Origins of the name "Istanbul"

Has it occured to anyone that people simply adopt the toponym that the previous people used when they (the new arrivals) move into an area? This is not always subject to our own nationalistic feelings of today. "Roman" became "Rum" and the area of what is now Sterea Ellada was known as "Rumeli Hissar" during the Ottoman years. The Ottomans seem to have had no qualms (nationalistic or other) in order to adopt "Istanbul" and "Rum", bastardizations of the words the locals had used for centuries,  into their own language. Why can't the people of today accept that?
Furthermore, I grew up around my granma who was originaly from Smyrni (or should I say Izmir in order not to start another bound of "hostilities"). She cooked "imam baildi"  instead of "vegetable stew",  she  made the sweetest-tasting "burek", "kadaif", and "baklava" and she cussed me out with " ai shihtir", go to the devil, not the Greek "ai sto diaolo". When she liked me, she called me "yavrum", sweetheart, not the traditional "psyhi mou", my soul. Am I supposed now to go to her grave (she passed away at age 101) and tell her that she wasn't a "true Greek" grandmother because the origin of the words she used was Turkish? Likewise, how is it that the vitality, prosperity,size, importance, and Turkishness (Turkmaniye?--how do you say "Turkishness"?) of today's Istanbul is at all diminished by the Greek root of its
toponym?

You gotta take the past with a grain of salt, folks...


Edited by konstantinius - 27-Aug-2006 at 23:53

Yes, I do romantise it and it might be an emotional pitfall that could cloud objective judgment of events, but if you were me you'd do the same. Besides,as you've said there isn't any proof either way.

Edited by konstantinius - 28-Aug-2006 at 18:39

macedonians?

alparslan greek and turkish culture are pretty different.they have common things that share,but greeks and italians have also common things that doesnt mean that their cultures are the same.

oh and smth else greek language has turkish words but also has italian and lately english words too....all the languages of the world have many many greek words(not only turkish language)....




Edited by ageia - 29-Aug-2006 at 09:12

Originally posted by ageia alparslan greek and turkish culture are pretty different.they have common things that share,but greeks and italians have also common things that doesnt mean that their cultures are the same.

turks in Turkey do not look like asian like central asian turks.why we are   a piece of roman,a piece of slav,a piece of greek,a piece of persian,a piece of caucasian,a piece of armenian,a piece of hitit,a piece of phrygian,a piece of who lived in this land(balkans,anatolia,caucasia,north africa.)

in the some of the lonely planet tv series i have seen a scene.traveler was in south italy and she visited a far village close to Bari.She showed us a fontain.There was a tablet on the fountain written with the greek letters.

Because origin of the village coming form Greece.They stil speak in greek.but they are italian.

Originally posted by Neoptolemos Originally posted by The Hidden Face 'Greeks are Turks who think they are Italians' Hidden, did somebody hack your account?

Byzantium in Roman times.

Constantinople in Byzantine times.

Konstantaniyya in Ottoman times.

Stin poli(Istanbul) in Greek which means into the city in modern day.

Still arguing over this? jeeeez this has already been debated over and over again.

Istanbul was called so many names,

Neu Roma, Micklegard, Tsargrad, Costa, Kushta, Astana, Pay-i-Taht, Islambol, Konstantinniye and so on, all these names were used by different people. The Ottomans used, Islambol, Konstantinniye, Astana.

The theory that Fatih the Conquerer heard a few Greeks saying IN TO THE CITY and named it after this is laughably ridiculous, he did know the name of the city he was invading guys I mean come on     

Istanbul
Islambul

Another likely explanation, being its a Persian word, Land Bridge you know it connects Asia to Europe.

Oh and by the way, there were no "Greeks" in those times, there were "Rum"-"Romans", that's how the people saw themselves at the time, if they called themselves Greek, the Turks would have called them Greek.

Still Turks call Christian people like Greeks, Venetians, Geneoese in Western Turkey "Rum" only Greeks in Greece are called "Yunan".

From The First Her presence,mother's beauty,kisses spark!Goddess of Earth kisses sun light here from the very beginning as it looks!At least i am logical."IST" structure is very new for me but will solve it.ALL changes will
be published here.It is NaDeNaJVe,world wide known as Danayans,"people of Troy"...We say ISTOK/O for East side of the world!Word speaks about Sun's shelter!


Edited by medenaywe - 16-Jan-2012 at 11:45