Where does the name of the city of Antwerp come from?

Answer

The etymology of place names can be found in the toponymic dictionary of Maurits Gysseling (1960). You can consult this online for free at .

On pages 61 and 62 you will find more information about the name Antwerp. The prefix Ant- comes from the Germanic anda-, which means ‘against, opposite to’. The second part is an inflected form of werpa-, which means something like ‘increased land, accretion’. Antwerp is therefore the city that lies on the deep side of the river, and not on the bank with the silted land.

You can also take a look at the Dictionary of the Dutch Language (WNT), which you can consult for free at wnt.inl.nl. There you will also find a Middle Dutch quote in which the word ‘antwerp’ is still used to refer to a piece of land washed ashore (and not specifically to the city of Antwerp).