I realise the language divide in Belgium is a difficult subject but has there ever been any move to simplify the name after all neither is a translation of the other.
I realise the language divide in Belgium is a difficult subject but has there ever been any move to simplify the name after all neither is a translation of the other.
Belgium ist a bit complicated as the railways seldomly uses both languages. You wont find Liegè ob a Brugge timetable bitte Luik instead.
I am well aware of the meanings of the station name, and that these are names appropriate to the linguistic divide, but my point I suppose is that this particular station's names are no longer just relevant to the Belgians. With the arrival of Eurostar I was simply wondering if any consideration had been made to internationalise the station name.
Internationalising the name could be done by renaming it in English. Schiphol was renamed to Schiphol Airport last year to help foreigners.
I am well aware of the meanings of the station name, and that these are names appropriate to the linguistic divide, but my point I suppose is that this particular station's names are no longer just relevant to the Belgians. With the arrival of Eurostar I was simply wondering if any consideration had been made to internationalise the station name. Not saying that would be right or wrong just curious.
There is a point though about dual use of names for places, in Wales as mentioned and in Ireland for example, both names are likely to be displayed on board trains. If travelling from Oostende or Brugge towards Brussels you are only going to see Brusssel Zuid displayed on board which could be confusing to the English speaker looking out for Brussels Midi.
after all neither is a translation of the other.
And one when I was staying in Luik / Liege I drive into the German speaking part of Belgium and found to get back I had to follow the signs to, I believe, Luttich. Very confusing but an interesting country!
Belgians never really used "Midi" for South, so that's not the reason why the station is called Bruxelles-Midi in French.
However, the station was the starting point of many trains going to Southern France, an area which is known as "Le Midi", which is what the station is named after. And because in Dutch it is "Zuid-Frankrijk", the Dutch name became Brussel-Zuid.
Ah, so it's in a way a bit more like Wigan North Western, which lies to the south-east of the town centre - it's not named for its location in the town but for what or where it serves. Thanks.
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gare_de_Bruxelles-Midi
La ligne de chemin de fer du Midi, destinée tout dabord à relier Bruxelles à Mons puis, par la suite, à la frontière française et au-delà, a été créée en 1839. ..... Les voies pénétraient en ville par la large avenue du Midi, devenue aujourdhui lavenue de Stalingrad. La gare des Bogards prendra très vite le nom de « gare du Midi ».
Same way as Bruxelles-Luxembourg/Brussel-Luxemburg is where trains to/from Luxembourg left from.
Or after its origin al owners, the London & North Western Railway?Ah, so it's in a way a bit more like Wigan North Western, which lies to the south-east of the town centre - it's not named for its location in the town but for what or where it serves. Thanks.
According to the French wikipedia, the above explanation is wrong. It was the terminus for the "South Railway" which initially went to Mons/Bergen and then later to the French border and beyond; the platforms extended into the "avenue du Midi" and the station became known as "Midi station".
The proper English translation of "Bruxelles-Midi" would be "Brussels-Meridional".
One may be more familiar with "oriental" and "occidental", the equivalents for east and west, and to save people from having to look it up, the word for north is septentrional.
If I were in charge of Eurostar I would just have called it "Brussels South station" in all English announcements and printed matters. I would also put up English signs on the Eurostar platforms.
The first time I went to Belgium, I was also very confused by the name since I thought Midi was just an affected way of saying central, as I couldn't understand why anyone would call a station "noon". Furthermore, the spelling "Zuid" does not look like "South", and only later when I went to the Netherlands did I realise that zuid in Dutch actually sounds like the English pronunciation of south which led me to understand the French name of Midi.