Etymologie, Etimología, Étymologie, Etimologia, Etymology, (griech.) etymología, (lat.) etymologia, (esper.) etimologio
UK Vereinigtes Königreich Großbritannien und Nordirland, Reino Unido de Gran Bretaña e Irlanda del Norte, Royaume-Uni de Grande-Bretagne et d'Irlande du Nord, Regno Unito di Gran Bretagna e Irlanda del Nord, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, (esper.) Britujo
Stadt, Ciudad, Ville, Città, City, (lat.) urbs, (esper.) urboj
Hauptstadt: London
A
B
Bath, Bad, baden, Sulis Minerva (W3)
(E?)(L?) http://www.takeourword.com/TOW192/page4.html
Die englische Stadt "Bath", verdankt ihren Namen den (heißen) Heilquellen und geht also auf "bath", lat. "balneum" zurück. Die Römer nannten sie ursprünglich noch "Aqua Sulis" = "Wasser des Sulis", nach dem dortigen Tempel des "Sulis Minerva".
Dieser "weisse Schimmel" ("Sulis Minerva") ergab sich durch die Gleichsetzung der ursprünglichen britischen Gottheit "Sulis" mit der römischen "Minerva", der Göttin für Handwerk, Weisheit und Künst.
Das engl. "bath", altengl. "bæth", dt. "Bad" hatte ursprünglich die Bedeutung "Hitze", da man Bäder anscheinend immer als Warmbäder oder sogar "Heißbäder" verstand. Und "baden" soll auf ein lautmalerisches "bähen" zurück gehen, das beim Einstieg ins heiße Wasser zu hören war.
C
City (W3)
Engl. "City" (13. Jh.) = dt. "Stadt", "Hauptstadt", "Innenstadt" geht über altfrz. "cité" zurück auf lat. "civitas" = "Bürgerschaft", "Staat", "Gemeinde". Als Wurzel findet man ide. "*kei-" = dt. "liegen", "Bett", "Heimstätte", "Gehöft".
City (A), strictly speaking is a large town with a corporation and cathedral; but any large town is so called in ordinary speech. In the Bible it means a town having walls and gates.
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The first known city was built by the Sumerians 6000 years ago in the territory that is now Iraq. By 2002 48% of people living in the world lived in urban areas. Many people in every territory live in urban areas.
Areas of dense population facilitate trade and the provision of services. Just two territories have 100% of the population living in urban areas - these are Singapore and Hong Kong (China).
In Brazil 145 million people, that is 82% of the population, live in towns and cities. In Bhutan 180 thousand, 8% of the population, live in urban areas.
Engl. "City" taucht in der Literatur um das Jahr 1550 auf.
Erstellt: 2012-10
D
E
F
G
Garden City
Gartenstadt
Cité-Jardin (W3)
Der Begriff "Gartenstadt", engl. "Garden City" (1898), frz. "Cité-Jardin", geht (als Lehnübersetzung) zurück auf den Engländer Ebenezer Howard (1850-1928). Er verstandt darunter nicht nur eine Stadt oder einen Stadtteil im grünen bzw. mit Gärten und Grünflächen, sondern verbandt mit seiner Idee auch ein genossenschaftliches Konzept und sozialreformerischen Zielsetzungen.
Die erste "garden city", die nach dem Gartenstadtprinzip in Großbritannien entstanden, war Letchworth, nördlich von London ab dem Jehr 1903. Es folgte "Welwyn Garden City" (ab 1920). In Deutschland entstand als erste und einzige (echte) "Gartenstadt" Hellerau (damals bei, ab 1950 Teil von Dresden) (ab 1907) von R.Riemerschmied.
Größte Stadt von UK
Größte Stadt von United Kingdom
Größte Stadt von UK - Vereinigtes Königreich (Großbritannien u. Nordirland) ist "London".
Erstellt: 2012-07
H
Hauptstadt von UK
Hauptstadt von United Kingdom
Hauptstadt von UK - Vereinigtes Königreich (Großbritannien u. Nordirland) ist "London".
Geographische Lage der Hauptstadt: 000°06' W - 51°31' N
Erstellt: 2012-07
I
J
K
L
M
Metropolis (W3)
Engl. "metropolis" bezeichnet eine große, dicht besiedelte Stadt, engl. "a large and densely populated urban area". Die Bezeichnung geht zurück auf griech. "meter" = dt. "Mutter" und griech. "pólis" = dt. "Stadt", "Staat". Ursprünglich bezeichnete es einen griechischen Stadtstaat, der zum Bezugspunkt einer Region wurde und / oder zum Ausgangspunkt für weitere Stadtstaaten wurde und somit zur "Mutterstadt" für die "Tochterstädte" wurde. Heute ist diese "Gründerfunktion" nicht mehr maßgebend und engl. "metropolis" kann jede große Stadt bezeichnen. Insbesondere die Hauptstädte von Bundesstaaten oder Bundesländern oder auch von Staaten werden des öfteren auch als engl. "metropolis" bezeichnet.
Dt., frz., engl. "Metropolis" setzt sich zusammen aus griech. "metro" = dt. "Mutter" und griech. "polis" = dt. "Stadt".
Die Pariser "Métro" wurde im Jahr 1900 rechtzeitig zur Weltausstellung eröffnet. Die Bezeichnung ist ein schönes Beispiel wie Worte von einem Gegenstand auf den nächsten übertragen werden, bis sie etwas bezeichnen, mit dem sie ursprünglich nichts zu tun hatten. So wurde die U-Bahn in Paris zunächst frz. "Chemin de fer métropolitain" (1873) genannt, etwa dt. "Städtische Eisenbahn". Erst verkürzte man auf frz. "Métropolitain" und schließlich auf frz. "Métro".
Aber was lag davor? Die alten Griechen liebten es mit dem Schiff an den Küsten des Mittelmeers und des Schwarzen Meers entlang zu fahren und Städte zu gründen. Manchmal verbannte man auch mißliebige Zeitgenossen aus den griechischen Städten, denen gar nichts anderes übrig blieb, als sich in einiger Entfernung niederzulassen. Insbesondere Athen konnte schließlich auf einige Tochterstätte verweisen. Und Athen selbst wurde zur "Mutterstadt", zur "metro polis", zur "Metropole". (In der Medizin findet man griech. "metro-" = "Gebärmutter-" zu griech. "meter" = dt. "Mutter".) Mit der Zeit wurde der Platz für Städte-Neugründungen immer begrenzter. Aber die grossen Städte wollten auf die Ehrenbezeichnung nicht verzichten und erhoben Anspruch auf den Titel "Metropolis" (16. Jh.) und "Metropole" (19. Jh.) - einfach nur wegen ihrer Größe. Und so wurde die "Metropole" einfach zur "Großstadt". In den Zeiten der Koloniealreiche erinnerten sich England und Frankreich (frz. "La France Métropolitaine") wieder schwach an die ursprüngliche Bedeutung der "Metropole" und bezogen es auf das jeweilige "Mutterland" oder speziell auf London und Paris.
For some "Metropolis" is just the name of the city where Superman lives (cunningly disguised as Clark Kent). But it’s a real word, first recorded in the 16th century, meaning "the chief city".
"Metropolis" comes from two Greek source words: "polis" ("city") and "metro" ("mother") - so a district’s "mother city" is a "metropolis". Now Michael Quinion reports on a new word that has been built on this.
On his World Wide Words website he gives us: "ideopolis" meaning (literally) "a city of ideas". Apparently an "ideopolis" acts as a "knowledge hub" that stimulates growth. Michael says that London and Edinburgh have each been named an "ideopolis" by the UK Work Foundation - because such a large proportion of their workers are involved in what are called now "knowledge industries": healthcare, teaching, architecture, the media, research and development, and computing. And to think - we used to casually dismiss them as "white collar workers" (ignoring the brain above the collar).
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1. A major city, especially the chief city of a country or region: Chicago, the metropolis of the Midwest.
2. A city or an urban area regarded as the center of a specific activity: a great cultural metropolis.
3. Ecclesiastical The chief see of a metropolitan bishop.
4. The mother city or country of an overseas colony, especially in ancient Greece.
ETYMOLOGY:
Middle English "metropol", from Late Latin "mtropolis", "mother-city", from Greek : "meter", "metr-", "mother"; see "mater-" in Appendix I + "polis", "city"; see "pele-"3 in Appendix I.
DEFINITION: "Mother". Based ultimately on the baby-talk form "ma-", with the kinship term suffix "*-ter-".
Derivatives include "mother"1, "matrix", and "matter".
1a. "mother", from Old English "modor", "mother";
b. "mother", from Middle Dutch "moeder", "mother".
Both a and b from Germanic "*modar-".
2. "alma mater", "mater", "maternal", "maternity", "matriculate", "matrix", "matron"; "madrepore", "matrimony", from Latin "mater", "mother".
3. "metro-"; "metropolis", from Greek "meter", "mother".
4. "material", "matter", from Latin "materies", "materia", "tree trunk" (- "matrix", "the tree's source of growth"), hence hard timber used in carpentry, hence (by a calque on Greek "hule", "wood", "matter") "substance", "stuff", "matter".
5. "Demeter", from Greek compound "Demeter", name of the goddess of produce, especially cereal crops ("de-", possibly meaning "earth"). (Pokorny "matér-" 700.)
Ani Ghost City
Ani, Turkey
Ani Ghost City
An abused and forgotten metropolis, abandoned for centuries
Ghost Towns, Catacombs, Crypts, & Cemeteries, Relics and Reliquaries
14 Jan 2012
Antarctica
McMurdo Station
Antarctica's bustling metropolis, originally established by Richard E. Byrd
Martian Landscapes, Strange Science, Intriguing Environs, Obscura Day Location
09 Mar 2011
Cape Breton, Canada
Broughton, Nova Scotia
The remains of an attempt to carve a thriving metropolis from the forest, and once home to the first revolving door in North America.
Army drills in front of the Crown Hotel. Designed by W.C. Harris, architect, this was meant to be the working man's hotel. It was less luxurious but still far above most hotels of the day. In 1916 the 185th Battalion was stationed at Broughton. The town had been deserted, but had fine quarters for the military: officers and the hospital were in the Broughton Arms; the non-commisioned officers at The Crown Hotel; and the enlisted men in the forty-three cottages that had been built for miners.
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit Salt Mine
Over a thousand feet beneath the Detroit streets is a subterranean metropolis few are allowed to enter
Natural Wonders, Wonders of Salt, Subterranean Sites
24 Oct 2009
Hachimantai, Japan
Matsuo Mine
Abandoned Japanese ghost town gives a glimpse into what our own metropolises may leave behind
Incredible Ruins, Haikyo
25 Jul 2013
Los Alamos, New Mexico
Bandelier National Monument
A small metropolis of Pueblo cave dwellings have been carved right into the hillside of this national monument
São Paulo, Brazil
São Paulo Pedestrian Signal Lights
The pedestrian traffic signals in Brazil's teeming metropolis light up with clues to nearby landmarks
"In a pig's eye" is an American rhyming slang phrase meaning "That's a lie", or "I don't believe you". We Aussies have a similar phrase, referring to the rear end of the porcine anatomy. How would you like to live in a town called "Pig's Eye"? Some of its early settlers became so tired of being ridiculed that they changed its comical name to a far more respectable one - "Saint Paul".
Gulliver's Travels: Chapter IV - Mildendo, the metropolis of Lilliput, described, together with the Emperor's palace. A conversation between the Author and a principal Secretary, concerning the affairs of that Empire. The Author's Offer to serve the Emperor in his wars
Chapter II - A description of the farmer's daughter. The Author carried to a market-town, and then to the metropolis. The particulars of his journey
Chapter IV - The country described. A proposal for correcting modern maps. The King's palace, and some account of the metropolis. The Author's way of traveling. The chief temple described
Chapter IV - The Author leaves Laputa, is conveyed to Balnibarbi, arrives at the metropolis. A description of the metropolis, and the country adjoining. The Author hospitably received by a great lord. His conversation with that lord
"metropolis" (n.): "seat of a metropolitan bishop", 1530s, from Late Latin "metropolis"; see "metropolitan". Meaning "chief town or capital city of a province" is first attested 1580s, earlier "metropol" (late 14c.).
Harbou, Thea von - Metropolis Kindle - Read Online Now
This is Metropolis, the novel that the film's screenwriter - Thea von Harbou, who was director Fritz Lang's wife, and a collaborator in the creation of the film - this is the novel that Harbou wrote from her own notes. It contains bits of the story that got lost on the cutting-room floor; in a very real way it is the only way to understand the film.
Title: Metropolis
Author: Thea Von Harbou
* A Project Gutenberg of Australia eBook *
eBook No.: 0601891h.html
Edition: 1
Language: English
Character set encoding: Latin-1(ISO-8859-1)--8 bit
Date first posted: June 2006
Date most recently updated: June 2006
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(E?)(L1) http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/b
Bunyan, John, 1628-1688: The Holy war, made by King Shaddai upon Diabolus, for the regaining of the metropolis of the world; or, the losing and taking again of the town of Mansoul (English) (as Author)
(E?)(L1) http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/d
Dighton, Richard, 1795-1880: Real Life In London, Volumes I. and II. Or, The Rambles And Adventures Of Bob Tallyho, Esq., And His Cousin, The Hon. Tom Dashall, Through The Metropolis; Exhibiting A Living Picture Of Fashionable Characters, Manners, And Amusements In High And Low Life (1821) (English) (as Illustrator)
(E?)(L1) http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/e
Egan, Pierce, 1772-1849: Real Life In London, Volumes I. and II. Or, The Rambles And Adventures Of Bob Tallyho, Esq., And His Cousin, The Hon. Tom Dashall, Through The Metropolis; Exhibiting A Living Picture Of Fashionable Characters, Manners, And Amusements In High And Low Life (1821) (English) (as Author)
(E?)(L1) http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/h
Heath, William, 1795-1840: Real Life In London, Volumes I. and II. Or, The Rambles And Adventures Of Bob Tallyho, Esq., And His Cousin, The Hon. Tom Dashall, Through The Metropolis; Exhibiting A Living Picture Of Fashionable Characters, Manners, And Amusements In High And Low Life (1821) (English) (as Illustrator)
(E?)(L1) http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/r
Rowlandson, Thomas, 1756-1827: Real Life In London, Volumes I. and II. Or, The Rambles And Adventures Of Bob Tallyho, Esq., And His Cousin, The Hon. Tom Dashall, Through The Metropolis; Exhibiting A Living Picture Of Fashionable Characters, Manners, And Amusements In High And Low Life (1821) (English) (as Illustrator)
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Metropolis is now completely destroyed, its ruins being visible in a place called Tratsa in the nahié of Torbali and the vilayet (Turkish province) of Smyrna, quite close to the river Caystrus. The neighbouring village of Torbali has been built up with stone once used in the structures of ancient Metropolis and, at Tratsa, there may still be seen a portion of its wall, also its theatre and acropolis, the latter formed of huge blocks, while the olive groves are dotted with architectural ruins. This Metropolis, however, must not be confounded with two cities of the same name, one of which was in Phrygia and the other in Thessaly.
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Read the Original 32-Page Program for Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927)
in Film, Sci Fi| August 19th, 2016 2 Comments
One of the very first feature-length sci-fi films ever made, Fritz Lang’s Metropolis took a daring visual approach for its time, incorporating Bauhaus and Futurist influences in thrillingly designed sets and costumes. Lang’s visual language resonated strongly in later decades. The film’s rather stunning alchemical-electric transference of a woman’s physical traits onto the body of a destructive android — the so-called Maschinenmensch — for example, began a very long trend of female robots in film and television, most of them as dangerous and inscrutable as Lang’s. And yet, for all its many imitators, Metropolis continues to deliver surprises. Here, we bring you a new find: a 32-page program distributed at the film’s 1927 premier in London and recently re-discovered.
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Metropolis, Nicholas Constantine (1915-1999)
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Metropolis is best known for his contributions to the Monte Carlo method Eric Weisstein's World of Math and the field of integro-differential equations. Eric Weisstein's World of Math The code that was to become the famous Monte Carlo method Eric Weisstein's World of Math of calculation originated from a synthesis of insights that Metropolis brought to more general applications in collaboration with Stanislaw Ulam in 1949.
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Metropolis (griechisch "metrópolis", wörtlich "Mutterstadt") steht für:
Metropole, allgemein eine bedeutende Stadt
Metropolis (Comic), fiktive Stadt in den durch Superman bekannten Comics
Metropolis (Verlag), Marburger Verlag für Wirtschafts- und Gesellschaftswissenschaften
3-Rad-Roller der Firma Peugeot Motocycles
Baureihe Metropolis der Metro Warschau, siehe Metro Warschau#Baureihe Metropolis
Deutscher Regiepreis Metropolis
Stars and Stripes (Schiff), später unter dem Namen Metropolis in Fahrt
Metropolis-Algorithmus
Orte in den Vereinigten Staaten:
Metropolis (Illinois)
Metropolis (Louisiana)
Orte in der antiken Geographie:
im heutigen Griechenland Metropolis (Amphilochia), Stadt in Amphilochia, heute etwa 10 km nördlich von Amfilochia am Ambrakischen Golf
Metropolis (Akarnanien), Stadt in Akarnanien, heute Palaiomanina, 5 km westlich von Angelokastro
Metropolis (Doris), Stadt in Doris
Metropolis (Euböa), Stadt auf Euböa
Metropolis (Perrhaebia), Stadt in Perrhaebia, im nördlichen Thessalien
Metropolis (Thessalien), Stadt in Thessalien, heute Mitropoli in der Präfektur Karditsa
in der heutigen Türkei Metropolis in Asia (Titularbistum)
Metropolis in Pisidia (Titularbistum)
Metropolis in Ionien, eine Stadt in Ionien, nahe dem heutigen Özbey, Landkreis Torbali, Provinz Izmir
byzantinischer Name des Ortes Ayazini, Zentraltürkei
Metropolis (Apamea), Stadt im südlichen Phrygien im Conventus von Apameia Kibotos, heute Tatarli, etwa 20 km nördlich von Senirkent in der Provinz Isparta
Metropolis (Phrygien), Stadt im nördlichen Phrygien, heute Oynas, südöstlich von Kümbet
Metropolis (Pontus), Stadt in Pontus, Hauptort der Mossynoiker, heute im Küstengebiet der Provinz Giresun
Sonstige Metropolis (Sarmatien), Stadt im europäischen Teil von Sarmatien (Ptol. 3,5,28)
Künstlerische Werke:
Metropolis (Album), das Debütalbum von Robby Maria
Metropolis (Ausstellung), eine Ausstellung zeitgenössischer Kunst
Metropolis (Fernsehen), eine Fernsehsendung von arte
Metropolis (Film), ein Film von Fritz Lang aus dem Jahr 1927
Metropolis (Manga), ein Manga und dessen Verfilmung als Zeichentrickfilm
Metropolis (Musik), eine Berliner Band (1972-1976), Album Metropolis (1973 BMG/Ariola), Multimedia-Projekt nach Ray Bradbury The Illustrated Man
Metropolis (Roman) ein Roman von Thea von Harbou sowie das von ihr verfasste Drehbuch, Grundlage für Langs Film
Metropolis (Spiel), ein Brettspiel aus dem Jahr 1984
Metropolis (Stadtteil), städteplanerischer Entwurf von Bernhard Hoetger (1874-1949) für Hannover, der nicht verwirklicht wurde
Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory, ein Album der Progressive-Metal-Band Dream Theater
Metropolis als Nachname:
Nicholas Metropolis (1915-1999), amerikanischer Physiker und Mathematiker
Auch ndl. "tuin" = dt. "Garten", (verwandt mit dt. "Zaun" und engl. "town") geht auf eine ursprüngliche Bedeutung dt. "mit einem Zaun geschützter Platz" zurück.
Ndl. "Tuin" = dt. "Garten" ist mit dt. "Zaun" und engl. "Town" verwandt. Die ursprüngliche Bedeutung ist "Flechtwerk aus Reisig", und daraus "eingezäunter Platz", "umzäunter Raum", "mit einem Zaun geschützter Platz".
"Washington" geht z. B. auf den Rufnamen eines alten Angelsachsen mit "rauhen" "Sitten" zurück (angelsächs. "hwass" und "mut"). Er gründete eine "umzäunte" Siedlung, die "Siedling des Rauen, Mutigen" und erhielt den Namen "hwasston", das sich zu engl. "Washington" entwickelte. (Die angelsächsische Familie wurde wohl als "Wassings" bezeichnet die in "Wassingatun", altengl. "Wasentune" lebten.) Die "Wassings" waren also "Draufgänger". Die englischen Auswanderer nahmen den Ortsnamen als Familiennamen mit und der erste Präsident der USA, George Washington, gab den Namen an einige Orte und Counties in den USA weiter.
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"town" (n): a place where people live and work, containing many houses, shops, places of work, places of entertainment, etc., and usually larger than a village but smallerthan a "city"
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Within a territory (301-2), certain terms are used to describe different kinds of conglomerations or aggregations of population, sometimes known as population aggregates, population clusters or more generally as localities. In rural areas, the smallest unit is referred to as a "hamlet", which generally consists of a very small collection of houses. A slightly larger conglomeration is the "village" which is generally a small community and which may have a mainly agricultural population. A "town" or "city" is a larger conglomeration in which there are in general few people engaged in agriculture, but the point at which the transition from "village" to "town" or "city" occurs is difficult to specify and varies in different countries. The seat of government of a territory (in the sense of 305-1), is called its "capital". In a county, the place where the local government is situated is called the "county town" or "county seat". "Towns" and "cities" may be further divided into "districts" or "quarters" and for electoral purposes into "wards".
before 900; Middle English "toun", "tun", Old English "tun" walled or fenced place, courtyard, farmstead, village; cognate with Old Norse "tun" homefield, German "Zaun" fence, Old Irish "dún" fort
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Old English "tun" = "enclosure", "garden", "field", "yard"; "farm", "manor"; "homestead", "dwelling house", "mansion"; later "group of houses", "village", "farm", from Proto-Germanic "*tunaz", "*tunan" = "fortified place" (source also of Old Saxon, Old Norse, Old Frisian "tun" = "fence", "hedge", Middle Dutch "tuun" = "fence", Dutch "tuin" = "garden", Old High German "zun", German "Zaun" = "fence", "hedge"), an early borrowing from Celtic "*dunon" = "hill", "hill-fort" (source also of Old Irish "dun", Welsh "din" = "fortress", "fortified place", "camp"; "dinas" = "city", Gaulish-Latin "-dunum" in place names), from PIE "*dhu-no-" = "enclosed", "fortified place", "hill-fort", from root "*dheue-" = "to close", "finish", come full circle" (see "down" (n.2)).
Meaning "inhabited place larger than a village" (mid-12c.) arose after the Norman conquest from the use of this word to correspond to French ville. The modern word is partially a generic term, applicable to cities of great size as well as places intermediate between a city and a village; such use is unusual, the only parallel is perhaps Latin "oppidium", which occasionally was applied even to Rome or Athens (each of which was more properly an "urbs").
First record of "town hall" is from late 15c.
"Town ball", version of "baseball", is recorded from 1852.
"Town car" (1907) originally was a motor car with an enclosed passenger compartment and open driver's seat.
"On the town" = "living the high life" is from 1712.
"Go to town" = "do (something) energetically" is first recorded 1933.
"Man about town" = "one constantly seen at public and private functions" is attested from 1734.
[go to town] {v. phr.}, {slang} 1. To do something quickly or with great force or energy; work fast or hard. * /The boys went to town on the old garage, and had it torn down before Father came home from work./ * /While Sally was slowly washing the dishes, she remembered she had a date with Pete that evening; then she really went to town./ Compare: IN NO TIME, MAKE TIME. Contrast: TAKE ONE'S TIME. 2. or [go places]. To do a good job; succeed. * /Our team is going to town this year. We have won all five games that we played./ * /Dan was a good student and a good athlete; we expect him to go places in business./
[on the town] {adv.} or {adj. phr.}, {informal} In or into a town to celebrate; having a good time or enjoying the amusements in a town. * /When the sailors got off their ship they went out on the town./ Compare: "PAINT THE TOWN RED."
[paint the town red] or [paint the town] {v. phr.}, {slang} To go out to drink and have a good time; celebrate wildly; carouse. * /It was the sailors' first night ashore; they painted the town red./ Compare: "ON THE TOWN"(2).
[town] See: "GO TO TOWN", "ON THE TOWN", "PAINT THE TOWN RED".
[town and gown] {n.} The residents of a college town and the students and teachers of the college. * /The senator made a speech attended by both town and gown./ * /There were fights between town and gown./
The Difference Between a City and a Town
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Depending on where you live, the definition of these two terms may vary, as will the official designation that is given to a certain community. In general, though, cities are larger than towns. Whether any given town is officially designated with the term "town", however, will vary based on the country and state it is located in.
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The word "town" shares an origin with the German word "Zaun", the Dutch word "tuin", and the Old Norse "tún". The original Proto-Germanic word, "*tunan", is thought to be an early borrowing from Proto-Celtic "*dunom" (cf. Old Irish "dún", Welsh "din").
The original sense of the word in both Germanic and Celtic was that of a fortress or an enclosure. Cognates of "town" in many modern Germanic languages designate a "fence" or a "hedge". In English and Dutch, the meaning of the word took on the sense of the space which these fences enclosed, and through which a track must run. In England, a town was a small community that could not afford or was not allowed to build walls or other larger fortifications, and built a palisade or stockade instead. In the Netherlands, this space was a garden, more specifically those of the wealthy, which had a high fence or a wall around them (like the garden of the palace of Het Loo in Apeldoorn, which was the model for the privy garden of William III and Mary II at Hampton Court). In Old Norse "tún" means a (grassy) place between farmhouses, and the word is still used with a similar meaning in modern Norwegian.
Old English "tun" became a common place-name suffix in England and southeastern Scotland during the Anglo-Saxon settlement period. In Old English and Early and Middle Scots, the words "ton", "toun", etc. could refer to diverse kinds of settlements from agricultural estates and holdings, partly picking up the Norse sense (as in the Scots word "fermtoun") at one end of the scale, to fortified municipalities. Other common Anglo-Saxon suffixes included "ham" = 'home', "stede" = 'stead', and "burh" = 'bury', 'borough', 'burgh'.
In some cases, "town" is an alternative name for "city" or "village" (especially a larger village). Sometimes, the word "town" is short for "township". In general, today "towns" can be differentiated from "townships", "villages", or "hamlets" on the basis of their economic character, in that most of a town's population will tend to derive their living from manufacturing industry, commerce, and public services rather than primary sector industries such as agriculture or related activities.
A place's population size is not a reliable determinant of urban character. In many areas of the world, e.g. in India at least until recent times, a large village might contain several times as many people as a small town. In the United Kingdom, there are historical cities that are far smaller than the larger towns.
The modern phenomenon of extensive suburban growth, satellite urban development, and migration of city dwellers to villages has further complicated the definition of towns, creating communities urban in their economic and cultural characteristics but lacking other characteristics of urban localities.
Some forms of non-rural settlement, such as temporary mining locations, may be clearly non-rural, but have at best a questionable claim to be called a town.
Towns often exist as distinct governmental units, with legally defined borders and some or all of the appurtenances of local government (e.g. a police force). In the United States these are referred to as "incorporated towns". In other cases the town lacks its own governance and is said to be "unincorporated". Note that the existence of an unincorporated town may be legally set out by other means, e.g. "zoning districts". In the case of some planned communities, the town exists legally in the form of covenants on the properties within the town. The United States Census identifies many census-designated places (CDPs) by the names of unincorporated towns which lie within them; however, those CDPs typically include rural and suburban areas and even surrounding villages and other towns.
The distinction between a "town" and a "city" similarly depends on the approach: a "city" may strictly be an administrative entity which has been granted that designation by law, but in informal usage, the term is also used to denote an urban locality of a particular size or importance: whereas a medieval city may have possessed as few as 10,000 inhabitants, today some consider an urban place of fewer than 100,000 as a town, even though there are many officially designated cities that are much smaller than that.
In toponymic terminology, names of individual towns and cities are called "astyonyms" or "astionyms" (from Ancient Greek "astu" = "town", "city", and "onoµa" = "name").
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Saint Isidore of Seville (ca. 560-636) was a man of both thought and action. He built cities in Spain as he created a church hierarchy in that country, and he wrote an etymology in which he described two origins for the word city.
The first was "urbs" ("lat. "urbs" = "Stadt"), the stones of the city needed for shelter, commerce, and defense. (vgl. "Urbs aeterna" = "die Ewige Stadt" (Rom) und "urbanisation" = "Besiedlung", "Verstädterung").
The second was "civitas", the practices of congregated people in ritual and civil spirit (Sennett, 1990).
Over time, the walled city for defense gave way to the open city of commerce. By the 1700s, London stood as the largest European city because of its happy geographic location and centrality to the trade of both its wealthy citizens and its partners moving goods over the seas. The following discussion of London follows the work of Robert Fishman (1987) and ultimately will lead us to an understanding of the changing demographics and demands of today's collaborative academic environment.
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Anmerkung:
lat. "urbs" = "Stadt", lat. "urbanus" = "zur Stadt gehörend".
lat. "civis" = "Bürger".