Names of Istanbul

• 1. Pre-Greek Origins And Lygos

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  The earliest known name for the site of modern Istanbul was Lygos. Pliny the Elder recorded this designation in his writings, though the origin and meaning remain unknown to historians today. Zsolt Simon suggested a possible etymological link to the Greek name for the Ligures, derived from the Anatolian ethnonym Ligyes. This tribe appears to have been part of Xerxes' army during ancient conflicts. Janis proposed that Lygos may have been the name of a Thracian settlement situated on the peninsula point now known as Sarayburnu. The Paphlagonians were neighbors to these early inhabitants, yet no definitive evidence confirms the exact nature of their presence.

• 2. Greek Founding And Byzantium

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  Byzantion emerged as a formal city when Greek colonists from Megara arrived in 667 BC. Ancient legend identifies Byzas as the legendary king who led these Megarean colonists and founded the settlement. The name likely stems from Thracian or Illyrian origins, predating the Greek arrival itself. It may derive from a personal name belonging to either ethnic group. Inhabitants of the city became known as Byzántioi, while the adjective form Byzántios described them as an ethnonym. Later generations used Byzantinós to denote an inhabitant of the empire rather than just the city. The Anglicization of Latin Byzantinus produced the modern term "Byzantine" with various 15th and 16th century forms including Bizantin(e) and Bysantin.

• 3. Roman Renaming And New Rome

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  Constantine the Great transformed the city into the new eastern capital of the Roman Empire on the 11th of May 330. He undertook a major construction project that rebuilt the city on a monumental scale partly modeled after Rome. Commemorative coins issued during the 330s already referred to the city as Constantinopolis. Socrates of Constantinople wrote in his Historia Ecclesiastica around 439 that the emperor named the city Constantinople while decreeing it be designated a second Rome. The Third Canon of the First Council of Constantinople in 381 referred to the city as New Rome. This term lent itself to East-West polemics especially during the Great Schism when Greek writers used it to stress rivalry with original Rome.

• 4. Byzantine Honorary Appellations

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  The Byzantines referred to their capital with a large range of honorary appellations beyond its official name. They called it the Queen of Cities or used the adjective Βασιλεύουσα meaning the Reigning City. In popular speech the most common way to refer to it came to be simply the City. Modern Greek speakers still use η Πόλη pronounced i Poli to describe the metropolis today. This usage also became the source of the later Turkish name Istanbul through linguistic evolution. Armenian communities adopted Polis or Bolis from this same Greek root for Western Armenian dialects prevalent in the city.

• 5. Ottoman Transition To Kostantiniyye

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  After the Ottoman conquest of 1453, Kostantiniyye emerged as the most formal official name in Ottoman Turkish. It remained in use throughout most of the time up to the fall of the Empire in 1922. The Arabic calque al-Qus ext{t}ānīniyya and Persian Qos ext{t}an ext{t}ānīye reflected Islamic world adoption of the name. Ottoman chancery and courts used Kostantiniyye within intricate formulae expressing place of origin on formal documents. Coins struck during the reign of Sultan Mahmud I in 1730 bore the word Islambol to express the city's new role as capital of the Islamic Ottoman Empire. Evliya Çelebi described Islambol as the common Turkish name of his time in 17th century sources.

• 6. Modern Standardization Of Istanbul

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  In 1928 Turkey changed its alphabet from Arabic to Latin script which altered how names appeared in writing. Beginning in 1930 the country officially requested that other nations use Turkish names for Turkish cities instead of older transliterations. The U.S. State Department began using Istanbul in May 1930 following this mandate. Lloyd's agents received instructions in 1929 that telegrams must be addressed to Istanbul or Stamboul rather than Constantinople. The New York Times reported mail to Constantinople might no longer be delivered by that year. Modern Turkish writes the name as İstanbul with a dotted i while English uses Istanbul without diacritics.

• 7. Global Linguistic Variations

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  Medieval Vikings who had contacts with the Byzantine Empire used the Old Norse name Mikligarðr meaning big wall or stronghold. East and South Slavic languages referred to the city as Tsarigrad derived from Slavonic words for Caesar and city. This term remains occasionally used in Bulgarian but has become archaic in Russian and Macedonian. Slovene speakers still largely prefer Carigrad over the official name today. Persian and Urdu used Kayser-i Zemin meaning Throne of the Romans based on the title Cesar. Judaeo-Spanish publications during the Ottoman period called the city Kushta or Kostán as shortened forms of Kostantiniyye. Icelandic preserves the old Norse name Mikligarður though Istanbúl is generally used now.