Etymology of Edinburgh

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The Etymology of Edinburgh shows that the origin of the city's name is understood to come from the Brythonic Din Eidyn (Fort of Eidyn) from the time when it was a Gododdin hillfort.^[1] In the 1st century the Romans recorded the Votadini as a Brythonic tribe in the area, and about 600 A.D. the poem Y Gododdin, using the Brythonic form of that name, describes warriors feasting "in Eidin's great hall".^[1] After it was besieged by the Bernician Angles, the name changed to Edin-burh, which some have argued derives from the Anglo-Saxon for "Edwin's fort", possibly derived from the 7th century king Edwin of Northumbria. However, since the name apparently predates King Edwin, this is highly unlikely. The burgh element means "fortress" or "group of buildings", i.e. a town or city and is akin to the German burg, Latin parcus, Greek pyrgos etc.

The first evidence of the existence of the town as a separate entity from the fort lies in an early 12th century royal charter, generally thought to date from 1124, by King David I granting land to the Church of the Holy Rood of Edinburgh. This suggests that the town came into official existence between 1018 (when King Malcolm II secured the Lothians from the Northumbrians) and 1124.^[2]

The charter refers to the recipients (in Latin) as "Ecclisie Sancte Crucis Edwinesburgensi". This could mean that those who drafted the charter believed Edwin to be the original source of the name and decided to derive the Latin from what they believed to be the ancient name. It could also mean that at some point in the preceding 600 years the name had altered to include a w. If the latter scenario was the case then it was soon to change; by the 1170s King William the Lion was using the name "Edenesburch" in a charter (again in Latin) confirming the 1124 grant of David I.^{[citation needed]}

Documents from the 14th century show the name to have settled into its current form;^{[citation needed]} although other spellings ("Edynburgh" and "Edynburghe") appear, these are simply spelling variants of the current name.

[edit] Other names

Detail of the Hereford Mappa Mundi, Edinburgh is clearly labeled on this T and O map of the British isles from c. 1300

The city is affectionately nicknamed Auld Reekie, Scots for Old Smoky. This is because when the only fuels available were coal and wood, all the chimneys would spew lots of smoke into the air.

Some have called Edinburgh the Athens of the North for a variety of reasons. The earliest comparison between the two cities showed that they had a similar topography, with the Old Town of Edinburgh performing a similar role to the Athenian Acropolis. Both of them had flatter, fertile agricultural land sloping down to a port several miles away (respectively Leith and Piraeus). Although this arrangement is common in Southern Europe, it is rare in Northern Europe. The 18th century intellectual life, referred to as the Scottish Enlightenment, was a key influence in gaining the name. Such beacons as David Hume and Adam Smith shone during this period. Having lost most of its political importance after the Union, some hoped that Edinburgh could gain a similar influence on London as Athens had on Rome. Also a contributing factor was the later neoclassical architecture, particularly that of William Henry Playfair, and the National Monument. Tom Stoppard's character Archie, of Jumpers, said, facetiously, that the "Reykjavík of the South" would be more appropriate.^[3]

Edinburgh has also been known as Dunedin, deriving from the Scottish Gaelic, Dùn Èideann. Dunedin, New Zealand, was originally called "New Edinburgh" and is still nicknamed the "Edinburgh of the South".

The Scots poets Robert Burns and Robert Fergusson sometimes used the city's Latin name, Edina, in their work. Ben Jonson described it as Britaine's other eye,^{[citation needed]} and Sir Walter Scott referred to the city as yon Empress of the North.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] References