The etymology of Edinburgh traces the origin of the city's name. Some believe that the name comes from the Brythonic langauge.

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  • The etymology of Edinburgh traces the origin of the city's name. Some believe that the name comes from the Brythonic langauge. Some propose that the name was Din Eidyn (Fort of Eidyn) from the time when it was a Gododdin hillfort although many believe that the name comes from the Bernician Angles, Edwinesburh or Edin-burh, which derives from the Anglo-Saxon for "Edwin's fort", possibly derived from the 7th century king Edwin of Northumbria, and that the name Din Eidyn in British writings is an anachronism. The term Din Eidyn first appears in the Y Gododdin, a poem which appears after the fall of the British city to the Angles. The oldest manuscript of the Y Gododdin, The Book of Aneirin is from circa 1265. Most scholars usually considered to be that of the ninth or tenth centuries, although some scholars consider that it could be from the 11th century. The first evidence of the existence of the town as a separate entity from the fort lies in an early 12th century royal charter, generally thought to date from 1124, by King David I granting land to the Church of the Holy Rood of Edinburgh. This suggests that the town came into official existence between 1018 (when King Malcolm II secured the Lothians from the Northumbrians) and 1124. The charter refers to the recipients as "Ecclisie Sancte Crucis Edwinesburgensi". This could mean that those who drafted the charter believed Edwin to be the original source of the name and decided to derive the Latin from what they believed to be the ancient name. It could also mean that at some point in the preceding 600 years the name had altered to include a w. If the latter scenario was the case then it was soon to change; by the 1170s King William the Lion was using the name "Edenesburch" in a charter (again in Latin) confirming the 1124 grant of David I. Documents from the 14th century show the name to have settled into its current form; although other spellings ("Edynburgh" and "Edynburghe") appear, these are simply spelling variants of the current name.
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  • The etymology of Edinburgh traces the origin of the city's name. Some believe that the name comes from the Brythonic langauge.
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  • Etymology of Edinburgh
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