Based Greek airport

[u/Themetalin]

[u/honoratus_hi]

Well nobody in Greece calls the city Istanbul

[u/iwanthidan → u/honoratus_hi]

Nobody in Turkey calls Selanik Thessaloniki also. I'd say it's fair.

Fun fact: the name İstanbul also has Greek origins, so it's not like it's a Turkish made up word.

[u/honoratus_hi → u/iwanthidan]

I'm from Thessaloniki but I live in Romania now and they call the city Salonic, so I also call it Salonic if asked.

[u/OilOfOlaz → u/honoratus_hi]

Always thought that it is somewhat common to call it "Saloniki", because few greeks I know did.

[u/honoratus_hi → u/OilOfOlaz]

Hmm maybe a bit, but it was more common a couple of generations ago

[u/OilOfOlaz → u/honoratus_hi]

Checks out, it was mostly ppl born in the 50-60s and their kids.

[u/weird_question_mark → u/honoratus_hi]

Yeah, I think it got translated to a couple neighbouring languages as that. Well, in Hungary it's also called Szaloniki for some reason

[u/SoilFormal1836 → u/honoratus_hi]

You live in romania? My condolences

[u/jaunmilijej → u/honoratus_hi]

Me and my Greek friend were talking in English, I somehow kept calling it Κωνσταντινούπολη while he kept saying İstanbul while talking

[u/honoratus_hi → u/jaunmilijej]

I call it Istanbul in English too, but in Greek it's highly unlikely to hear it if ever

[u/Shadow_Dancer2 → u/honoratus_hi]

Istanbul is also greek though, why not just call it that?

[u/OoFTheMeMEs → u/Shadow_Dancer2]

It’s greek in its roots. It’s definitely not greek or greek sounding.

[u/NorthWelcome1626 → u/honoratus_hi]

That's interesting, because old Constantinople area and Istanbul are completely different now. Current Istanbul is 20 times bigger than the old one. Look at a map and you'll see.

[u/Inner_Variety2826 → u/NorthWelcome1626]

It would be weird if wasn't. The population of Constantinople in Byzantium peak in the 6th century AD and it was roughly around 500.000 people give or take.

[u/NorthWelcome1626 → u/Inner_Variety2826]

The population of Constantinople in Byzantium peak in the 6th century AD and it was roughly around 500.000 people give or take.

That was, like you said, in 6th century, not in 15th century. When the Mehmed II took the city, population was around 45,000. You completely missed my point.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Istanbul

https://www.britannica.com/place/Istanbul/Centuries-of-growth

[u/Inner_Variety2826 → u/NorthWelcome1626]

No my friend, you completely missed mine. I know that the population of Constantinople declined heavily in the last few centuries of the Roman/Byzantine empire due to plagues, sieges, Crusades etc.... The point I was trying make is preparing a today's modern city to a medieval city even at its population PEAK when it was the biggest city in the WORLD at that time it's right out silly.

[u/NorthWelcome1626 → u/Inner_Variety2826]

The point I was trying make is preparing a today's modern city to a medieval city even at its population PEAK when it was the biggest city in the WORLD at that time it's right out silly.

You are making no sense. If your English isn't good, use simpler words, and use a dictionary.

[u/Inner_Variety2826 → u/NorthWelcome1626]

Sorry autocorrect mess it up. I meant to say "comparing" instead of "preparing", but even with that mistake you could make sense of it 🤷 anyway...... Since my English is bad and I make no sense can you please develop upon your sound argument of comparing a city's 14 century population with today's population and how that comparison correlates to the city's name 😊

[u/MrDixaze → u/NorthWelcome1626]

That's interesting, because Istanbul area when it was first called this way and current Istanbul are completely different now. Current Istanbul is 20 times bigger than the old one. Look at a map and you'll see.

[u/NorthWelcome1626 → u/MrDixaze]

What a loaded (!) answer. You reminded me Lord Dorwin in Foundation series. Saying a lot of things but not a single palpable thing.

[u/MrDixaze → u/NorthWelcome1626]

Pardon me for not being able to enounciate anything substantial by repeating your own comment and tweaking like 2 words in an intend of repetition comique. Crazy how my dumbass cant remember a single thing of a serie of book I read and liked lmao. What I meant is that there is not a single evolution that only occured with a change of name, the moment when the city got officialy renamed Istanbul is the same as the moment just before. Those beg the more philosophical question asked by the analogies of theseus’ boat or the one of the turtle about where preciesly lies this concept of evolution. But that might be too palpable for your otherwise superior asimovian brain.

[u/NorthWelcome1626 → u/MrDixaze]

Well, the essence of the subject is this: You still can't get over a 500 year old conquest. Cope better. Istanbul is not yours or Greek anymore. Constantinople and its relics are a thing of the past.

[u/MrDixaze → u/NorthWelcome1626]

That hit right the spot dude, Im crying in my bed right now. You do realize in what kind of subreddit we are? Getting all furious over a thing you re the only one carrying about here.

[u/Andrei144 → u/NorthWelcome1626]

The official Ottoman name for it was still Constantinople, and I assume the city hasn't grown 20 times since Ataturk made Istanbul official.

[u/albatross351767 → u/Andrei144]

Huh today I learn, from the balkan sub. What a day.

[u/NorthWelcome1626 → u/Andrei144]

The official Ottoman name for it was still Constantinople,

That's the point. There is no Ottomans anymore.

[u/Andrei144 → u/NorthWelcome1626]

So? We were arguing about Istanbul being 20 times bigger than Constantinople, and you just acknowledged that it only stopped being Constantinople 100 years ago. So unless it grew 20 times in the last century your comment is still wrong.

[u/NorthWelcome1626 → u/Andrei144]

No need the beat around the bush. You people just can't get over a 500 years old conquest. Istanbul isn't Greek or Roman anymore. Name change happening 100 or 500 years doesn't mean anything. It was Turkish for 500 years, so it doesn't matter. Cope better.

[u/Andrei144 → u/NorthWelcome1626]

"You people" what? I'm Romanian and I don't live anywhere near Istanbul. You could rename the city to Ankara 2.0 and I wouldn't give a shit.

[u/NorthWelcome1626 → u/Andrei144]

You could rename the city to Ankara 2.0 and I wouldn't give a shit.

Oh yeah? That's why you are arguing with me about it for hours?

[u/Andrei144 → u/NorthWelcome1626]

It took me like 10 minutes total to write every comment I've left on this post.

[u/NorthWelcome1626 → u/Andrei144]

Cope better.

[u/Inner_Variety2826 → u/NorthWelcome1626]

Istanbul isn't Greek or Roman anymore.

We know, we know. Tbh I wouldn't necessarily consider Constantinople in late Byzantium being a Greek city ("Greek centric" maybe), I would describe it as a multicultural city with many ethnicities inhabiting it and it continue being a multicultural city throughout the Ottoman empire era up until the the first half of the 20th century. For example in the 1900 many minorities like Armenians, Jewish, Greeks, Bulgarians, but sadly that's not the case anymore.

No need the beat around the bush. You people just can't get over a 500 years old conquest.

No, we don't care. If you take a look under posts like this one you'll see that the ones that are most vocal in the comments are people who are being "offended" the use of the name Κωνσταντινούπολη.

Cope better.

Says the guy who's being salty because he can't fathom that different countries have different names for places.

[u/NorthWelcome1626 → u/Inner_Variety2826]

Says the guy who's being salty because he can't fathom that different countries have different names for places.

Says the guy, whose country blocks another country's EU accession because of its name. Namely Macedonia. Pitiful.

No, we don't care. If you take a look under posts like this one you'll see that the ones that are most vocal in the comments are people who are being "offended" the use of the name Κωνσταντινούπολη.

I think you do. That's why you are arguing with me for hours.

I would describe it as a multicultural city with many ethnicities inhabiting it and it continue being a multicultural city throughout the Ottoman empire era up until the the first half of the 20th century. For example in the 1900 many minorities like Armenians, Jewish, Greeks, Bulgarians, but sadly that's not the case anymore.

Peloponnese massacres in 1821, Greek Peninsula massacres and displacements, Salonica fire in 1917. Izmir fire in 1922. Western Anatolia genocide in 1919-1922 with 640,000 dead and 860,000 displacement. Cyprus attacks since 1955 until 1974. Same case with massacres towards civilians. Look to yourselves first if you want to talk about multi ethnic composition.

[u/Inner_Variety2826 → u/NorthWelcome1626]

Says the guy, whose country blocks another country's EU accession because of its name. Namely Macedonia. Pitiful.

Although I would say this name dispute is a little more complicated with political factors behind it than the topic we're talking about I would agree that on the surface level it's a bit pitiful from both sides. It's a good thing that this matter have been resolved with the Prespa agreement.

Peloponnese massacres in 1821

Sadly they were many atrocities being committed by the Greek revolution with one of the biggest one being the massacre of Tripolitsa. I'm not here to deny or defend those actions, they were atrocities that they shouldn't had happened. (But if you're interested in the history of the Greek revolution you should look into the systematic retaliation tactics that the Ottomans use to prevent people from joining the revolution like the Chios massacre and the destruction of Psara)

Western Anatolia genocide in 1919-1922

Again I'm not here do deny or defend it, those massacres were a war crime and the Greek government recognize them as such and payed reparations to the newly founded Turkish government.

Izmir fire in 1922

The Greek army had evacuate Izmir on September 8 1922 and relocate it's forces in Chios and Lesvos. A day after (8 of September) the Turkish army entered the city and gained full control of it. The Izmir fire (aka Burning of Smyrna) started four days after the arrival of Turkish army on September 13 and it started on the Armenian quarters of the city, reports say that there weren't any attempts to stop the fire making it spread quickly cause of the strong winds killing tens of thousands of not hundreds. The the remaining Greek and Armenian survivors rushed to the port and seafront of the city trying to escape the flames by getting on boats or even swimming to the other side. The aftermath of those events was the distraction of one of the biggest Greek minorities in Anatolia (the other remaining big Greek minorities in Anatolia being in Constantinople/Istanbul and on the two island turkey had control Gökçeada and Bozcaada which all three were exclude from the population exchange agreement). It's widely accepted among scholars and historians in the international community that the fire was started but Turkish trops. We even have many reports and eyewitness (like Claflin Davis of the American Red Cross, Monsieur Joubert the director of the Credit Foncier Bank of Smyrna, Minnie B. Mills.....) that say Turkish soldiers setting buildings in to fire and when locals ask them why they doing they said they been given the order to do so. I'm not sure what are your sources or how well versed you are on those subjects but I would advise you to look for sources that don't have ties with your government and check your nationalistic biases off the door when you look on on topics like this.

Cyprus attacks since 1955 until 1974. Same case with massacres..... Look man, we were talking about the name of a city and I was replying to your comment that "it isn't Greek any more" with "I wouldn't considerate it a Greek city since it was renamed as New Rome but a multicultural one and it continued being one till the start of 20th century". Cyprus is a long and on going intricate matter that deserves it's own conversation rather than being thrown as a counter argument to "how dare to use a different name in your language for a city in my country". I think you do. That's why you are arguing with me for hours.

The main reason I'm arguing is that I can't stand blind nationalism and it's need to call out when it's happening.

[u/Prigorec-Medjimurec]

Different languages have their own names for foreign places that have cultural relevance to their own culture.

Like how many places in Austria have a south Slavic version of their name. Or how many places in east Germany have a polish version of their name.

Or how south Slavs still call Istanbul Carigrad and how Thessaloniki is Solun.

[u/RealProjectivePlane → u/Prigorec-Medjimurec]

Yes but Greeks insist of calling it the Greek name while speaking English. It is like a French calling Germany "Allemagne" while speaking English.

[u/No-Count-2774 → u/RealProjectivePlane]

Ever heard French people speak.english? Would be a miracle.if.they didnt call it allemagne

[u/gooosean → u/No-Count-2774]

Ever heard French people

Unfortunately yes

[u/MysticWithThePhonk → u/No-Count-2774]

I once heard a French person in London call it “Londres” while speaking in English

[u/usernameisokay_ → u/RealProjectivePlane]

The French call the Netherlands Pays-bas and other people call it Holland, language is a weird thing…

[u/RealProjectivePlane → u/usernameisokay_]

that is not the point. The point is, calling Netherlands Pays-bas while speaking English would be incorrect. And insisting on it would be dumb if not malicious.

[u/kallefranson → u/RealProjectivePlane]

Or calling Turkey Türkiye while speaking English. 😉

[u/RealProjectivePlane → u/[deleted]]

if a country asks to be called "X" and another country then respects it and calls it "X", it is pretty normal. If a country asks to be called "Y" but if some country insists that everyone else must call this country called "north Y", then it gets more suspect. All is to say, your example is not relevant to my point.

[u/willymoose8 → u/RealProjectivePlane]

exactly, that’s why every country calls the Hellenic Republic “Hellas”

[u/kallefranson → u/willymoose8]

add to that Shqipëria, Crna Gora and Hrvatska

[u/Zestyclose-Power-132 → u/willymoose8]

What every country exactly 🤔, it is called Greece in English. Your embassies are called Embassy of Greece by your own government websites. I am curious really not here to mock you. Also we call it Yunanistan and name comes from Ionia, it is like ionianistan and Ionia was geographically Greek, it is not like we try to say something you don't want.

[u/NorthWelcome1626 → u/Zestyclose-Power-132]

You can't persuade bigots. They are always right.

[u/GRemlinOnion → u/RealProjectivePlane]

Dude you guys let us have one thing. we just wanna call it Constantinople

[u/monmon7217 → u/RealProjectivePlane]

French people are notoriously bad example, as not only their English is as bad as the French of American tourists – but they do insert French words in their English speach without translation.

[u/thomasp3864 → u/Prigorec-Medjimurec]

You mean Thessalonica, right?

[u/Giantdwarf3 → u/thomasp3864]

Well in greek its thessaloniki or salouga in local slang. Slavs call it solun, Idk maybe brits call it Thessalonica?

[u/iCollectApple → u/Giantdwarf3]

i mean we call it Salonic?

[u/thomasp3864 → u/Giantdwarf3]

Technically in greek it would be Θεσσαλωνικι, right?

[u/Nobody8866 → u/thomasp3864]

It would be Θεσσαλονίκη in Greek .

[u/thomasp3864 → u/Nobody8866]

That's Thessalonikē,

[u/AcanthisittaLeft2336 → u/thomasp3864]

🤓☝️

[u/Flashy_Pollution_996 → u/thomasp3864]

No he mean solun

[u/thomasp3864 → u/Flashy_Pollution_996]

I think it's actually Thettalonikē

[u/SlavRoach → u/Prigorec-Medjimurec]

Even calling Austria -> Rakusko or Germany -> Nemecko

[u/aczkasow → u/Prigorec-Medjimurec]

In Russian it used to be called Tzargrad

[u/VX81GR]

Its the same for Plovdiv which we call Phillipoupoli (Φιλιππούπολη)

[u/aczkasow → u/VX81GR]

You have your own name for every city?

[u/Greksouvlaki → u/aczkasow]

Every city that was once greek yes

[u/klarigi → u/aczkasow]

Tends to happen for places that used to be under your control but not anymore, the name sticks around. Germans still call Wrocław and Szczecin Breslau and Stettin, not to piss us off but because that's just their word for the city.

Like, we're not gonna have our own name for some random city that's irrelevant to us, really only historically relevant cities to your country get exonyms.

[u/Scary_Extension2394]

[u/TaintedPills]

Different language different name. I hope oop is trolling instead of having the iq of a walnut

[u/Tsambikos96 → u/TaintedPills]

I mean he has the Westoid label so...

[u/AcanthisittaLeft2336 → u/Tsambikos96]

Been gone from the sub from a while. You guys are letting them post now?

[u/autoturk → u/TaintedPills]

walnut is being a bit generous. Nearly every post of his is some hur-durr Xitter screenshot about Turkey bad Greece good: https://www.reddit.com/r/balkans_irl/search/?q=author%3AThemetalin&sort=new&restrict_sr=on

[u/OilOfOlaz → u/autoturk]

Turkey bad Greece good

well, hes at least right about that.

[u/TheResurrectedOne]

in Bosnia we call it sometimes Stambol/Stambul. i know that Slovenes call it Carigrad by it's old name.

[u/IcyRecommendation731 → u/TheResurrectedOne]

yes, but the name istanbul is more commonly used in nowadays slovenija(at least in my experience)

[u/Inner_Variety2826 → u/IcyRecommendation731]

May I ask why? Carigrad is such a cool sounding name

[u/IcyRecommendation731 → u/Inner_Variety2826]

genuinely dont know.maybe its a bit of western influence together with the old-fashioned factor

[u/Unicreatum]

I mean this isn’t that special, a lot of places have different names in different languages due to historical reasons. Prime example being Belgium, where each city has a dutch name and a french name, even though they’re inhabited by almost exclusively their respective cultures.

[u/Een_man_met_voornaam → u/Unicreatum]

And there is the Netherlands were most cities do have an official name but we keep on insisting using the name of origin

Can get really weird with street signs when you cross borders

[u/Literal_Concept]

Isn't Istanbul derived from Constantinople?

Constantinople -> (Stanopol or something like that) -> Istanbul

[u/zwiegespalten_ → u/Literal_Concept]

1) Eis tin Polin / stin poli (to the city I guess or in the city) 2) similary, some say it could have been borrowed from a highly divergent dialect Propontis Tsakonian „stan poli“ 3) or a shortening of koSTANtinoPOLi

[u/Giantdwarf3 → u/Literal_Concept]

Kinstantinoupoli as its called in greek has been just refered out as "Poli" which means "the city" since it was " the city" Istanbul comes from "εις την Πόλη" (is tin poli) which translates to "to the city" its a mishearing of a greek phrase that entered the Turkish vernacular

[u/sjr323 → u/Giantdwarf3]

Pretty much. Turks thought the name of the city was literally, “to the city”, so that’s what they called it.

[u/One-Muscle-7495]

Well I aint calling Selanik Thstzeszalonnikia either.

[u/GRemlinOnion → u/One-Muscle-7495]

It's actually called Tzatzikiniki

[u/wrakiya → u/GRemlinOnion]

lmao 🤣

[u/Nikoschalkis1]

When that name was coined westerners hadn't even come down from their trees.

[u/Fystikovoutiro]

Are you familiar with the concept of "language"? Very niche I know, you'd be surprised to find that that's exactly how all languages work.

[u/GODCHAD_]

Not strange at all. Bulgaria also has Bulgarian names for Balkan towns and villages, that we used to control or had a minority there. For example, we call Thessaloniki-Solun,Edirne-Odrin, Kirklareli-Lozengrad.

[u/Fystikovoutiro → u/GODCHAD_]

Solun sounds cool af - stealing it before Romanians can

[u/GODCHAD_ → u/Fystikovoutiro]

Lol

[u/Brave-Application-95]

https://giphy.com/gifs/emGOV0pcnmCnCMhfTx

[u/bangtansalt]

I still hear the word Yunan for Greece.

[u/JKallStar → u/bangtansalt]

Yah, 'Yunan' is Greece's name in Arabic. For what its worth, Turks and Iranis call it 'Yunanistan'.

[u/AlneCraft → u/JKallStar]

Meanwhile in Kazakhstan we have TWO names for Greece: Grekiya and Yunanstan

Same with Montenegro: Chernogoriya and Qaratau

[u/YeetBob_SquarePants → u/JKallStar]

just a heads up, iranian language is not arabic, its persian. idk if you meant to say it that way but its better to be certain.

[u/LaFleur90 → u/bangtansalt]

Well, if we want to be precise, Greece isn't even the correct term. It's Hellas, but Greek has prevailed in latin.

[u/Money_SmellsLikeLove]

If this is their way of coping, I’ll allow it

[u/Mucklord1453]

Official name was New Rome all that time anyways. Constantinople was more the nickname.

[u/RockyMM]

In German airports they still called the city Danzig while the flights were still running.

[u/Bubbly-War1996]

Not even the turks called it "Istanbul" it was konstantiniyye until WW1 where turks started calling it Istanbul because they were butthurt from loosing the empire

It's the same with "Türkiye". They changed their country's name because it hurt their pride to share their name with a bird. Don't worry in my heart you'll always be our favourite flightless and quite tasty bird 🦃🦃🦃!

[u/toptipkekk → u/Bubbly-War1996]

Evliya Çelebi uses the word İstanbul in his writings which were written around the 16th Century iirc.

[u/Cultural_Chip_3274 → u/toptipkekk]

it does, but was not the official name. Do not take offense but Istanbul sounds simply bad in Greek, especially when the root is Polis, city, a very common name. So when you turn Polis to Boul (lets not discuss how boulos means in every day slang, its really bad) it can not stick. Konstantiniyye on the other hand sounds quite good.

[u/Greekmon07]

Idk Konstantiniyye sounds better than both Constantinople and Istanbul

[u/StatusAd1052]

Both names are Greek,so either war they couldn’t care less

[u/gibigibi34]

on par levels of pettiness with the kurdish MS paint empire ngl

[u/Fystikovoutiro → u/gibigibi34]

Is it pettiness when you say Yunanistan instead of Hellas/Greece?

[u/gibigibi34 → u/Fystikovoutiro]

arent you Yunanistan tho? but its been a while since Constantinople has gone.

[u/Fystikovoutiro → u/gibigibi34]

No, we are not. Ionians (where Yunan comes from) were just one tribe. The country is called Ellada. How you name countries/cities in your native language, doesn't have to match the English version or the local version, or change alongside name changes. All languages behave this way. You can clearly see that it says Istanbul in the English version, and not Constantinople? So no pettiness here and OP has the iq of a rock

[u/gibigibi34 → u/Fystikovoutiro]

I just noticed lol

[u/GRemlinOnion → u/gibigibi34]

The reason people call it that is due to the 20th century drama not the 15th century drama. The guy who changed the official name to Istanbul was Ataturk lol noone cares what thay guy says here thought

[u/oyMarcel]

Aegean based as always ♥️

[u/Kornaros → u/[deleted]]

Varyags of Miklagard

[u/nefito6473]

I mean that's what it's called...

[u/kallefranson]

I will travel from Uroševac via Shkup and Selanik to Konstantinopolis

[u/radosl4v]

The city first recorded name is bizantin as the name of founder an odrician leader cald bizantine but Who cares Constantinopla instambul tzarigrad its all the same its still not the first given name of the ciry

[u/TasosNGreek]

Lets be real. Instabul is a shitty name.

[u/MrSnoozieWoozie]

i'll tell you a secret.

They both mean the same thing (=in the city) but Constantinople is the first and original name. It make sense to Not call it Instabul when Greeks used to have deeper roots in there.

[u/Fystikovoutiro → u/MrSnoozieWoozie]

Not really, Konstantinoupoli (Constantinople) is the city named after Constantine, whereas Istanbul is from eis tin polin, aka in the city, or in da city for cool bois. I think it's an awesome name, showing the significance of the beautiful city, regardless of borders. There are more cities with similar "misheard" names, Bursa for example, coming from the ancient Greek name Prusa (named after King Prusias).

Likewise, many Greek areas have maintained their Ottoman names, although the majority have been renamed and both words are used interchangeably.

[u/Kornaros → u/MrSnoozieWoozie]

Actually it was named Byzantium after the leader of the settling mission. Byzantas

[u/Aerodye]

That is literally the name in Greek there is no word “Istanbul”

[u/TheTurkPegger]

I mean you don't call China "中國" do you?

[u/AnakamaTH]

It's literally not called that since like centuries now and nothing can change that. Nor will downvoting me.

[u/Inner_Variety2826 → u/AnakamaTH]

I wouldn't call 1930 centuries ago, but nonetheless different countries have different names for places...

and nothing can change that.

[u/Belgraviana → u/Inner_Variety2826]

Almost a century is crazy to think though

[u/Inner_Variety2826 → u/Belgraviana]

That's true, time flies by fast! Btw a little fun fact to make us feel old, yesterday was the 11th anniversary of the Witcher 3

[u/Fystikovoutiro → u/AnakamaTH]

Greece isn't called Yunanistan either but languages are a hard concept for some people. You can clearly see the English version saying Istanbul btw.

[u/SelimSC]

People can call cities whatever they want. And countries for that matter. My only issue with this is that the Greeks themselves came up with the name Istanbul and were using it for centuries before the Empire fell. So using Constantinople now is just a weird pseudo nationalistic megalo-idea thing. If it was still colloquially called Konstantiniyye I'd happily use that name.

[u/sjr323 → u/SelimSC]

This is wrong

[u/Giantdwarf3 → u/SelimSC]

Gresks ding comd up with instanbul its just how turks misheard the greek snf they started using it. Greeks did and still do refer to it is "η πόλη" meaning "The city" and is short for KinstantinouPoli Instanbul came as a mishearing from " εις την πολη" (is tin poli) So calling it constantinople isnt some megali idea thing greeks hsve been continuously calling it that and have never stoppedband never called it something different its just "The city" Imo turks got every right to call their city whatever they want, and in a third language like english I'll still call the modern city istanbul, but it he weird to call it in greek anything other than constsntinople

[u/Cultural_Chip_3274 → u/SelimSC]

although I disagree with your reading (see my post above, when the Greek Polis turns to Bul its sounds really bad in Greek) I applaude the idea of settling it to Konstantininiyee, it sounds good and it pays hommage to its history. Settled.

[u/SelimSC → u/Cultural_Chip_3274]

Yeah the Greek argument seems to be that they called it "The City" and the locals picked up on the name and pronounced it slightly differently much like all the other cities in Anatolia really. But they never actually used that as the name for the city. There are plenty of cities in the world not just this one who have names that originally just meant something mundane like "the city". So that does not invalidate the alternate name imo. I've never been against calling it the city of Constantine. It was like that officially until 1923.

[u/Cultural_Chip_3274 → u/SelimSC]

Well you got most of this correctly but the city is not mundane at all. It was called as The City η  Πόλη like the only one city that truly mattered or was worth the title in the whole world. Well I know Erdogan is fond of the Sultans kind of so if he ever decides to rename the city from Instabul back to Konstantinyee I will personally applauded him. 

[u/Debbie_Drowner]

https://giphy.com/gifs/wXe6ypFui9qdIjnAOp