Editing Plaka (section)

== Name ==
[[File:Athens Plaka07.jpg|thumb|Typical street]]
[[File:Athenian Rooftops.jpg|thumb|Rooftops of traditional style houses in Plaka.]]

The toponym ''Plaka'' is first attested in the second half of the 17th century. Up until the [[Otto of Greece#Early reign|era of Otto]], it pertained only to the area around the [[Choragic Monument of Lysicrates]] (locals knew it as "''Kandili'' 'lantern' of Demosthenes"{{sfn|Karani|2007|p=148}} at least since 1460, or just as ''kandili''); it was only after 1834 that the toponym's application gradually expanded to eventually include the entire area between today's Makrygianni Street and the [[Ancient Agora of Athens|Ancient Agora]].{{sfn|Μιχελή|1994|pp=45, 47}} Prior of that, the local Athenians referred to the area by various other names, such as ''Alikokkou'', ''Kontito'', ''Kandili'', or by the names of the local churches.<ref>Kostas Mpiri, Place names of Athens, 1946: "Local Athenians, as we can see from the written evidence, didn't call the area as Plaka. All the source of Athenian historiography, which mention neighborhoods of the city, refer to this area with the names of Alikokou, Kontito, Kandili and with the Churches it included (Kωστα Μπιρη, Τοπωνυμικα των Αθηνων, 1946: "Οι γηγενείς Αθηναίοι δεν εσυνηθιζαν, όπως φαίνεται από τα γραπτά μνημεία, να την ονομάζουν έτσι. Οσες πηγές της Αθηναιογραφιας, εως την εποχή του Όθωνος, αναφέρουν συνοικίες της πόλεως, ονομάζουν αυτήν την περιοχήν με τα ονόματα Αλικόκου, Κοντιτό, Κανδήλι, και με τις ενορίες που περιλάμβανε.")</ref> In particular, Alikokkou was the name of the broader area of what is now Plaka, until the early 20th century, and was one of the divisions into which Athens was divided during the Ottoman era;{{sfn|Smith|2004|p=137}} the toponym Alikokkou derived from the surname of a family who was likely of [[Frankokratia|Frankish]] origin, but had been Hellenized.{{sfn|Μιχελή|1994|pp=19, 110}}

Some have suggested that the toponym Plaka derives from the [[Arvanitika]] ''Pliak Athena'', meaning 'Old Athens'; from [[Albanian language|Albanian]] ''plak'' 'old'.{{sfn|Karidis|2014|p=61}}<ref name="CN">{{cite book|last=Elsie|first=Robert | chapter= The Hybrid Soil of the Balkans: A Topography of Albanian Literature| editor-last1=Cornis-Pope | editor-first1=M. | editor-last2=Neubauer | editor-first2=J. | title=History of the Literary Cultures of East-Central Europe: Junctures and Disjunctures in the 19th and 20th Centuries | publisher=John Benjamins Publishing | series=Comparative history of literatures in European languages| year=2006 | page=290|volume=2|author-link=Robert Elsie|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5pAwqsSyTlsC&pg=PA290}}</ref> Others have suggested that it derives from the presence of a plaque (Greek: πλάκα; romanized: ''plaka'') which once marked its central intersection.{{sfn|Smith|2004|p=137}} The latter view is also supported by linguist Charalampos Symeonides (2010), who stated that ''Plaka'' is a common [[Medieval Greek|Medieval]] and [[Modern Greek]] toponym that can be found throughout Greece, and is attested as early as 1089; in the case of Athens, it denoted a place with ancient plaques or marbles.{{sfn|Symeonides|2010|p=1152}}