# Capital cities named "Capital City" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 23, 2015, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-cities-named-capital-city/710663 "2015-01-23T08:29:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![cckerberos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@cckerberos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cckerberos)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-cities-named-capital-city/710663/41 "2015-01-24T13:48:48Z")
> [@jovan](#): > > On edit: > Some more Chinese historical cities: > Dongdu, Dongjing (both eastern capital), Shangjing (upper capital), Shengjing (grand capital). To toss on one more, the capital of Manchukuo was Xīnjīng (new capital). ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-cities-named-capital-city/710663/42 "2015-01-24T15:27:22Z")
“Medina” is, I think, Arabic for “city”\*, and is short for “Medinat al-Nabi”, or “City of the Prophet”. - The word is also Hebrew for “State”. ---
**Author:** ![skdo23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@skdo23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skdo23)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-cities-named-capital-city/710663/43 "2015-01-24T16:47:32Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Look! It’s 4th Street and D. “Look kids, street crime.” ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-cities-named-capital-city/710663/44 "2015-01-24T17:39:23Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > The Simpsons did it. The characters in the original TV Lassie (Tommy Rettig) constantly had to go to Capital City to right great wrongs and get a quart of milk. ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-cities-named-capital-city/710663/45 "2015-01-24T21:28:11Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > So far, the closest has been Ecuador: > > Quito: Named after the Quitu tribe. The name is a combination of two Tsafiki words: “Quitso” (“center”) and “To” (“the world”); hence therefore “Quito” probably means “center of the world.” Maybe. Maybe those meaning were created from its use as the capital… Well anyway, Australia has a place called the Australian Capital Territory. For the main part, apart from topology, ACT is Canberra ( a part of the ACT exists at Jervis Bay, separately to Canberra… however this is only as significant as saying the fed gov owns land over here and there , and there. .as they do … ) Well despite the constitution saying that the ACT is for the capital, it seems we stick to the convention of using the urban population name as the name of the capital 🙂 District of Columbia means capital, doesn’t it ? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-cities-named-capital-city/710663/46 "2015-01-24T22:14:23Z")
> [@Isilder](#): > > Well anyway, Australia has a place called the Australian Capital Territory. As I noted in post #9. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-cities-named-capital-city/710663/47 "2015-01-24T22:37:16Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > Could that be the state of Cromule? North Tacoma. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2015, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-cities-named-capital-city/710663/48 "2015-01-25T07:47:34Z")
> [@jovan](#): > > Hence, I think both “capital capital” and “capital city” are valid but not quite accurate readings. Kyoto got its first character because it’s where the emperor lived. The second character was added because it was (for a time) the centre of political power. Are you British by chance? Just noticed your spelling of “centre.” You do seem really confident of your answers, but your explanation doesn’t consistent with history of Heiankyo / Kyoto. Perhaps you can elaborate. From the [Kyoto City website](http://www.city.kyoto.jp/koho/eng/historical/1200.html): > [@](#): > > Kyoto is an ancient city with a 1200 year history. **It was established as Japan’s capital under the name “Heian-kyo” in the year 794.** Although many transformations have taken place over the years, Kyoto has always adopted the most advanced standards of the times. It has greatly contributed to the nation’s industrial, economic and cultural development and strength. The dauntless and leading spirit of Kyoto’s past as a capital city, is still felt here today. > > Kyoto also preserves the beloved properties of its culture as testimonials of time. This is shown in the ancient temples and shrines built in styles unique to Kyoto, as well as private houses. Moreover, many festivals, ceremonies and traditional industries reveal the will of this city to transmit and develop its 1200 year culture. > > Heian-kyo was a remarkably large area with a vast cityscape planned around the grounds of the old Imperial Palace, located in the north. It extended 5.2km. from north to south, and 4.7km. from east to west. On either side of the main road, Suzaku-oji (85m. wide), were areas called Sakyo and Ukyo, inhabited by up to 150,000 residents. The national markets in each of these areas were the largest in all of Japan, and a great number of commodities were brought in from around the nation. The Government was directly managing the manufacture of many handicrafts, and craftsmen who practiced the most advanced techniques of the time also gathered to live here. > > **Dai-dairi is where the Government offices and the house of the Emperor were located, in the northern part of Heian-kyo. This was the political center of the nation where nobles, officers and soldiers, as well as the Emperor himself, worked.** The surrounding area consisted mainly of the administrative offices, located on the neatly arranged streets. > > “A natural medley of willows and cherry blossoms weave themselves into a brocade, the Heian-kyo” says a verse that expresses the cityscape of the most brilliant period of the Heian capital. However, from the middle of the 10th century, about 200 years after its foundation, the city gradually began to undergo change. Ukyo became less metropolitan, reverting back to a low-populated rural area of fields and gardens. Residents began to concentrate in the Sakyo area, and Heian-kyo mainly developed to the east of the Kamo River beyond the city proper, and also into the north. \*\*The city design of Heian-kyo lost its balanced shape and became known as “Kyoto” around the 11th or 12th century. > > Under this new name, introduced at the beginning of the medieval period, the dynastic Government weakened and was replaced by a military rule, changing Kyoto from a ruling capital to one that was being ruled over.\*\* To the east of the Kamo River, a military town for samurai residences was erected to facilitate the new rule. This gave the Higashi-yama area an entirely different look. my emphasis. This seems to directly contradict your explanation. Thoughts? ---
**Author:** ![jovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2015, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-cities-named-capital-city/710663/49 "2015-01-25T13:26:19Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > Are you British by chance? Just noticed your spelling of “centre.” Nope. French Canadian. 🙂 > [@](#): > > You do seem really confident of your answers, but your explanation doesn’t consistent with history of Heiankyo / Kyoto. Perhaps you can elaborate. I should have provided cites. First of all, my previous post was not clear on the timeline. According to Japanese Wikipedia, 京師 was used in Chinese as a general term for “capital” and thus to refer to several places in Eastern Asia over time. It was still used to refer to Kyoto as late as the 19th century. For instance, in [this famous print by Hiroshige](http://ukiyo-e.org/image/famsf/5050161219930098). Wikipedia claims that during the Western Jin era (265–316 CE) 京師 was replaced by 京都 to avoid using the character 師, which had become an honorific given to people, specifically Emperor Sima Yang. This all happened a few hundred years before Heian became the capital of Japan. > **[京都](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%BA%AC%E9%83%BD#.E3.80.8C.E4.BA.AC.E9.83.BD.E3.80.8D.E3.81.AE.E7.94.B1.E6.9D.A5)** > > 京都（きょうと、みやこ、きょうのみやこ、英: Kyoto）は、日本の地名、都市。794年以降日本の首都であった平安京が位置し、都もしくは京などとも呼ばれていた。古くから日本の政治・文化の中心地として栄え、金閣寺や清水寺をはじめとする文化財が多く残る地域である。 > 現在京都といえば、広義では京都府を、狭義ではその府庁所在地たる自治体の京都市、もしくはその中心部の地域を指す。 > 東アジアでは古来、歴史的に「天子様の住む都」「首都」を意味する普通名詞として京（きょう）、京師（けいし）が多く使用されていた。西晋時代に世宗の諱である「師」の文字を避けて京都（けいと）というようになり、以後は京、京師、京都などの呼び名が用いられた。 > 日本でも飛鳥京や恭仁京などが「京都」とも呼ばれた。平安京を指して日本の文献で「京都」の語が固有名詞として使われる初出（学術的に存在が確認されている最古の文献）は、永延2年（988年）の『尾張国郡司百姓等解』であるが、これ以後あまり用いられることはなく、平安時代末期に固有名詞として定着し、鎌倉時代初頭にかけてその使用の頻度が増す。なお平安京は造都当時は「北京」とも呼ばれた... This particular section of the article gets quoted verbatim in a lot of places, and I wasn’t really sure where it originates from, but I managed to find a lengthy quote from an essay by a Meiji era scholar that [says the same thing](http://35546864.at.webry.info/201001/article_6.html). Hence, it appears that 京都 was used in Chinese as a generic term for capital since the 3rd century, before it became specifically associated with Kyoto. It is used [several times in the Records of the Three Kingdoms](http://ctext.org/sanguozhi?searchu=%E4%BA%AC%E9%83%BD). It is used also [at least five times](https://www.google.co.jp/search?safe=off&hl=en&q=site%3Awww.seisaku.bz%2Fnihonshoki+%E4%BA%AC%E9%83%BD&oq=site%3Awww.seisaku.bz%2Fnihonshoki+%E4%BA%AC%E9%83%BD&gs_l=serp.3...1301.2678.0.3287.8.8.0.0.0.1.154.746.2j4.6.0.ekpsr...0...1.1j4.61.serp..8.0.0.HiqXCj9_l8o) in the _Nihon Shoki_, which was written a few decades before the Japanese capital was moved to Heian. For references on the relevant characters: 師: A gathering of soldiers -\> a place where many people gather -\> a person who leads many people -\> a teacher -\> a specialist > **[「師」とは？ 部首・画数・読み方・意味 - goo漢字辞典](https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/word/kanji/%E5%B8%AB/#jn-92479)** > > 漢字「師」の部首・画数・読み方・意味・熟語などが調べられます。 [http://www.zdic.net/z/19/js/5E2B.htm](http://www.zdic.net/z/19/js/5E2B.htm) 都: A city that is the centre of power -\> a capital -\> an important city -\> a large city [http://kanji-roots.blogspot.jp/2012/09/blog-post\_26.html](http://kanji-roots.blogspot.jp/2012/09/blog-post_26.html) 京: Venerable -\> venerable place -\> the capital [http://kanji-roots.blogspot.jp/2012/09/blog-post\_25.html](http://kanji-roots.blogspot.jp/2012/09/blog-post_25.html) By the way, that last link gives a rather NSFW etymology for 京. > [@](#): > > 甲骨文字の京の字は上部は男性の生殖器の符号の「舎」で下部の「内」は男性の両脚を表す。中の縦線は男性の精液が下腹の腹腔から噴出している様を表している。 > > (My translation) In oracle bones, the upper part of the character 京 is the sign for male genitalia, 舎. The lower part, 内 represents a man’s spread legs. The vertical line in the middle (of the lower part) represents semen shooting out of the man’s abdomen. It goes on to talk about how even though the character is essentially a drawing of a man ejaculating, it was never used in this meaning. Rather, it started out meaning “venerable.” ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2015, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-cities-named-capital-city/710663/50 "2015-01-25T13:50:26Z")
Capitola, California, is not, in fact, the capital of anything, nor has it ever been. Just thought you’d like to know. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2015, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-cities-named-capital-city/710663/51 "2015-01-26T14:58:33Z")
Doesn’t look like anyone mentioned India. New Delhi is the capital, but is located in the National Capital Territory of Delhi. The NCT is not just New Delhi, though (it’s made up of ND and 11 other towns and cities that are essentially one large conurbation), so I’m not sure if it counts. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-cities-named-capital-city/710663.md?page=2)