The name Budapest is a well-known city name in Europe in terms of tourism and one of the least known in terms of its actual history. Budapest was formed in 1873 by the administrative merger of three separate cities, Buda, Óbuda, and Pest.
What Does "Pest" Mean?
The word "Pest" comes from a Slavic root meaning oven or cave either referring to the limestone caves on the banks of the Danube or to lime kilns that existed in the area during medieval settlement. The town of Pest developed on the flat east bank of the Danube as a trading and commercial settlement from at least the 10th century AD. Its flatness made it the industrial and commercial area. Pest was where the merchants, craftsmen, and eventually the factories were built. The name appears in written records as early as the 10th century, in various Slavic, Latin, and German forms. In modern Budapest, this is where you find the Parliament Building, nightlife, the opera hall, etc.
What Does "Buda" Mean?
The etymology of "Buda" is more contested.
- The most popular Hungarian folk etymology derives it from Bleda (also spelled Buda), the brother of Attila the Hun, who Attila had killed. Some medieval Hungarian chronicles claimed the city was founded on this site, and the name preserved his memory.
- A more linguistically credible theory derives it from a Slavic word meaning water (voda → buda through sound shift), referring to the thermal springs that have fed the west bank since Roman times.
- A Turkish theory connects it to the Ottoman word budun (people), reflecting the population center during the Ottoman occupation (1541–1686).
None of these theories are proven, however, we do know that the hilltop Castle District of Buda was the seat of the Hungarian royal court for much of the medieval period.
Buda is where you would find places like Gellert Hill and Bath, and it's much more family-oriented and quieter.
Óbuda — The Roman Foundation
The third city, Óbuda ("Old Buda") is the oldest of the three and today a district of Budapest on the west bank north of the castle. It sits on the ancient site of the Roman fortress of Aquincum, a major military and civilian settlement that served as the capital of the Roman province of Pannonia Inferior from the 2nd century AD. At its peak, Aquincum had a population of ~30,000–50,000. The ruins and artifacts of Aquincum are preserved in the Aquincum Museum in northern Budapest and the outlines of the Roman forum, amphitheatre, and thermal baths are visible from the surface.
The 1873 Unification
The decision to merge the three cities came about in 1867, when the Austro-Hungarian Compromise created the Dual Monarchy and gave Hungary autonomy within the Habsburg Empire. The Hungarian nationalists wanted a capital city that could rival Vienna but neither Buda nor Pest alone was large enough. The merger was formalized by the Law of Unification of 1872, taking effect on 1 January 1873. Budapest then became the second largest city in the Austrian-Hungarian Empire and the city planners embarked on a building program which included the Parliament building, the Opera House, and the Andrássy Avenue boulevard.
The Name That Almost Wasn't
It was not universally agreed that the merged city should be called "Budapest." Several alternatives were proposed, including Pestbuda (reversing the order, emphasising the commercial Pest half) and simply Pest, which had the larger population. But, "Budapest" had actually been used informally in literature and journalism since the 1830s, the Romantic-era poet Mihály Vörösmarty used it and the form stuck partly because it had literary precedent and partly because it acknowledged both halves of the city while being easier to pronounce in Hungarian than Pestbudaóbuda.