Zemun

Zemun (Serbian Cyrillic: Земун, pronounced [zěmuːn]) is a historical town and one of the 17 municipalities which constitute the City of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. Before 1934, it was a town separate from Belgrade. The development of New Belgrade in the late 20th century, joined them together in a continuous urban area.

Name

In ancient times, the Celtic and Roman settlement was known as Taurunum. The Frankish chroniclers of the Crusades mentioned it as Mallevila, a toponym from the 9th century. This was also a period when a Slavic name Zemln was recorded for the first time. Believed to be derived from the word zemlja, meaning earth, it was a basis for all other future names of the city: modern Serbian Земун (Cyrillic) or Zemun (Latin), Hungarian Zimony and German Semlin.

History