Lost in translation: 12 historic city names that vanished from maps

Many well-known cities have not always been called by their modern names. Medieval maps and documents often reflect older forms shaped by language, imperialism, and administrative change. This article presents 12 cities whose historical names differ from the ones used today, reflecting how urban identity can evolve over time.

European merchants from the 1500s onward commonly referred to this major southern Chinese port as Canton, a name that developed from the Portuguese pronunciation of Guangdong, the surrounding province. In contrast, medieval Chinese records and administrative documents consistently used Guangzhou to identify the city itself.

As foreign trade increased in later centuries, Canton remained the dominant term in Western maps and reports. During the 20th century, the Chinese government standardized Guangzhou as the official form, and international publications gradually adopted the modern name in line with updated geographic and linguistic guidelines.

On medieval maps, this Baltic port appears as Reval, a name associated with the surrounding region of Revala and used widely in German and Swedish documents. The local Estonian name Tallinn, often interpreted as meaning "Danish town," existed alongside Reval for many centuries but did not appear frequently in international references. After Estonia gained independence in 1918, the new government adopted Tallinn as the official name for state administration, mapping, and foreign correspondence, gradually phasing out the historical form Reval from everyday use.

In the 17th century, European traders adopted the name Bombay, derived from the earlier Portuguese form Bombaim, which was coined after Portugal arrived in the region. Medieval local settlements, however, used names connected to the goddess Mumbā Devī, and these forms gradually developed into Mumbai in regional languages.

The name Bombay remained common in English during the colonial period and well into the 20th century. In 1995, the Indian government formally adopted Mumbai as part of a broader effort to restore historical and regional place names and align official usage with long-established local terminology.

We now know it as Bratislava, but in medieval German and Central European sources, the capital of Slovakia appeared as Pressburg, a name widely used in administrative records and regional maps. Hungarian documents used Pozsony, while Slovak-speaking communities used earlier forms that later developed into Bratislava.

After the creation of Czechoslovakia in 1918, the new government selected Bratislava as the official name. This decision aligned the city’s identity with the Slovak language and standardized its use in state administration, cartography, and international communication.

English-language maps from the medieval and early modern periods often used the name Leghorn to refer to this port city on the west coast of Tuscany. This form, an anglicized version of the Italian Livorno, appeared in trade documents, port registries, and maritime charts produced in Britain and other Western European countries.

Within Italy, however, the name Livorno remained standard in official records and everyday use. As English cartographic practices modernized in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Leghorn was progressively replaced in atlases, government publications, and international references, leaving Livorno as the fully standardized name.

In 1930, the Republic of Turkey officially adopted the name Istanbul as part of nationwide language reforms that aimed to standardize geographic names. Yet, during the Middle Ages, European and Byzantine documents consistently used Constantinople, a name introduced in 330 CE when Emperor Constantine refounded the city as the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire.

The form Istanbul existed in local speech for many centuries, especially in Ottoman Turkish administrative and everyday use, but it remained secondary outside the region. It did not replace Constantinople in international publications, maps, and diplomatic records until the early 20th century, when the Turkish government applied the modern spelling in official communications.

Medieval Latin sources refer to this antique city spanning the Rhine River in western Germany as Colonia Agrippina, a designation used in administrative records and church documents. Over time, this Latin name shifted into Cologne in French and later in English.

Within the German-speaking world, however, Köln is the official name employed in government and municipal contexts. Cologne continues to be used internationally in English-language publications, reflecting the city’s long linguistic connection to its earlier Latin and French forms.

During Venetian rule, from the 13th to the 17th century, both the city and, at times, the entire island of Crete were commonly referred to as Candia in European maps, trade documents, and diplomatic correspondence. Local Greek populations, however, continued to use Heraklion (or Iraklio) in everyday speech and regional records. After Crete unified with the Kingdom of Greece in 1913, the Greek government adopted Heraklion as the official name. This change gradually replaced Candia in administrative documents, cartography, and international references.

European travelers adopted the name Peking based on older pronunciations of the city’s name that circulated in foreign accounts during the Yuan dynasty. These forms entered Western languages through early maps, missionary writings, and trade records.

Within China, however, the Ming dynasty formally established Beijing, meaning "Northern Capital", as the administrative name in 1403. The term remained through later dynasties and into the modern period. In the 20th century, the Chinese government standardized Beijing for international use, and over time, it replaced Peking in official English-language publications, atlases, and diplomatic documents.

To refer to the capital of Georgia, European and Russian documents from the medieval period through the 19th century commonly used Tiflis, a form that entered widespread use through administrative records, maps, and travel writing. Yet, the Georgian name Tbilisi existed throughout this time as the local designation.

In 1936, during a series of Soviet administrative and linguistic reforms, authorities formally adopted Tbilisi as the standardized name. After this change, Tiflis was gradually removed from official documents.

Founded as Edo in the medieval period, this ancient city grew from a fortified settlement into a major urban center under the Tokugawa shogunate beginning in the early 1600s. During this time, Edo became the seat of the shogun and developed one of the largest populations in the world.

When the Meiji Restoration transferred imperial authority to Edo in 1868, the new government renamed the city Tokyo, meaning "Eastern Capital." This decision recognized its new status as the national capital and marked the beginning of its role as the administrative and political center of modern Japan.

After a major fire in 1624, the capital of Norway, originally called Oslo, was rebuilt under King Christian IV and renamed Christiania as part of the reconstruction effort. The earlier name continued to appear in local usage and historical references during the following centuries. In 1925, however, the Norwegian government formally reinstated Oslo as the official name, restoring the designation used before the medieval period and aligning administrative records with long-standing local tradition.

Discovering the origins

Good old days: The hidden stories behind 10 phrases we still use today

"Call it a day," "Rome wasn’t built in a day," or "save it for a rainy day" are just some of the phrases you've used your whole life. But where did they actually come from? And what did they mean at the beginning? These everyday sayings may sound simple or ordinary, but each one carries a surprisingly rich history. For centuries, people have used the idea of a "day" to talk about work, time, patience, and life itself, long before any of us ever said them at the office or at the family dinner. Here, we explore the true origins and meanings behind 10 of the most familiar "day" idioms you still hear and say today.

You woke up on a Saturday, got things done around the house, worked out, went grocery shopping, cooked a nice meal, and finally sat down to watch your show. That’s when you can finally "call it a day." Today, it’s a simple way to say you’re done, but the phrase was a bit different in the 19th century.

In 1838, American author Joseph C. Neal wrote his Charcoal Sketches: Or, Scenes in a Metropolis, where a character says, "I’ve a great mind to knock off and call it half a day." Back then, when work shifts could last 12 to 16 hours, the line was taken quite literally. Over time, the "half" disappeared, and the phrase expanded beyond factories and long workdays. By the early 1900s, and appearing in newspapers by around 1920 in both the US and UK, it had become the everyday expression we use today.

Do you ever feel like the past was better? You’re not alone; people have always tended to idealize earlier times.

A clear example is the phrase "the good old days," which actually traces back to the Bible, in Ecclesiastes 7:10: "Do not say, ‘Why were the old days better than these?’" Much later, in 1727, Daniel Defoe, author of Robinson Crusoe (1719), used a form much closer to what we say today in The Complete English Tradesman, contrasting the steady work habits of earlier generations with the faster-paced life of his time.

Whenever you feel impatient and want to get everything done in a single afternoon, there’s always someone ready to remind you: "Rome wasn’t built in a day." It’s useful advice today, but it actually goes back to medieval times.

Its earliest known written record dates to 1190, in the French collection of poems Li Proverbe au Vilain (The Proverbs of the Common Man) by an anonymous cleric, where it appears as Rome ne fu[t] pas faite toute en un jour ("Rome was not made all in one day"). Back then, many of Ancient Rome’s walls, aqueducts, and monuments were still standing, so the city’s greatness was something people could still see and admire. No wonder the phrase stuck; it was a strong reminder that good, lasting things take time.

Your parents probably said it to you when talking about money: "Save it for a rainy day." Today, we use it as simple advice for saving and being financially responsible, no matter the weather. But back then, it had a much more literal meaning.

In mid-16th-century Britain, where farming was the main source of work and food, weather could make or break daily life. A little rain helped crops grow, but too much could stop work entirely and ruin harvests. It’s in this context that the phrase emerged. One of its earliest recorded uses appears around 1561 in The Bugbears (a translation of the Italian work La Spirita): "Would he have me keep nothing for a rainy day?"

Many people today would say they’ve worked "day in and day out" to support their families. It’s such a familiar phrase that we rarely stop to think that someone said it for the first time once.

The expression developed from 16th–17th century British English, where writers often used repeated patterns like "night and day" or "again and again" to emphasize constant, daily actions. "Day in and day out" grew out of this same style, meaning something happening every single day without a break. It was later recorded and described as a colloquial expression in the early 19th century, in William Carr’s linguistic study The Dialect of Craven (1824, 1828).

Maybe your favorite team went through a long losing streak, but after weeks or seasons of frustration, the win finally arrived. That’s when people say, "Every dog has its day." Everyone, no matter their situation, eventually gets a moment of success.

The phrase is often linked to Renaissance scholar Desiderius Erasmus, who included collections of ancient proverbs in his Adagia (1500). One story traces the idea back to 406 BCE, when the playwright Euripides, visiting Macedonia, was attacked by dogs and unable to defend himself. In that early context, the phrase carried a darker tone, closer to inevitable downfall or vulnerability than success. By the early 1600s, William Shakespeare helped popularize it in Hamlet, already close to today’s sense: "The cat will mew, and dog will have his day," meaning even the overlooked eventually get their turn.

When something is so obvious that it can’t be denied or twisted, we say it’s "clear as day." But do you know where this idiom comes from?

Although there’s no exact date or single author to trace it back to, the phrase likely began as a literal comparison. According to historical sources, this expression was already in use in spoken English by the 14th century, when visibility depended heavily on natural light; a clear day meant everything could be seen plainly and without doubt. By the 16th and 17th centuries, it appears in writing in similar forms such as "as clear as the sun" or "as plain as daylight."

If your car starts making strange noises, breaking down more often, or leaving you stranded, you might say "its days are numbered."

Today, we use that phrase to mean something is nearing its end, but its roots go back much further. It appears in the Bible, most notably in Daniel 5:26: "God hath numbered thy kingdom and finished it." While the idea is ancient, the expression didn’t take on its modern, everyday use until the 17th century. Over time, many religious phrases gradually became part of daily speech, often losing their original context. According to Merriam-Webster, "days are numbered" became widely used in its current sense by the late 1800s.

When a coworker finally gets the credit deserved after years of hard work, you might say he or she finally had a "day in the sun."

Today, the phrase means a moment of glory or recognition, and it traces back to the Latin dies solis ("day of the sun"), which referred to Sunday, the day on which the sun god was revered. In Old English, this became Sunnandæg, associated with periods or moments of light and warmth. Over time, that sense of brightness and visibility took on a more figurative meaning, coming to represent a person’s moment in the spotlight, a brief time of success.

Most of us have had one: a graduation, a wedding, the first day of a dream job. Moments like these are what we call a "red-letter day." But why?

The expression goes back to the 1400s, when churches marked important holy days in red ink on their calendars. What began by hand later appeared in early printed calendars, and was firmly established with the Book of Common Prayer in 1549, where special dates were printed in red. Over time, the idea moved beyond religion. A "red-letter day" came to mean any date worth remembering; bright, important moments that stand out.