Berlin
name · [bɛʁˈliːn] ·Etymology
The place is first mentioned by this name in the late 12th century (as Middle Low German Berlyn). The origin is unknown. Slavic by the suffix -in. According to (incorrect) folk etymology, the name is derived from the Bär (“bear”) that is the symbol of the city. In a popular etymology of Germanists, it is derived from a Polabian stem *berl- ~ *birl- (“swamp”), for which lexical item there is no evidence in Polabian nor in any Slavic language. Closest to that would be an unknown simpler relative of *bьrlogъ (“cave”). Attested vocabulary is Polabian poro (“swamp, bog”). *bělь also meant a “swampy meadow” or “white field”, which fits the location at the märkische Streusandbüchse, the “Margraviate pounce box” notorious for its sandy soil, and is also the noun behind Belitz.
Translation
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Berlin (the capital and largest city and state of Germany)
neuter, proper-noun
Berlin ist mehr ein Weltteil als eine Stadt.
Berlin is more a part of a world than a city.
1910, Karl Scheffler, author of Berlin: Ein Stadtschicksal
Berlin is a city damned forever to become, never to be.
- Berlin (federal government of Germany) metonymically, neuter, proper-noun