Subotica

Subotica (Serbian: ???????? or Subotica, Hungarian: Szabadka, Croatian: Subotica, German: Mariatheresiopel, Slovak: Subotica, Rusin: ????????, Romanian: Subotica or Subotita) is a city and municipality in northern Serbia and Montenegro, in the North Ba?ka District of Vojvodina, Serbia. It is located at 46.07° North, 19.68° East, about 10 km from the border with Hungary. It is the second largest city of the Vojvodina region next to Novi Sad, with a population of 99,471 (according to 2002 census). The municipality of Subotica has a population of 147,758. It is the administrative centre of the North Ba?ka District.

Name

There have been almost two hundred different forms of the name Subotica in history. This is because the city has welcomed so many different peoples since the Middle Ages. They all wrote about it, naming it in their own languages, which, for the most part, did not fix their spelling until modern times.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The earliest known written record of Subotica is Zabadka, which dates from 1391. This is a variant of the current Hungarian name for the city: Szabadka. However, in its present spelling, it appeared for the first time only relatively late, in 1679. The Hungarian name for the city derives from the adjective szabad, meaning "free", and the suffix -ka, an affectionate diminutive. Subotica?s earliest designation means, therefore, something like a "small" or "dear", "free place."

Related Topics:
1391 - Hungarian - 1679

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The name Subotica derives from the Serbian and Croatian word for "Saturday" or "Sabbath" and first appeared in 1653. Serbian and Croatian word for "Saturday" is "subota", thus the name Subotica means "a little Saturday".

Related Topics:
Serbian - Croatian - Saturday - Sabbath - 1653

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The city was renamed in the 1740s for Maria Theresa, Archduchess of Austria and queen of Bohemia and Hungary. The town was oficially called Szent-Maria in 1743, but was renamed in 1779 as Maria-Theresiapolis. These two official names were also spelled in several different ways (most commonly the German Mariatheresiopel), and were used in different languages. This name was abandoned in 1811.

Related Topics:
1740s - Maria Theresa - Bohemia - 1743 - 1779 - German - 1811

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~