Prishtinë

Uncertain. Multiple theories exist:

• possibly from Latin prīstinus (“former; original; pristine”).
• alternatively from dialectal Proto-Slavic *pryščina (“spring of water”), from *pryskati (“to splash, to spray”); a corroborating reflex is attested in the Moravian dialects of Czech.^[1]
• alternatively from Proto-Slavic *Prišьčь (“of Prishek”) (compare Kajkavian Serbo-Croatian Prišek and Old Polish Parzyszek, both surnames) + derivational suffix *-ina.^[2] However, this etymology has been criticised on the basis of presupposing a rare and relatively late word formation process.^[1]
• Ernst Eichler suggests (a contraction of) the name of the Roman emperor Prīmus Iūstīniānus,^[3] who is thought to have rebuilt the town of Ulpiana, located near the modern-day city. However, the name normally appears as Iūstīniānus Prīmus, with the adjective following instead of preceding.
• Hamp proposes a Proto-Albanian compound between derivatives of Proto-Indo-European *pr̥tu- (“crossing”) (> "ford" in some descendants) and *stoyh₂-n- (“stone”) (whence English stone, Russian стена (stena, “wall”)) which, with the language spoken in the region before the reign of Roman emperor Trajan (1st-2nd century CE), would have produced Prishtina.^[4] Thus the name in the pre-Slavic migrations era would have meant "ford-stone" (compare English Stanford).^[5] However, owing to neither supposed derivative surviving in modern Albanian, this theory is more tentative.

• IPA^(key): /pɾiˈʃtin(ə)/, [pɾɪˈʃtin(ə)]

Prishtinë f

1. Pristina (the capital city of Kosovo)