capital of France, from Gallo-Latin Lutetia Parisorum (in Late Latin also Parisii), name of a fortified town of the Gaulish tribe of the Parisii, who had a capital there; literally "Parisian swamps" (see Lutetian).
The tribal name is of unknown origin, but it is traditionally derived from a Celtic par "boat" (perhaps related to Greek baris; see barge (n.)), hence the ship on the city's coat of arms.
capital of Bosnia, founded 15c. and named in Turkish as Bosna-Saray, "Palace on the (River) Bosna," from saray (see caravanserai); the modern name is a Slavic adjectival form of saray.
also Teheran, Iranian capital, said to mean "flat, level, lower," but sometimes derived from Old Persian teh "warm" + ran "place."
Middle English delven, from Old English delfan "to dig, turn up with a spade or other tool, excavate" (class III strong verb; past tense dealf, past participle dolfen), common West Germanic (cognates: Old Saxon delban, Dutch delven, Middle High German telben "to dig"). This is perhaps from a PIE root *dhelbh- (source also of Lithuanian delba "crowbar," Russian dolbit', Czech dlabati, Polish dłubać "to chisel;" Russian dolotó, Czech dlato, Polish dłuto "chisel").
Weak inflections emerged 14c.-16c. Figurative sense of "carry on laborious or continued research" is from mid-15c. Related: Delved; delving; delver.
Venezuelan capital, founded 1567 by the Spaniards on the site of a razed village of the Caracas people, whose name is of unknown origin, and named for them.
city in eastern India, former capital of British India, named for Hindu goddess Kali. In modern use often de-Englished as Kolkata.
mid-14c., "bishop having general superintendency over other bishops of his province," from Late Latin metropolitanus, from Greek metropolis "mother city" (from which others have been colonized), parent state of a colony," also "capital city," and, in Ecclesiastical Greek, "see of a metropolitan bishop," from meter "mother" (see mother (n.1)) + polis "city" (see polis).
In the early church, the bishop of a municipal capital of a province or eparchy, who had general superintendence over the bishops in his province. In modern Catholic use, an archbishop who has bishops under his authority; in the Greek church still the bishop of a municipal capital of a province, ranking above an archbishop.
