Abstract
Molenbeek-Saint-Jean/Sint-Jans-Molenbeek is a former village on the outskirts of Brussels that underwent a gradual process of urbanisation starting in 1800 that culminated in its becoming an integral part of the capital. In studying the names and nicknames that the residents give to the places where they live, this toponymic study shows us the borough’s life: urbanisation, industrialisation, economic decline, migrations, and changes in language use. The entire history of a region unfurls before our eyes thanks to the perceptions and mentalities that these place names express, complete with the residents’ ambitions and sources of pride, tensions between ethnic groups and social strata, and changes in social realities
Highlights
One of the nineteen municipalities or boroughs of today’s Brussels-Capital Region is Molenbeek-Saint-Jean (French name) or Sint-Jans-Molenbeek (Dutch name)
Certain buildings have popular names in addition to their official names that are consecrated by use within the administration
There is no getting around the fact that popular place names are mired in a reputation of “eccentric” and “highly colourful” terminology that is not averse to crude, even scatological, expressions
Summary
Electronic reference Sven Steffens, « Urban popular place names past and present », Brussels Studies [Online], General collection, no 9, Online since October 2007, connection on May 2019. Licence CC BY the e-journal for academic research on Brussels www.brusselsstudies.be issue 9, 2007 october the 1st. Urban popular place names past and present: the case of Molenbeek-Saint-Jean /Sint-Jans-Molenbeek
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