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Amsterdam

Amsterdam got its name in the 13th century when it was only a small fish village. Its residents built a dam to stop the river from overflowing and since then the place was referred to as ''Amestelledamme'' which meant the dam of Amsterdam.

Warsaw

Warsaw means ''the town that belongs to Warsz''. According to the legend, Warsz was a fisherman who fell in love with a mermaid named Sawa. They got married and the town was named after the mixing of their names.

Berlin

The german capital is believed to have taken its name from the word ''bar'' which in german means ''bear''. This might explain why the symbol of the town is the bear.

Dublin

Dublin, the capital of Ireland, got its name from the words ''dubh'' and ''linn'' which mean

''black lake''.

Budapest

As it is already known Budapest comes from the synthesis of the words Buda and Pest, which were originally two seperate cities. Buda took the name of the man who founded it and Pest was named after the word ''pession'' (used by Ptolemeus) which meant fortress or cave.

Beograd

Beograd, the capital of Serbia, comes from the words Beo and Grad. ''Beo'' means white and ''grad'' means city therefore Beograd is the ''white city'' since it was originally built in the white walls of a fortress.

Bucurest

Bucurest is the capital of Romania and is said to have taken its name from the Romanian word ''bucur'' which means joy and happiness. That is why Bucurest is claimed to be the city of hapiness..

Brussels

Brussels took its name back in 695 A.D when a bishop founded a small settlement after the erection of a temple. This settlement was called ''Brossela'' (Brussels) which meant ''house on the moor''.

Copenhagen

Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark,has always been an important port for Northern Europe. The city got its name from the Danish word ''Køpmannæhafn''which means ''the port of merchants''.

Lisboa

According to the most prevalent version, Lisboa means ''safe port''. There is another version though, which maintains that Lisboa means the ''the city of Ulysses'' (original name Ulyssiboa) and that it was Ulysses who founded the city.

London



There is a plethora of versions regarding the roots of the word ''London''. The one which seems more valid is the one which maintains that London got its name from the King Lud who reigned the city in the pre-Roman era.

Luxembourg

Luxembourg is a small city-state and it is said to have taken its name from the celtic phrase ''ucilem burg'' which means ''little castle''.