S.M. Orlov. Photo: RIA Novosti / Friedland

Where does the name Moscow come from?

It is generally accepted that the name of the city comes from the name of the river. This was first reported by the literary source of the end of the 16th century "The Tale of the Beginning of Moscow", according to which Prince Yuri Vladimirovich ordered "to make a small wooden city and nicknamed it the title of Moscow City after the river flowing under it." It is curious that after that the name of the river was fixed as the Moskva River - while other rivers that gave their name to the Russian cities based on them acquired a diminutive form in the name. For example, the Orel River became Orlik, and the Kolomna River became Kolomenka. Moscow has become the Moscow River.

But where the name of the river itself came from, no one knows. In ancient times, various tribes lived on the banks of the river, which gives linguists the opportunity to discuss several hypotheses about the etymology of the name of the Moscow River, depending on which language is chosen as the basis.

swampy river

The most patriotic Slavic hypothesis of the origin of the name Moscow suggests that its basis is "mosk". This word in the Old Slavic language meant "viscous, wet" or "swamp, dampness, moisture." This hypothesis is supported by other similar names of rivers in Slavic languages: Mozgava or Moskava in Poland and Germany, the Moskovets River and the village of the same name in Bulgaria, the Maska River in Belarus, numerous Moskovki in Ukraine. It was mentioned that around the Borovitsky hill there was not only a forest (which gave the name of the area), but a swampy area, lowlands, flooded in spring with water that did not dry out until the end of summer.

Critics of this hypothesis are based on the fact that the Slavic tribes were not the original inhabitants of this area. Previously, there lived tribes who spoke Finno-Ugric and Baltic languages, which was reflected in the names of many neighboring rivers: Ruza, Istra, Nara, Yauza, Iksha, Vondyuga, Kuyma, Kurga and so on.

Dirty river or winding river?

If the name Moscow comes from the Baltic languages, then its source may be the Baltic forms *Mask-(u)va, *Mask-ava or *Mazg-(u)va, *Mazg-ava (Latvian Maskava). The root *mask-/*mazg- could be associated both with swamp, mud, and with the “knot” (mazgas in Lithuanian), washing by the river from the verbs “wash, rinse” (Lithuanian mazgoti, Latvian moskat).

Accordingly, the variant of the origin of the name can go back both to a swampy, dirty area - which is consonant with the Slavic hypothesis - and to the sinuosity of the Moskva River - only within the city it makes 11 large loops.

Moscow river. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

cow river

According to another version, the word Moscow is divided into two parts: mosk-va. "-va" in the Finno-Ugric language means "river", "water". As for the first part "mosk", its meaning in Finno-Ugric is difficult to explain. In the Komi language, "mosk" means "cow". But here it is important to note that the Komi never lived in the territory close to the course of the Moskva River. In addition, this hypothesis contradicts the oldest form of the name recorded in the sources: "Moskv" (Moskov). By the way, many foreign-language names of Moscow originated from this form, for example, the English Moscow or the Chuvash Muskav.

Bear river and the river of the Moskhov tribe

Another hypothesis says that "mosk" comes from the Meryan word "bear", and "va" - mother, wife. That is, "Moscow" means a mother bear.

There is also a version based on the legend. According to her, in the name of the Moscow River biblical name- Mosoch, grandson of Noah and son of Afet, and his wife Kva. The descendants of Mosokh allegedly settled the lands from the Vistula to the White Lake itself.

8 cities in the world that have changed their names.

All continents and oceans, countries and cities, seas and rivers, mountains and deserts, villages and villages have their own names. These names were given to them by a man: some - in the deepest antiquity, others - in close historical times, the third - in our days. If we come across a settlement with the name Oktyabrsky or Pervomaisky, we can immediately say why it is so named, in honor of what events it got its name. But not everyone will answer where the name of the city Golutvin came from. And to know this is not only just interesting, but sometimes practically necessary.

The relevance of this work is to increase interest in the names, the desire to understand their hidden meaning and connection with the named object.

Toponymy is the study of place names.

Toponymy (Greek "topos" - place and "onoma" - name) studies the origin, existence, and also the historical change of geographical names.

The subject of study of toponymy - geographical names - are words, and linguistics deals with words.

Geographical names are given by the people. And without knowledge of the culture and way of life of the people, it is impossible to understand the peculiarities of geographical names. The study of the life of peoples is engaged in a special science - ethnography.

Names are historically changeable: they change in connection with changes both in the language and in the life of peoples. Therefore, the study of geographical names without the help of history is simply impossible.

In addition, the originality of names is often determined by the characteristics of the territory. Consequently, toponymy cannot do without the help of geography.

For toponymy, the data of all sciences are important, but linguistics still ranks first here, since the object of toponymy is geographical names (toponyms).

The science of the origin of words is called etymology.

The purpose of this work is to establish the origin of Russian cities, including the cities of the Tula region.

Hypothesis: the names of Russian cities are associated with historical events, historical figures, geographical location, way of life of the people.

The main factors that influenced the names of Russian cities

Geographical names are among the most important cultural monuments. Created on different languages, at different times, they reflect the entire centuries-old history of mankind: the natural conditions of its existence, material and spiritual life in their continuous development.

We list the main factors that influenced the names of Russian cities.

1. 1. Geographical position, primarily associated with the name of the rivers on the banks of which cities are located.

These are Moscow, Vologda, Samara, Omsk, etc.

1. 2. Some features of the area, its vegetation, wildlife, the nature of the soil.

Dubok, Bobruisk, Berezovets, etc.

1. 3. Historical moments associated with the development of the state.

Let's give some examples.

Among the names there are many formed from personal names. These are Vladimir, Yaroslavl, etc.

Under Nicholas I, construction began in Russia railways. In the course of time, cities were formed on the site of the stations. City names often repeated station names. For example, the city of Uzlovaya.

Many cities got their names in honor of the heroes of various wars, generals, leaders, places of the most important battles. These are Suvorov, Stalinogorsk (now Novomoskovsk), etc.

In connection with the change of kings, then leaders, as well as the political situation in the country, cities were often renamed.

So, during the short reign of Paul I (from 1796 to 1801), the city of Yekaterinoslav, which bore the name of his mother, was renamed Novorossiysk.

Stalinogorsk - the former name of the city of the Tula region Novomoskovsk.

Leningrad - the former name of the city of St. Petersburg (at different times it was called St. Petersburg, Petrograd).

Zhdanov is the former name of the city of Mariupol.

Kuibyshev is the former name of the city of Samara.

Sverdlovsk is the former name of the city of Yekaterinburg.

Kalinin is the former name of the city of Tver.

Until 1945, Kaliningrad was called Koningsberg.

Gorky is the former name of the city of Nizhny Novgorod.

Stalingrad is the former name of the city of Volgograd.

1. 4. Church holidays, revered saints.

The names of cities often belong to the names of churches, since the churches were consecrated by the name of the most revered saints (Nikolai, Sergius, Ilya, Peter) and in honor of certain holidays, for example, Bogoroditsk.

The origin of the names of cities in Russia

Anapa. In ancient times, on the site of the city was the city of the Bosnor state Gorniniya (IV century BC), named after its ruler. Later, the village belonged to the Byzantines, the Turks. By the arrival of the Russians at the end of the 18th century, the village had the Adygar name Anapa.

From a number of etymologies, the most likely origin is from the Adygar language: anna + pa, where Ana is the name of the river, and Pa is the mouth, that is, “the city at the mouth of the Anna River”. Since 1946 - Anapa.

Arkhangelsk is a city founded in 1584. The original name is New Kholmogory. In 1613 it received the name Arkhangelsk City after the Arkhangelsk Monastery. In further use, the form Arkhangelsk was fixed.

Astrakhan is a city known since the 13th century. The first explanation of the name, which has retained its meaning to this day, was given by the Arab traveler Ibn Batuta, who saw the phrase Hadji-Tarkhan in the name.

Hadji - "a breaker, a pious", who received from the Sultan a tarkhan - "a place freed from taxes."

Barnaul is a city, the center of the Altai Territory. As a settlement, it arose in 1730 in connection with the construction of a silver smelter. It got its name from the river Barnaul - "wolf river". (Boruan - "wolves", st, ul - river).

Belgorod is a city, the center of the Belgorod region. Founded in 1593 as a fortress on the Belgorod line for the protection and defense of the southern outskirts of Russia. The names formed by the phrase "white city" are widespread throughout the territory of the former and modern settlement of the Slavs. Russian chronicles of the 10th-16th centuries indicate cities with the name Belgorod in the Kiev principality, in the Ryazan land, in the Tver land, in Lebanon, in the Ugorshchina, at the mouth of the Dniester River (modern Belgorod-Dniester). A number of cities with similar names are also known abroad: Belgrade in Serbia, Byalograd in the Polish Pomerania, Belograd in the Czech Republic, Belgrade and Romania.

Such a prevalence of the name white city in the Slavic world suggests the presence of some common typological meaning in it. The city element is clear: in the past, so-called fortified villages, fortresses surrounded by a fence ( wooden fence, stone wall), often with a moat. And the meaning of the white element is interpreted in different ways. Some associate it with water, since all the "white cities" were near the water; others consider it possible to explain the definition of white in its folklore meaning "beautiful"; still others associate this definition with the actual color of the object. It should also be taken into account common in toponymy social significance definitions white in the sense of "free", that is, having certain privileges, benefits. For example, a village was usually called white, completely or partially exempted for some period from paying taxes, taxes, etc.

In popular literature, the explanation of the definition of white in the literal sense of a color characteristic is the most widespread. So, the origin of the name in question is usually explained by the fact that the city was built on a white chalk mountain. The explanation is plausible: the city is located in the very center of the Cretaceous deposits and has long been known for the extraction and export of chalk.

Valuyki is a city in the Voronezh region. It was founded in 1953 as a fortress city at the confluence of the Valuy River.

Vladimir is a city founded in 1108 by Prince Vladimir. It is mentioned in the annals of 1154 in the form Volodimer, where the princely name Volodimer is combined with the possessive suffix -b-, that is, "City of Vladimir". Over time, the name of the city, first in sound, and then in spelling, coincided with the personal name Vladimir.

Voronezh is a city founded as a fortress on the Voronezh River in 1586, which served to protect against the raids of the Crimean Tatars. It is formed from the confluence of the Polny Voronezh (i.e. Field) and Lesnoy Voronezh rivers. Perhaps the origin of the "ailing" and the name of the Voronega River.

Dmitrov is a city in the Moscow region. According to legend, it was founded by Yuri Dolgoruky (in the middle of the 12th century) at the place where he found the news of the birth of his son, and named after his son. (Dmitriy, Grand Duke Vladimir-Suzdal Rus).

Domodedovo is a city in the Moscow region. It originated as a settlement at the Domodedovo station opened in 1900. Since 1947 it has adopted its name.

Dubna is a city in the Moscow region. It was founded in 1947 as a working settlement of Dubno. Name after the river Dubna.

Dubovka is a city in the Volgograd region. Founded in 1734 as a fortification of Dubovka. The name is associated with the neighborhood of an oak grove.

Dukhovshchina is a city in the Smolensk region. On the site of the modern city in the XIII - early XIV centuries there was a spiritual monastery (consecrated in the name of the Holy Spirit), in which in the XV century there was a spiritual settlement. In 1777, the city of Dukhovshchina was formed.

Yegorievsk is a city in the Moscow region. It was first mentioned in 1462 as the village of Vysokoe. After the construction of the temple in the name of Egory the Passion-Bearer - the village of Egorye - Vysokoye, Egorievskoye. In 1778, the village was transformed into the city of Yegoryev, but since 1779, the form Yegoryevsk has been fixed in official use.

Yekaterinburg - the city was founded by an associate of Peter I, a historian and statesman V. N. Tatishchev as a mining, cultural and shopping center Ural. The official founding date is November 18, 1723, when the first stage of the metallurgical plant on the Iset River was put into operation and extensive urban construction began. The Isetsky plant and the fortress attached to it were soon named Yekaterinburg in honor of the wife of Emperor Peter I, Ekaterina Alekseevna.

Yelets is a city in the Lipetsk region. The word yelets is “forest growth”, mostly oak forest.

Yelizovo is a city in the Mogilev region of the Republic of Belarus. In 1923, the village was named Elizovo, after the name of the commander of the partisan detachment G. M. Elizov, who died in Kamchatka in 1922.

Yelnya is a city in the Smolensk region. First mentioned in a charter of 1150 as Yelna. The name comes from the word spruce.

Zhizdra is a city in the Kaluga region. The name comes from the name of the river Zhizdra. "Zhizdra" - "coarse sand".

Irkutsk is a city, the center of the Irkutsk region. It originated in 1661 at the mouth of the Irkut River.

Kainsk is a city in the Tomsk region. Founded in 1722 as the settlement Kain from the Tatar word kaen (birch).

Kazan is a city, the center of the Republic of Tatarstan. It was founded in the 13th century at the confluence of the Kazanka River into the Volga.

Kaluga is a city, the center of the Kaluga region. The name has been known since the 14th century. It is formed from the word "kaluga", which in the central regions of the European part meant "swamp, puddle".

Kamyshlov is a city in the Perm region. It was founded in 1667 as the settlement Kamyshlovskaya. Name after the river Kamyshlovka.

Kirov is a city, the center of the Kirov region. The first mention in the annals under 1374 as the city of Vyatka, named after the Vyatka River. Approximately in 1495, a Kremlin was built in Vyatka, named Khlynov on the Khlynovitsa River, a tributary of the Vyatka, on the banks of which it was located. In the Vologda city to gush - "sluggishly, lazily move", i.e. Khlynovitsa - "sluggish, lazy river". According to the Kremlin, the whole city began to be called Khlynov, although the name Vyatka was still used for some time in everyday life and in part of official documents. In 1780, Khlynov was officially renamed Vyatka. In 1934, Vyatka was renamed Kirov in honor of Sergei Mironovich Kirov (1896 - 1934), a Soviet statesman, party leader, a native of the former Vyatka province.

Krasnoborsk. In 1780 Krasnoborskaya Sloboda was transformed into the county town of Krasnoborsk. The name comes from red forest (beautiful, good forest). Since 1917 Krasnoborsk.

Krasnoyarsk - founded by a detachment of the boyar son A. Dubensky as a prison of Krasny Yar. The Krasnoyarsk Cossacks had to repeatedly repel the attacks of the Kirghiz until the beginning of the 18th century. In 1667 and 1679, the troops of the Dzungarian and Kirghiz feudal lords besieged Krasnoyarsk. Krasnoyarsk fought back with great difficulty, but all the surrounding villages were burned, and the inhabitants were taken prisoner. At the end of the 17th century, the territory of the Yenisei Territory was annexed to Russia and the raids ceased.

Krasny is a city in the Smolensk region. Mentioned since 1150. The name comes from the Old Russian red - "beautiful".

Kromy is a city in the Oryol region. Mentioned in the annals under the year 1147. The name comes from the river Krom.

Lukoyanov is a city in the Nizhny Novgorod region. In the 16th century, a certain Ivanushka Lukoyanov built a mill on the site of the city, thus laying the foundation for the village of Lukoyanovka.

Mikhailov is a city in the Ryazan region. It originated at the beginning of the 11th century. The modern name was attributed to 1551, when an icon of the Archangel Michael was found during construction.

Moscow - the first mention in the annals of 1147. The name was formed from the descriptive expression "city on the Moscow River".

Ants - the name comes from the dialect word muravel in the meaning of an ant. The city has an increased content of known insects - ants.

Nerchinsk is a city in Transbaikalia. Founded in 1653 on the Shilka River. In 1658 he was moved to an island between two branches of the Nercha River.

Nizhnyaya Salda is a city in the Sverdlovsk region. It arose in 1760 as a settlement at a metallurgical plant on the Salda River. Since 1938, the city of Nizhnyaya Salda has been named after the name of the mountain Nizhnyaya Salda.

Nizhnyaya Tura is a city in the Pskov region. It was founded in 1766 on the Tura River as a settlement. Named after its location on the Tura River.

Novosibirsk - 1653 on the Shilka River. e known insects - ants. Archangel Michael's horse. ovka. For some time in everyday life and in part, it officially emerged as the village of Novaya Derevnya as a result of the merger of the villages of Guseevka and Aleksandrovsk, near the construction site of the Trans-Siberian Railway bridge across the Ob River. Since 1895, Novonikolaevsk (named after Tsar Nicholas II, with a distinctive definition so as not to be confused with the cities of Nikolaevsk at the mouth of the Amur and in the Lower Trans-Volga region). The city quickly overtook and then began to overtake the old cities of Western Siberia, intensively turning into a trade center of the region, almost not developing industrially. With the launch of the railway, the importance of Novonikolaevsk grew, and on the eve of the First World War, the Novonikolaevsk railway junction ranked first in terms of cargo turnover among all cities in Siberia. In 1925, it was renamed Novosibirsk and became a district town of the Siberian Territory.

Oryol is a city, the center of the Oryol region. It was founded as a fortress in 1566 at the confluence of the Oryol River (now Orlik) into the Oka. It is assumed that the name of the river eagle is derived from the Turkic anyr - "fork", which corresponds to the Russian folk term angle - "interfluve of converging rivers", that is, also "fork", if you look from the bottom upstream.

Ostrov is a city in the Pskov region. It was first mentioned in 1342 as a fortress on Veliky Island, which determined its name.

Penza - the city was founded in 1663 as a guard post. Named after the Penza River (a tributary of the Sura).

Perm - on the site of modern Perm in the 17th century was the village of Bryukhanovka, located on Yagoshikha. The foundation of the modern city is associated with the activities of the outstanding mining engineer, historian and geographer V. N. Tatishchev, who developed the project in 1723 and supervised the construction of the Yegoshinsky copper smelter. A factory settlement was founded near Yegoshikha (or Yagoshikha). The new city was named Perm from the Finno-Ugric "perm" - a distant land.

Rivne is a city in the Saratov region. It was founded at the end of the 17th century as a German colony, which had a double name - Rovnaya (Zelman). After the Germans were evicted in 1944, the name Rivne was officially adopted.

Rostov-on-Don is a city on the Don River. In 1761, the fortress of St. Anna and is named after the church as the fortress of Dmitry of Rostov - Bishop in Rostov Yaroslavl at the beginning of the 18th century.

Ryazhsk is a city in the Ryazan region. Probably by the name of the Ryasa River, although it flows 30 km from the city. The whole area was called the Ryasskoye Pole back in the 15th century. Perhaps the basis of the "cassock" is "swamp, swamp."

Salsk is a city in the Rostov region. It emerged as a village near the station. Name after the river Sal.

Serpukhov is a city in the Moscow region. First mentioned in 1328. Serpukh is associated with the dialect in the meaning of "sickle", or in the meaning of grass close to sow thistle. But it is located on the Serpeika River, after which it was probably named.

Skopin is a city in the Ryazan region. In historical acts, it has been mentioned since 1663 as a fortification on the notch line, and later the village of Skopin. The name comes from the nickname Skop - "bird of prey of the hawk family".

Tolyatti is a city on the Volga. In 1789 Kalmyks were forcibly relocated to this area and subjected to baptism. To manage them, the city of Stavropol was founded, from the ancient Greek word "city of the cross." On August 28, 1964, it was renamed in honor of Palmiro Togliatti (1893 - 1964), head of the Italian communist party, an outstanding figure in the international labor movement.

Tomsk - founded in 1604. Named for its location on the Tom River.

Torzhok is a city in the Tver region. In the annals it is mentioned under 1015 as New Torts. Since the 12th century, the name of the city has been used - Torzhok.

Tyumen is a city. Various legends arose to explain the name: the Tatra tyumen "ten thousand", referring either to the number of soldiers, or to the heads of cattle from the feudal lord; they even interpreted from “chu” - belonging, “mena” - to me, that is, “my property”.

Uglich is a city on the Volga in the Yaroslavl region. In the annals since 1148 - Coal field. They connected an angle with the base, for a bend on the Volga.

Shatsk is a city in the Tambov region. Founded in 1653 on the Shacha River.

Shchigry is a city in the Kursk region. In 1779, the village of Troitskoye, which is on Shchigry, was transformed into the city of Shchigry. The name Trinity village is based on the church located in it, and Shchigry is from the folk term "shigor", which means "plucked ridge of narrow inter-beam mounds".

The origin of the names of the cities of the Tula region

Aleksin - founded in 1236. According to legend, the name Aleksin was given in 1298 by the Moscow prince Daniil Alexandrovich, named after his son Sasha, the derivative is Alex.

Bogoroditsk - after the construction of the temple in the name of the Intercession Holy Mother of God becomes the village of Bogoroditskoye. Since 1777 the city of Bogoroditsk.

Venev - in 1483 it was mentioned as Venev, and in 1570 as Venev. The name is associated with the location on the Venevka River.

Donskoy - the name is associated with the Don River, which originates near the city.

Efremov - according to legend, he was named after the ataman Ephraim, who acted on the Wild Field.

Kimovsk - arose during the Great Patriotic War in connection with the intensive development of coal mines in the Moscow region, when mines began to be built on the lands of the KIM collective farm, and in its central estate, the village of Mikhailovka, housing for miners. In 1948, Mikhailovka received the status of a workers' settlement and was renamed into the name of the settlement Kimovsk. KIM - "Communist International of Youth".

Tula is a regional center. It arose in the 12th century at the confluence of the Tula River with the Upa. The name of the city of Tula has been mentioned in ancient Russian chronicles since 1146. The origin of the toponym Tula is not entirely clear. With an emphasis on the last syllable "Tula" - Dahl puts this word in his dictionary with the interpretation: "a hidden, inaccessible place for protection, shelter or imprisonment." Indeed, most researchers believe that the name Tula is most likely related by origin to the verbs tulit, pritulit - “shelter, hide” and the nouns pritul, tula formed from them in the meaning of “refuge, shelter”.

Lands adjacent to Tula Old Russian were called the Tula Ukraine, that is, the border Tula lands of the Moscow state. This name is found, for example, in the "Resurrection Chronicle" under 1552.

Nodal - developed during railway station with this name, which meant a railway junction, i.e., the intersection of important highways (Moscow - Donbass and the Middle Volga region - the Baltic Sea). Since 1938 it has the status of a city.

In this research work we have considered the origin of the names of cities in Russia, including 8 cities of the Tula region.

We believe that geographical names are valuable monuments of the past and present, showing a living connection between times and generations.

In our work, we found that most Russian cities got their name from the names of the rivers on the banks of which they are located.

Most of the considered toponyms are connected with the history of the state.

The origin of the cities of the Tula region is interesting. There are ancient cities, and their names are associated with historical figures. There are young cities whose names are associated with economic transformations in the country.

Thus, the names of Russian cities are associated with historical events, historical figures, geographical location, and the way of life of the people.