Editing Prague (section)

==Etymology and names==
{{see also|Names of European cities in different languages (M–P)#P}}

The Czech name Praha is derived from an old [[Slavic languages|Slavic]] word, {{lang|sla|práh}}, which means "[[ford (crossing)|ford]]" or "[[Rapids|rapid]]", referring to the city's origin at a crossing point of the Vltava river.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://praguesummer.com/whats-in-a-name-prague-history-lesson/ |title=What's in a Name? (Prague History Lesson) |website=Prague Summer Program for Writers |date=22 February 2016 |access-date=14 March 2016 |archive-date=14 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170314063453/http://praguesummer.com/whats-in-a-name-prague-history-lesson/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

Another view to the origin of the name is also related to the Czech word {{lang|cs|práh}} (with the meaning of a [[Threshold (door)|threshold]]) and a legendary etymology connects the name of the city with princess [[Libuše]], prophetess and a wife of the mythical founder of the [[Přemyslid dynasty]]. She is said to have ordered the city "to be built where a man hews a threshold of his house". The Czech {{lang|cs|práh}} might thus be understood to refer to rapids or fords in the river, the edge of which could have acted as a means of fording the river&nbsp;– thus providing a "threshold" to the castle.

Another derivation of the name ''Praha'' is suggested from ''na prazě'', the original term for the [[shale]] hillside rock upon which the original castle was built. At that time, the castle was surrounded by forests, covering the nine hills of the future city&nbsp;– the [[Old Town, Prague|Old Town]] on the opposite side of the river, as well as the [[Lesser Town]] beneath the existing castle, appeared only later.<ref name=praha>{{cite book |last=Dudák|first=Vladislav|title=Praha: Průvodce magickým centrem Evropy |trans-title=Prague: A Guide to the Magical Center of Europe |year=2010 |publisher=Práh |location=Praha|isbn=978-80-7252-302-3|page=184}}</ref>

The English spelling of the city's name is borrowed from [[French language|French]]. In the 19th and early 20th centuries it was pronounced in English to rhyme with "vague": it was so pronounced by [[Lady Diana Cooper]] (born 1892) on [[Desert Island Discs]] in 1969,<ref>{{cite web |title=Interview with Lady Diana Cooper |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p009y17t |website=Desert Island Discs |access-date=2 February 2019 |ref=at 11 minutes 4 seconds |date=24 March 1969 |archive-date=3 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190203031337/https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p009y17t |url-status=live}}</ref> and it is written to rhyme with "vague" in a verse of [https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Beleaguered_City The Beleaguered City] by [[Henry Wadsworth Longfellow|Longfellow]] (1839) and also in the limerick [https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/There_was_an_Old_Lady_of_Prague There was an Old Lady of Prague] by [[Edward Lear]] (1846).

Prague is also called the ''"City of a Hundred [[Spire]]s"'', based on a count by 19th century mathematician [[Bernard Bolzano]]; today's count is estimated by the Prague Information Service at 500.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://zpravy.idnes.cz/kolik-vezi-ma-stovezata-praha-nadsenci-jich-napocitali-pres-pet-set-1fv-/domaci.aspx?c=A100805_115917_praha-zpravy_sfo |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130514204127/http://zpravy.idnes.cz/kolik-vezi-ma-stovezata-praha-nadsenci-jich-napocitali-pres-pet-set-1fv-/domaci.aspx?c=A100805_115917_praha-zpravy_sfo |archive-date=14 May 2013 |title=Kolik věží má "stověžatá" Praha? Nadšenci jich napočítali přes pět set |language=cs |work=idnes.cz |publisher=Mladá fronta DNES |date=5 August 2010 |access-date=8 January 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Nicknames for Prague have also included: the Golden City, the Mother of Cities and the Heart of Europe.<ref>{{cite web |title=Visit Prague, the City of a Hundred spires |url=http://www.prague.fm/ |publisher=prague.fm |access-date=19 August 2015 |archive-date=10 August 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150810201202/http://www.prague.fm/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

The local Jewish community, which belongs to one of the oldest continuously existing in the world, have described the city as {{lang|he|עיר ואם בישראל}} ''Ir va-em be-yisrael'', "The city and mother in Israel".<ref>{{Cite web |last=McCarthy |first=Suzanne |date=2012-12-10 |title=A city and a mother in Israel |url=https://bltnotjustasandwich.com/2012/12/10/a-city-and-a-mother-in-israel/ |access-date=2024-11-01 |website=BLT |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.knizniklub.cz/knihy/89886-jewish-prague-zidovska-praha-anglicky.html |title=Jewish Prague/Židovská Praha - anglicky |language=cs}}</ref>