both the Libyan capital and the Lebanese port city represent Greek tri- "three" (see tri-) + polis "city" (see polis). In Libya, Tripolis was the name of a Phoenician colony consisting of Oea (which grew into modern Tripoli), Leptis Magna, and Sabratha. Arabic distinguishes them as Tarabulus ash-sham ("Syrian Tripoli") and Tarabulus al-garb ("Western Tripoli").
city in Hampshire, capital of Wessex and later of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom, Old English Uintancæstir (c.730), from Ouenta (c. 150), from Venta, a pre-Celtic name perhaps meaning "favored or chief place" + Old English ceaster "Roman town" (see Chester). As the name of a kind of breech-loading repeating rifle it is from the name of Oliver F. Winchester (1810-1880), U.S. manufacturer.
"drink of champagne and stout" (also called a black velvet), 1910, named for the German chancellor (1815-1898), who was said to have been fond of it. The surname is said to be short for Biscofsmark "bishop's boundary." The capital city of North Dakota was named 1873 in honor of the chancellor in recognition of the investment of German bondholders in the railroad through there.
capital of Tennessee, U.S., named for Gen. Francis Nash (1742-1777) of North Carolina, U.S. Revolutionary War hero killed at the Battle of Germantown. The surname is attested from 1296 in Sussex Subsidy Rolls, atten Eysse, atte Nasche (with assimilation of -n- from a preposition; see N), meaning "near an ash tree," or "near a place called Ash." In reference to a type of country & western music that originated there, 1963.
in reference to the English royal house of the 12th and early 13th centuries (Henry II, Richard I, and John) descended from Geoffrey, count of Anjou, and Matilda, daughter of Henry I, 1650s, literally "pertaining to the French province of Anjou," from French Angevin, from Medieval Latin Andegavinus, from Andegavum "Angers," city in France, capital of Anjou (Latin Andegavia), from Andecavi, Roman name of the Gaulish people who lived here, which is of unknown origin.
Bulgarian capital, Roman Serdica, from the Thracian Serdi people who lived thereabouts. Conquered by the Bulgarians 9c. who altered the name by folk-etymology to Sredeti, which in their tongue meant "center, middle." It got its current name 14c. when the Turks conquered it and converted the 6c. church of St. Sophia to a mosque; the name thence was extended to the whole city.
1794, "a scramble, a confused struggle;" 1842, "a scrawling character in writing," from scrabble (v.) in its various senses. One of the scr- group of words of interlocking origin; also compare scramble, and scribble-scrabble "hasty writing" (1580s), a reduplication of scribble (n.). The popular word-forming board game, 1949, a proprietary name (registered U.S.), with capital S-. Theological polemicists of the 17th century had scrabblement as an insult for "unmeaning, rambling writing."
city in northern Vietnam, from Vietnamese Hà Nôi, literally "River Inside," from hà "river" + nôi "inside." So called in reference to its situation in a bend of the Red River. Known 18c. as Dong Kinh "Eastern Capital," which was corrupted by Europeans into Tonkin, Tonquin, and that name was used in the French colonial period to refer to the entire region and extended to the gulf to the east.
capital of old Brabant and modern Belgium, a name of Germanic origin, from brocca "marsh" + sali "room, building," from Latin cella (see cell). It arose 6c. as a fortress on an island in a river. As a type of carpet, from 1799; as a type of lace, from 1748.
Brussels sprouts (Brassica oleracea gemmifera) is attested from 1748 (the first written description of them is from 1580s); they have long been associated with Flanders and especially Brussels (compare the French name, choux de Bruxelles).
ancient city, modern Antakya in Turkey, anciently the capital of Syria, founded c. 300 B.C.E. by Seleucus I Nictor and named for his father, Antiochus. The name, also borne by several Syrian kings and an eclectic philosopher, is a Latinized form of Greek Antiokhos, literally "resistant, holding out against," from anti "against" (see anti-) + ekhein "to have, hold;" in intransitive use, "be in a given state or condition" (from PIE root *segh- "to hold"). Related: Antiochian.
