Street names tell you a lot about a nation’s history. In my hometown in Ireland there is a Parnell Street and an O’Connell Street, named in honour of Charles Stewart Parnell and Daniel O’Connell, and these street names will be repeated in most Irish towns. On emigrating to Glasgow, I made a number of mistaken assumptions. For example, I was pleased the Catholic saint, St. Vincent de Paul, had been honoured with a street named after him. How wrong could I get? St. Vincent Street is named after the naval battle of Cape St. Vincent (1797), and the street names in Glasgow commemorate the empire, royalty, and various admirals and generals.
Here in Greece, most towns will have streets commemorating pre-Christian Greeks, saints, clerics, heroes of the revolution, politicians, benefactors, and various battles. The names of royalty have disappeared, the only exception in Thessaloniki being, I believe, Queen Olga St. In Thessaloniki, too, streets will be named after heroes of the Macedonian Struggle and lost towns and villages of Asia Minor. Practically all the streets in Kato Toumba hark back to the lost lands of Anatolia. Again, it can be easy to make incorrect assumptions. For instance, there is a street in the town centre called Karolou Diehl. I thought it was named after one of Thessaloniki’s Jewish citizens. Nope. But help is now at hand because the city centre is festooned with round signs informing citizens on how the streets got their names. Here’s the deal on Diehl.
As one can see, Mr. Diehl wasn’t Jewish. He was a French Byzantine scholar. He gets the honour of a street named after him because he restored Thessaloniki’s Holy Wisdom Church (η Αγία Σοφία) which had been converted to a mosque during the Ottoman era. Old photos show a long-gone minaret to the right of the church. Here’s the sign again, this time in Greek
The Dubliner Bar is on Katouni St, named after a 19th century benefactor. And I recently took my fiddle to a luthier located on Kastritsiou. Who was Mr. Kastritsios, I wondered? Sexist assumption. It’s named after Mrs. Kastritsiou, also a 19th century benefactress, originally from Ioannina.
Elizabeth Kastritsiou was a great benefactress during Turkish rule. She used her wealth to maintain schools, girls’ schools, hospitals and many charitable foundations.
On a personal note, I have lived on Ξενοφώντος (Ancient Greek hero), Αθανασίου Διάκου (1821 Greek hero), Γ. Διβολή (hero of the Macedonian Struggle [aka Balkan Wars], Κιλελέρ (named after a 1910 uprising in Thessaly in which land labourers rebelled against large landowners). Now Kileler has been renamed boring Οδός Ανθέων.) Currently I live on Κανάρη (hero of 1821). Given my religious upbringing, it is surprising that I have managed to avoid saints.
If you want to find out more about Thessaloniki’s streets and their history, this is quite good: https://thessaloniki.gr/streets-history/?lang=en
Finally, a little word on the grammar of street names. First, οδός (street) and λεωφόρος (avenue) are feminine nouns. That’s why you hear and see στη. Also, οδό is almost always dropped, while λεωφόρο is frequently dropped. Second, the name of the street is in the genitive case (eg literally the Street of Ion Dragoumi). The only exception I can think of is Εγνατία Οδός where Εγνατία is adjectival: Via Egnatia in Latin; The Egnatian Way in English. Third, if the hero or politician is well-known or if there is no ambiguity, the first name is usually dropped. So “On Ion Dragoumi Street,” (fully στην Οδό Ίωνος Δραγούμη) is usually compressed to στη Δραγούμη.
Next time I will be back with features in Greek life that are slowly disappearing.
Have a nice Easter