Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland, is known by a number of nicknames and colloquial names.
Edinburgh is affectionately nicknamed Auld Reekie[1] (Middle Scots for Old Smoky), because when buildings were heated by coal and wood fires, chimneys would spew thick columns of smoke into the air. The colloquial pronunciation "Embra" or "Embro" has also been used[2] as in Robert Garioch's Embro to the Ploy.[3]
Edinburgh has been called the Athens of the North. It is also known by several Latin names; Aneda or Edina. The adjectival form of the latter, Edinensis, can be seen inscribed on many educational buildings.[4][5]
The Scots poets Robert Burns and Robert Fergusson sometimes used the city's Latin name, Edina. Ben Jonson described it as Britain's other eye,[6] and Sir Walter Scott referred to the city as yon Empress of the North.[7] Robert Louis Stevenson, also a son of the city, wrote, "Edinburgh is what Paris ought to be".