Talk:Gdańsk

Pronunciation
I don't know Polish, but I came here to figure out how to same the name of this city because Gd is a bit difficult to say with English consonants. I still have no idea, but I got to write about my experience for a moment.

Polish City?
What does that mean? "Gdańsk is a city in Poland" would sound much less nationalistic and reflect the fact that Gdańsk/Danzig has a much more diverse history than just being a Polish city (today).

The whole article seems to be infested with polish nationalism, especially the history section. Too bad.217.22.143.23 (talk) 11:47, 17 September 2019 (UTC)


 * Gdańsk IS a Polish city built on the ruins of Danzig. If all the buildings in a city are destroyed, culture scrubbed and people ethnically cleansed, then new cheap buildings built on top and new people from somewhere else with a different culture (far east Poland) are shipped in is it still the same city? The Impartial Truth (talk) 21:23, 22 December 2021 (UTC)
 * But the communists copied the old buildings architecture and rebuilt it, not like the USSR was interested in building newly designed gothic architecture Crainsaw (talk) 15:46, 20 May 2023 (UTC)
 * I remember years ago there were multiple news stories about intentional editorialization of Wiki articles by a coordinated group of nationalists. It could be that many articles were never reviewed in this manner, or that reviews were struck down for some reason including possibly lingering elements of (Polish) nationalists preventing their edits from being reversed. 2A02:1210:1CA7:D700:3DDB:CA7D:A7C3:337C (talk) 00:10, 10 July 2023 (UTC)
 * It was German only for a while, and Polish most of the time. It could have been german had they not been stupid and started ww2 along with a massive genocide. Quit being salty and get over it. Awhileo (talk) 06:47, 2 April 2024 (UTC)

Gdańsk name's origin
So, after finding some interesting information about the origin of Gdańsk's name, I decided to spend 1 hour editing it in the most proper way I could. 90 minutes later, user Marcelus decided on it's own that it was a fringe theory and deleted it. I don't pretend this information to be the thruth, apparently no one has a verified exact source, just one of the possibility but this one at least as a reference dating 350 years ago and that I added. I'm not sure Marcelus reads old french and that it took the time to check the reference. So could please someone else agree or disagree with it? In my sense it's not a fringe theory, just a theory not better or worst that any other but at least an intersting one and once again that has at least a reference. 84.75.117.147 (talk) 13:01, 3 February 2023 (UTC)


 * Sorry if I sounded rude. But on Wikipedia we try to present only theories for which there is a consensus in the scientific literature, ideas that departments significantly from the prevailing views or mainstream views are referred to as WP:FRINGE. What's more, on Wikipedia we do not publish the results of our own research (WP:OR), but we rely on reliable sources, secondary sources are preferred (WP:SECONDARY). You quoted a 17th century source whose author proposes his own folk etymology name for Gdańsk (Danzig to be precise). Unfortunately, this edit breaks the rules I mentioned. Marcelus (talk) 13:15, 3 February 2023 (UTC)
 * Yes but there is no scientific consensus here. My source is not an "own research", I didn't speculate on the origin, I'm just citing a source that has no reason to be less or more valuable than another one. Worst, if you take this path, please consult the source for "Other scholars from the 19th century claimed that the name originated from the expression ku Dansk, which meant "to/towards Denmark"", it's an article of someone speculating (and it's his right, he's looking for an answer but proves nothing) and it's used as a source that is clearly contained in the category "own research".
 * The quote from the book is not the author own folk etymology but what we can imagine has been told to him by locals (in this case local nobility).
 * I don't see the point of erasing any hypothesis that is not just a modern speculation, but if you do, you can erase the chapter "Origin" in its entirety considering no one knows. At least letting some hypothesis that have a historical source may help some people work on researches because it can contain a part of the story.
 * On a logic point of view, there cannot be a fringe theory if there is not a consensual theory, considering that qualifying a theory of "fringe" depends on it's own consensual theory. 84.75.117.147 (talk) 16:06, 3 February 2023 (UTC)

Confusion about Gdansk/Danzig
Hi, I am confused about the Gdansk/Danzig different names and I think it might be useful to clarify this in the article. Specifically, is Danzig a translation of Gdansk or a wholly different name? Was the city officially renamed or do we just use a more accurate translation now?

It also might be useful to add a sentence in Names saying the name Danzig was used a lot by english speakers in WW2 and sources about that if anyone (like me) clicks over from ww2 articles. Safes007 (talk) 00:54, 13 March 2023 (UTC)


 * Gdańsk is the original Polish name of the city, Danzig was derived from it, I will try to write something about it in the article Marcelus (talk) 08:54, 13 March 2023 (UTC)

Has the vote not become outdated?
Talk:Gdańsk/Vote

First of all, the decision was based on a simple counting of votes. I do not know what it was like in 2005, but we certainly do not make decisions in this way now. Moreover, the differences are negligible (e.g. for the period 1466 to 1793, it is 10 votes), which clearly indicates that there is no prevailing opinion.

What's more, the usus in relation to other cities with a similar history is quite different. Making Danzig and other Polish cities (Szczecin, Wrocław etc.) with a partly German history into special cases. Without any logically identifiable justification. For example, why is Prague not referred to as "Prag" in topics concerning the period when it was inhabited mostly by German-speaking people and was part of the German states? What about Maribor/Marburg? Why do we not use the name "Kijów" for Kyiv when it was part of Poland, or even when it was mostly Polish-speaking (mid-18th century)? What about Lviv? There are many other examples.

For me, as someone who started editing English Wikipedia long after 2005, this balance is incomprehensible. Above all in relation to cities like Gdańsk, Toruń, Elbląg, which from 1454 almost until the end of the 18th century were part of the Polish state. On what basis do we use the German names to them for this period?

It seems to me that this topic has taken on a new significance with regard to decisions made in the last few years on Ukrainian place names (most notably WP:KYIV), which clearly indicate that the preferred place name also in a historical context is the modern Ukrainian version "Kyiv". Only "unambiguously historical topics" allow for the Kiev version. Why not apply an analogous rule to Gdańsk and other Polish cities with a similar history? ( Incidentally, I should note that WP:KYIV does not provide for names containing the form "Kijów" even for the period when the city was part of Poland, e.g. Kiev Voivodeship. This is a separate topic, but shows the imbalance I am talking about).

I hope that my proposal will be met with an open-minded approach and a willingness to have an informative discussion. Marcelus (talk) 21:17, 24 October 2023 (UTC)