List of Etymologies of Country Subdivision Names - Slovakia

Slovakia

• Banská Bystrica: The name includes two distinct roots: the adjective Banská (from Slovak baňa - "mine") and the name of the local river Bystrica (from Slavic bystrica - "a swift stream"). Its name in Hungarian: Besztercebánya has the same semantic origin. The name literally means "mining creek".
• Bratislava: The first written reference comes from the Annales Iuvavenses, which calls the locality Brezalauspurc (literally: Braslav's castle), in relation to the battles between the Bavaria and Hungary, which took place before the walls of Bratislava Castle in 907. The castle got its name either from Predslav, third son of King Svatopluk I or from the local noble Braslav. This former variant reappears as "Braslav" or "Preslava" on coins minted by King Stephen I of Hungary, dating to about the year 1000 and in which appeared the motto "Preslavva Civitas". At the end of the Middle Ages, the name took its final German form Pressburg: Slovak of Prešporok derived from this. Although Pressburg remained the official name until 1919, the Hungarians use and used the name Pozsony (attested by the 12th century). Bozan could result from a ruling of the Bratislava Castle from the eleventh century. The name Posonium Latin derives from Hungarian. In addition to these names, documents of the Renaissance call the city 'Ιστροπόλις' Istropolis which means "City of the Danube" in Ancient Greek. The current name, Bratislava, dates from 1837 when the Slavist scholar Pavel Jozef Šafárik reconstructed a variant of the name, Břetislaw a from old names, believing that these derived from the name of the ruler Bretislaus I of Bohemia. This name was used at first request by members of the Slovak movement in 1844 as Bratislav. After World War, Slovak deputies tried not to rename the city with the name of "Wilson City" in honor of U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, trying to avoid annexation by Czechoslovakia. The proposal was rejected and the official name of the city became the de Bratislava on March in 1919, after the city became part of Czechoslovakia.
• Košice: The first written mention of the city as "villa Cassa" dates from 1230. The Slovak name of the city comes from the Slavic personal name "Koša" with the patronymic slavic suffix "-ice". According to other sources the city name probably stems from an ancient Hungarian first name which begins with "Ko" such as Kokos-Kakas, Kolumbán-Kálmán, or Kopov-Kopó. Historically, the city has been known as Kaschau in German, Kassa in Hungarian, Cassovia or Caschovia in Latin, Cassovie in French, Caşovia in Romanian, Кошицы (Koshitsy) in Russian and Koszyce in Polish (see here for more names).
• Nitra: The first mention of Nitra dates back to 880 (other variations: 826 as Nitrawa, 880 as Nitra, and in 1111/1113 as Nitra, Nitria). The name of the city derives from the river Nitra. The name originates in the Germanic word Nitrahwa: in the Indo-European languages nid means "flow" while ahwa means "water".
• Prešov: The city name originates in the Hungarian word eper which means "strawberry". The city's historic coat of arms contains strawberries. Historically, the city has been known as Eperjes in Hungarian, Eperies or Preschau in German, Fragopolis in Greco-Latin, Preszów in Polish, Peryeshis in Romany, Пряшев (Pryashev) in Russian and Пряшів (Priashiv) in Rusyn and Ukrainian.
• Trenčín: Trenčín first appeared under Greek name Leukaristos (Λεθκαριστοσ), depicted on the Ptolemy world map around 150 CE. In 179 CE, during the Marcomannic Wars between the Roman Empire and Germanic Quadi, the Romans carved an inscription on the rock under the present-day castle, mentioning the place as Laugaricio. (The inscription marks the northernmost known presence of the Romans in Central Europe.) The first written mentions in the Middle Ages date from 1111 (as Treinchen) and from 1113 (adjective: Trenciniensis). The name became Trentschin in later German and Trencsén in Hungarian.
• Trnava: The name of the city derives from the Slovak word tŕnie ("thornbush") which characterized the river banks in the region. The Hungarian name Nagyszombat (first mentioned in 1238 in the form of Zumbotel) originates from the Hungarian word szombat ("Saturday"), referring to the weekly market fairs held on Saturdays.
• Žilina