Editing Leipzig (section)

==Names==

A once common English spelling of the city's name was '''{{lang|ang|Leipsic}}''', beside many variants. The [[Latin]] name '''{{lang|la|Lipsia}}''' was also used in many languages and in the academic publications of the city's university.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://mmh.cz/lingua/lamj_la |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120714185917/http://mmh.cz/lingua/lamj_la |url-status=dead |title=Lexicum nominum geographicorum latinorum |date=14 July 2012 |archive-date=14 July 2012}}</ref>

===Etymology===
The name ''Leipzig'' is commonly held to derive from ''lipa'', the common [[Slavic languages|Slavic]] designation for [[Tilia|linden trees]], making the city's name etymologically related to [[Lipetsk|Lipetsk, Russia]]. Based on medieval attestations like ''Lipzk'' (c. 1190), the original Slavic name of the city has been reconstructed as ''*Lipьsko'', which is also reflected in similar forms in neighbouring modern Slavic languages (Sorbian/Polish ''Lipsk'', Czech ''Lipsko''). This has, however, been questioned by more recent [[Onomastics|onomastic]] research based on the very oldest forms like ''Libzi'' (c. 1015).<ref>The very oldest written evidence (11th/12th c.) consistently shows forms like ''Libzi'' (first mention of Leipzig, 1015) whose ''-b-'' is difficult to reconcile with ''lipa''. Also, the ending ''-zi'' points to a plural personal name (roughly, "at the [X] people's place"), not the suffix ''-sko''. Karlheinz Hengst offered a Slavic root ''lib-'' as a possible source, which can mean "to waver, to sway, to wobble" (as in swampy ground?) or "thin, skinny, weak" (as in a thin piece of dry land?). Both roots, however, lack almost any attestation in other Slavic toponyms. Ultimately, it might be a pre-Slavic root (perhaps related to [[Proto-Indo-European language|PIE]] ''*leiH-'' "to pour, to flow, to drip", referring to the many streams around the city centre) that was enlarged with a Slavic suffix (''-ьcy'', ''-ica'' or the like). Even later, during early German colonization, the name seems to have been reinterpreted with the much more common ''lipa'' "linden tree", in accordance with the etymology commonly held today. Cf. Hengst, Karlheinz (2010). "Der Name Leipzig". In Eichler, Ernst; Walther, Hans (eds.). ''Alt-Leipzig und das Leipziger Land. Ein historisch-geographisches Namenbuch zur Frühzeit im Elster-Pleißen-Land im Rahmen der Sprach- und Siedlungsgeschichte. Leipzig: Universitätsverlag''. pp. 134–140; Walther, Hans (2010). "Leipzigs Name im Lichte seiner Frühüberlieferung". Ibid. pp. 129–133.</ref>

===Epithets===
Due to the etymology mentioned above, ''Lindenstadt'' or ''Stadt der Linden'' (City of Linden Trees) are common poetic epithets for the city.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hartinger |first1=Anselm |title=Zwischen Lindenstadt und Hypezig |url=https://www.stadtgeschichtliches-museum-leipzig.de/blog/2021/06/17/zwischen-lindenstadt-und-hypezig/ |website=Stadtgeschichtliches Museum Leipzig |access-date=2 July 2024 |date=17 June 2021}}</ref>

Another, somewhat old-fashioned epithet is ''Pleiß-Athen'' ([[History of Athens|Athens]] on the [[Pleiße|Pleiße River]]), hinting at Leipzig's long academic and literary tradition, as the seat of one of the oldest German universities and a centre of the book trade.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Löffler |editor1-first=Katrin |title=Als Studiosus in Pleiß-Athen. Erinnerungen von Leipziger Studenten des 18. Jahrhunderts |date=2009 |publisher=Lehmstedt |location=Leipzig}}</ref>

It is also referred to as "Little Paris" (''Klein-Paris'') after a line from [[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe|Goethe]]'s ''[[Faust, Part One|Faust I]]'', which is partly set in the famous Leipzig restaurant ''[[Auerbachs Keller]]''.

In 1937 the [[Nazis|Nazi]] government awarded the city the epithet ''{{lang|de|Reichsmessestadt Leipzig}}'' (Reich Trade Fair City Leipzig).<ref name="Rolf Jehke">{{cite web |url=http://territorial.de/sachsen/leipzig/stadtkrs.htm |title=Stadtkreis Leipzig |author=Rolf Jehke |work=territorial.de |access-date=15 December 2013 |archive-date=18 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210418182000/http://territorial.de/sachsen/leipzig/stadtkrs.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1989 Leipzig was dubbed a [[Hero City (Soviet Union)|Hero City]] (''Heldenstadt''), a title that the Soviet Union awarded to some of its cities for their key role in World War II. In Leipzig's case, though, this was an informal allusion to its role in the fall of the East German regime (through the  [[Monday demonstrations in East Germany|Monday demonstrations]]).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.wissenschaft.de/magazin/weitere-themen/heldenstadt-leipzig/ |title=Heldenstadt Leipzig |date=18 September 2019 |publisher=wissenschaft.de |access-date=13 October 2023 |archive-date=16 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231016001031/https://www.wissenschaft.de/magazin/weitere-themen/heldenstadt-leipzig/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

More recently, the city has sometimes been nicknamed ''Hypezig'', the "Boomtown of eastern Germany", or "The better Berlin" (''Das bessere Berlin'') and is celebrated by the media as a hip urban centre for its vibrant lifestyle and creative scene with many [[startup company|startups]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.zeit.de/lebensart/2013-10/leipzig-hypezig-gentrifizierung-wohnkonzepte-stadtentwicklung |title=Kann Leipzig Hypezig überleben? |trans-title=Can Leipzig live up to the Hypezig? |work=[[Die Zeit]] |date=1 October 2013 |language=de |access-date=20 November 2013 |archive-date=22 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180722041259/https://www.zeit.de/lebensart/2013-10/leipzig-hypezig-gentrifizierung-wohnkonzepte-stadtentwicklung |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Handelsblatt-2013">{{cite news |url=https://www.handelsblatt.com/panorama/lifestyle/hypezig-leipzig-mutiert-zur-szenemetropole/8880718.html |title=Hypezig – Leipzig mutiert zur Szenemetropole |trans-title=Hypezig – Leipzig mutates into a fashionable metropolis |work=[[Handelsblatt]] |date=3 October 2013 |language=de |access-date=8 March 2017 |archive-date=20 November 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141120135712/http://www.handelsblatt.com/panorama/lifestyle/hypezig-leipzig-mutiert-zur-szenemetropole/8880718.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Wiemann-2014">{{cite web |last=Wiemann |first=Mareike |title=Mehr Geburten als Sterbefälle: Leipzig boomt entgegen dem Deutschlandtrend |trans-title=More births than deaths: Leipzig is booming against the German trend |url=http://www.mdr.de/mdr-info/geburten-in-leipzig100.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141222171333/http://www.mdr.de/mdr-info/geburten-in-leipzig100.html |date=5 January 2014 |publisher=[[Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk]] |archive-date=22 December 2014 |access-date= 23 September 2016 |language=de}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.berliner-zeitung.de/berlin/leipzig-vs--berlin--natuerlich-ist-leipzig-das-bessere-berlin-,10809148,22704586.html |title=Leipzig vs Berlin: "Natürlich ist Leipzig das bessere Berlin" |trans-title=Leipzig vs Berlin: Naturally Leipzig is the better Berlin |author=Marcel Burkhardt |work=[[Berliner Zeitung]] |date=4 February 2020 |access-date=7 September 2014 |archive-date=2 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160102065221/http://www.berliner-zeitung.de/berlin/leipzig-vs--berlin--natuerlich-ist-leipzig-das-bessere-berlin-,10809148,22704586.html |url-status=live }}</ref>