Capital - history |
the origin of the name is disputed but may derive from early Celtic settlements of the area; a plausible reconstructed Celtic name from several centuries B.C. is Vedunia (meaning "forest stream"), which in Old High German became uuenia (wenia), and later wien (its current German form) in New High German; another possibility is that the name stems from the Roman settlement Vindobona, established around 15 B.C., and its Celtic-derived name (likely from the Celtic windo, meaning "white, fair, or bright" and bona meaning "base, fortification, or settlement" to give a connotation of "white settlement" or "white fort"); archeological remains of the latter survive at many sites in the center of Vienna |