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These place names are interesting no matter where you look. E.g you can look at the Moscow metro and the history of station names, and see how they’ve been upd
by ljm 7y ago
These place names are interesting no matter where you look.
E.g you can look at the Moscow metro and the history of station names, and see how they’ve been updated over time and what they’re in reference to. E.g Октубрьская.
Or in Barcelona where you have, say, Paral-lel, named so because the main avenue runs parallel to the equator.
- seanhunter 7y agoI heard that one of the Russian words for a train station comes from a misunderstanding. When a Russian delegation came to London to see the Victorian train network they were taken to see Vauxhall station. They asked what it was called (the station) and were told "Vauxhall", so in Russia stations are called "вокзальный" which sounds something like we in England would say Vauxhall.
- georgecmu 7y agoВокзал in Russian is the train station (or less commonly to large bus stations or to airports with appropriate modifiers: автовокзал, аэровокзал). For pronunciation and etymology refer to [1]: Borrowed from English Vauxhall (former site of a pleasure garden). The ending was influenced by зал (zal, “hall”). The spelling фоксал (foksal) attested in 1777 is from French facs-hall, from the same English source. The transportation sense derives from an epithet for the Pavlovsk train station building, which at one time served as both a passenger lounge and a place of entertainment. [1] https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D0%B2%D0%BE%D0%BA%D0%B7%D0%B0%D0%BB https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D0%B2%D0%BE%D0%BA%D0%B7%D0%B...