Mykolaiv

The story

1. Ukrainian · borrowed fromМикола́їв
2. English todayMykolaiv

From Ukrainian Микола́їв (Mykolájiv), from Микола́й (Mykoláj, “Nicholas”). The city near the Dniester was founded under the Polish name Mikołajów, named for its founder and first owner, Mikołaj Tarło. The city on the Southern Buh was founded under the Russian name Никола́ев (Nikolájev), named by the city’s founder, H.S.H. Prince Grigory Potemkin, for Никола́й Чудотво́рец (Nikoláj Čudotvórec, St Nicholas the Wonderworker), on whose feast day (the 6th of December) in 1788 (reckoned according to the Julian calendar) the Russian siege of Özi concluded with the capture of the Ottoman fortress-city (now Ochakiv, the Ukraine) by Russian forces under the Prince’s command. Both Polish Mikołajów and Russian Никола́ев (Nikolájev) are cognate with the Ukrainian name, being derived respectively from Mikołaj and Никола́й (Nikoláj), themselves cognate with Ukrainian Микола́й (Mykoláj) by common descent from Ancient Greek Νῑκόλᾱος (Nīkólāos). Compare Nikolayev.

First known use, by meaning

• 1805–1864 A former military governorate of the Russian Empire, established in 1864 and disestablished in 1900.
• May 1919–January 1921 A former governorate of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, established in May 1919 and disestablished in October 1922.